The
University of Cambridge (informally Cambridge
University, or simply Cambridge), located in the City
of Cambridge
, Cambridgeshire,
United
Kingdom
, is the second
oldest university in the English-speaking world and the fourth
oldest in Europe. The name is sometimes
abbreviated as Cantab. in post-nominals, a shortened form of
Cantabrigiensis (an adjective derived from
Cantabrigia, the Latinised form of Cambridge).
The
university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of
Cambridge that was formed, early records suggest, in
1209 by scholars leaving Oxford
after a dispute with townsfolk there.
The
universities of Oxford and Cambridge are often jointly referred to as
"Oxbridge". In addition to
cultural and practical associations as a historic part of British
society, the two universities also have a long
history of rivalry with each other.
Academically, Cambridge is consistently
ranked in the world's
top five universities and as a premier leading university in Europe
by numerous media and academic rankings. The University's alumni
include
85 Nobel
Laureates .
Organisation
Cambridge is a
collegiate
university, meaning that it is made up of self-governing and
independent colleges, each with its own property and income. Most
colleges bring together academics and students from a broad range
of disciplines (though certain colleges do have particular
strengths e.g.
Gonville and
Caius College
for Medicine), and within
each faculty, school or department within the university, academics
from many different colleges will be found.
The faculties are responsible for ensuring that lectures are given,
arranging seminars, performing research and determining the syllabi
for teaching, overseen by the General Board. Together with the
central administration headed by the
Vice-Chancellor,
they make up the entire Cambridge University.
Facilities such as
libraries are provided on all these levels: by the University (the
Cambridge
University Library
), by the departments (departmental libraries such
as the Squire Law Library), and by the individual colleges (all of
which maintain a multi-discipline library, generally aimed mainly
at their undergraduates).
Colleges
All students and many of the academics are attached to colleges,
where they socialise. It is also the place where students may
receive their small group teaching sessions, known as supervisions.
Each college appoints its own teaching staff and
fellows in each subject; decides which students to
admit, in accordance with university regulations; provides small
group teaching sessions, for undergraduates (though lectures are
arranged and degrees are awarded by the university); and is
responsible for the domestic arrangements and welfare of its own
undergraduates, graduates, post-doctoral researchers, and staff in
general.
The
University of Cambridge currently has 31 colleges, of which three,
Murray
Edwards
, Newnham
and Lucy Cavendish
, admit only women. The other colleges are
now mixed, though most were originally all-male.
Darwin
was the first college to admit both men and women,
while Churchill
, Clare
and King's
colleges were the first previously all-male
colleges to admit female undergraduates in 1972. Magdalene
was the last all-male college to become mixed in
1988. Clare Hall
and Darwin admit only postgraduates, and Hughes
Hall
, Lucy Cavendish, St Edmund’s
and Wolfson
admit only mature
(i.e. 21 years or older on date of matriculation) and
graduate students. All other colleges admit both undergraduate and
postgraduate students with no age restrictions. Colleges are not
required to admit students in all subjects, with some colleges
choosing not to offer subjects such as
architecture,
history
of art or
theology, but most offer
close to the complete range.
Some colleges maintain a bias towards
certain subjects, for example with Churchill leaning towards the sciences
and engineering, while others such as
St
Catharine's
aim for a balanced intake. Costs to students
(accommodation and food prices) vary considerably from college to
college. Others maintain much more informal reputations, such as
for the students of King's College to hold left-wing political
views, or Robinson College and Churchill College's attempts to
minimise its environmental impact.
There are
also several theological colleges in Cambridge, including Westminster
College
and Ridley Hall Theological
College
, that are loosely affiliated with the university
through the Cambridge
Theological Federation.
Schools, faculties and departments
Department of Engineering at Cambridge
University
In addition to the 31 colleges, the university is made up of over
150 departments, faculties, schools, syndicates and other
institutions. Members of these are usually also members of one or
more of the colleges and responsibility for running the entire
academic programme of the university is divided amongst them.
A 'school' in the University of Cambridge is a broad administrative
grouping of related subjects, each covering a specified group of
faculties. Each has an elected supervisory body — The Council of
the School — comprising representatives of the constituent
faculties and departments in each school. There are six schools:
Teaching and research in Cambridge is organised by Faculties. The
Faculties have different organisational sub-structures which partly
reflect their history and partly their operational needs, which may
include a number of Departments and other institutions. In
addition, a small number of bodies entitled Syndicates have
responsibilities for teaching and research, exercising powers
similar in effect to those of Faculty Boards.
Examples are Cambridge Assessment, the University Press, and the
University
Library.
Central administration
Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor
The current
Chancellor of the
University is the
Duke
of Edinburgh. The current
Vice-Chancellor is
Alison Richard. The office of
Chancellor, which is held for life, is mainly ceremonial, while the
Vice-Chancellor is
de facto the
principal academic and administrative officer.
The University's
internal governance is carried out almost entirely by its own
members, with very little external representation on its governing
body, the Regent House (though there is
external representation on the Audit Committee, and there are four
external members on the University's Council
, who are the only external members of the Regent
House).
Senate and the Regent House
The Senate consists of all holders of the
MA degree or higher
degrees.
It elects the Chancellor and the High
Steward, and it elected Members to the House of
Commons
for the Cambridge
University constituency until their abolition in 1950, but
otherwise it has not had a major role since 1926, before which it
fulfilled all the functions which the Regent House fulfils today, and was the
University's governing body, just as the Regent House is
today.
The Regent House is the University's governing body, a direct
democracy comprising all resident senior members of the University
and the Colleges, together with the Chancellor, the
High Steward, the Deputy High
Steward, and the Commissary.
Council and the General Board
Although
the University Council is the principal executive and policy-making body
of the University, therefore, it must report and be accountable to
the Regent House through a variety of
checks and balances. It has the right of reporting to the
University, and is obliged to advise the Regent House on matters of
general concern to the University. It does both of these by causing
notices to be published by authority in the
Cambridge University Reporter,
the official journal of the University. Since January 2005, the
membership of the Council has included two external members, and
the Regent House voted for an increase from two to four in the
number of external members in March 2008, and this was approved by
Her Majesty the Queen in July 2008.
The General Board of the Faculties is responsible for the academic
and educational policy of the University, and is accountable to the
Council for its management of these affairs.
Faculty Boards are responsible to the General Board; other Boards
and Syndicates are responsible either to the General Board (if
primarily for academic purposes) or to the Council. In this way,
the various arms of the University are kept under the supervision
of the central administration, and thus the Regent House.
Finances
In late 2006, the total financial endowment of the university and
the colleges was estimated at £4.1 billion (US$8.2 billion): £1.2
billion tied directly to the university, £2.9 billion to the
colleges. Oxford (including its colleges) is possibly ranked
second, having reported an endowment valued at £3.9bn in mid-2006.
Each college is an independent charitable institution with its own
endowment, separate from that of the central university
endowment.
If ranked on a US university endowment table using figures reported
in 2006, Cambridge would rank sixth or seventh (depending on
whether one includes the
University of Texas System –
which incorporates nine full scale universities and six health
institutions), or fourth in a ranking compared with only the eight
Ivy League institutions.
Comparisons between Cambridge's endowment and those of other top US
universities are, however, inaccurate because being a state-funded
public university, Cambridge receives a major portion of its income
through education and research grants from the British Government.
In 2006, it was reported that approximately one third of
Cambridge’s income comes from UK government funding for teaching
and research, with another third coming from other research grants.
Endowment income contributes around 6%.
Benefactions and fundraising
In 2000,
Bill Gates of
Microsoft donated US$210 million through the
Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation to endow the
Gates
Scholarships for students from outside the UK seeking
postgraduate study at Cambridge.
The University of Cambridge Computer
Laboratory
, which taught the world’s first computing course in
1953, is housed in a building partly funded by Gates and named
after his father, William Gates.
In 2005, the Cambridge 800th Anniversary Campaign was launched,
aimed at raising £1 billion by 2012—the first US-style university
fund-raising campaign in Europe. £800 million of funds have been
secured to date.
University activities
Research
Cambridge University has research departments and teaching
faculties in most academic disciplines. All research and lectures
are conducted by University Departments. The colleges are in charge
of giving or arranging most supervisions, student accommodation,
and funding most extracurricular activities. During the 1990s
Cambridge added a substantial number of new specialist research
laboratories on several University sites around the city, and major
expansion continues on a number of sites.
Cambridge is a member of the
Russell
Group, a network of research-led British universities; the
Coimbra Group, an association of
leading European universities; the
League of European
Research Universities; and the
International
Alliance of Research Universities. It is also considered part
of the
"Golden
Triangle", a geographical concentration of UK university
research.
Building
on its reputation for enterprise, science and technology, Cambridge
has a partnership with MIT
in the
United States, the Cambridge – MIT
Institute.
Teaching
The principal method of teaching at Cambridge
colleges is the
supervision. These are typically weekly hour-long sessions in which
small groups of students — usually between one and three — meet
with a member of the university's teaching staff or a doctoral
student. Students are normally required to complete an essay or
assignment in advance of the supervision, which they will discuss
with the supervisor during the session, along with any concerns or
difficulties they have had with the material presented in that
week's lectures. Lectures at Cambridge are often described as being
almost a mere 'bolt-on' to these supervisions. Students typically
receive two or three supervisions per week.
This pedagogical system is often cited as being unique
to Cambridge and Oxford (where “supervisions” are known as
“tutorials”)
The concept of
grading students'
work quantitatively was developed by a tutor named
William Farish at the University
of Cambridge in 1792.
Admissions
The
application system to Cambridge and Oxford often involves additional requirements, with
candidates typically called to face-to-face
interviews.
How applicants perform in the interview process is an important
factor in determining which students are accepted. Most applicants
are expected to be predicted at least three A-grade
A-level qualifications relevant to their
chosen undergraduate course, or equivalent overseas qualifications.
However, it has been confirmed that the new A* A-level grade (to be
introduced in 2010) will play a part in the acceptance of
applications. Due to a very high proportion of applicants receiving
the highest school grades, the interview process is crucial for
distinguishing between the most able candidates. In 2006, 5,228
students who were rejected went on to get 3 A levels or more at
grade A, representing about 63% of all applicants rejected. The
interview is performed by College Fellows, who evaluate candidates
on unexamined factors such as potential for original thinking and
creativity.
For exceptional candidates, a
Matriculation Offer is sometimes offered, requiring only
two A-levels at grade E or above — Christ's
College
is unusual in making this offer to about one-third
of successful candidates, in order to relieve very able candidates
of some pressure in their final 'A level' year (or equivalent),
although this is now quite uncommon.
In recent years, admissions tutors in certain subjects have
required applicants to sit the more difficult
STEP papers, tuition for which
is not normally provided by British schools outside the private or
independent sector, in addition to achieving top grades in their
A-levels or
International
Baccalaureate diplomas. For example, almost every college
requires 1,2, and a significant number requiring 1,1, or better in
the 2 STEP Papers as well as A grades at A-levels including A-level
Mathematics and Further Mathematics in order to be considered for
entry for the Mathematical Tripos. Between one-half and two-thirds
of those who apply with the required grades are given offers of a
place.
Public debate in the United Kingdom continues over whether
admissions processes at Oxford and Cambridge are entirely merit
based and fair; whether enough students from
state schools are encouraged to
apply to Cambridge; and whether these students succeed in gaining
entry. In 2007-08, 57% of all successful applicants were from
state schools. However,
the average qualifications for successful applicants from state
schools are slightly lower than the average qualification of
successful applicants from private schools. Critics have argued
that the lack of state school applicants with the required grades
applying to Cambridge and Oxford has had a negative impact on
Oxbridge’s reputation for many years, and
the University has encouraged pupils from state schools to apply
for Cambridge to help redress the imbalance. Others counter that
government pressure to increase state school admissions constitutes
inappropriate
social engineering.
The proportion of undergraduates drawn from independent schools has
dropped over the years, and such applicants now form only a
significant minority (43%) of the intake. In 2005, 32% of the 3599
applicants from independent schools were admitted to Cambridge, as
opposed to 24% of the 6674 applications from state schools. In 2008
the University of Cambridge received a gift of £4m to improve its
accessibility to candidates from maintained schools.
Cambridge, together
with Oxford and Durham
, is among those universities that have adopted
formulae that gives a rating to the GCSE performance
of every school in the country to “weight” the scores of university
applicants.
Graduate admission is first decided by the faculty or department
relating to the applicant’s subject. This effectively guarantees
admission to a college - though not necessarily the applicant’s
preferred choice.
The Cambridge Summer Schools
Cambridge University hosts various summer schools for students aged
16 all around Britain.This is a chance for many high academic
achievers with ambitions above the norm to experience ultimately
the Cambridge Lifestyle. Also they aim to understand the high
expectations and standards upheld by the university. An example of
one of the summer schools hosted by Cambridge University is the
Business Summer School. This is funded by Clifford Chance, and
targets those students with sincere interest in business, to give
them a deeper perception of the Business World. They teach and
enable students to understand business from many perspectives.
Another example of a summer school is that for ethnic minorities.
This is known as the GEEMA summer school. This particular summer
school aims to provide a broadened view of what opportunities are
available to students at Cambridge. Essentially these summer
schools hosted by the university are built to inspire and raise
aspirations of those who attend.
Publishing
The University’s publishing arm, the
Cambridge University Press, is
the oldest printer and publisher in the world.
Public examinations
The university set up its Local Examination Syndicate in 1858.
Today, the syndicate, which is known as
Cambridge Assessment, is Europe’s
largest assessment agency and it plays a leading role in
researching, developing and delivering assessments across the
globe.
Sport and other extracurricular activities
Cambridge maintains a long tradition of student participation in
sport and recreation.
Rowing is a
particularly popular sport at Cambridge, and there are competitions
between colleges, notably the
bumps
races, and against Oxford, the
Boat
Race. There are also
Varsity
matches against Oxford in many other sports, ranging from
cricket and
rugby, to
chess and
tiddlywinks. Athletes representing the
university in certain sports entitle them to apply for a
Cambridge Blue at the discretion of the
Blues Committee, consisting of the captains of the
thirteen most prestigious sports. There is also the self-described
“unashamedly elite”
Hawks’ Club, which
is for men only, whose membership is usually restricted to
Cambridge Full Blues and Half Blues.
The
Cambridge
Union
serves as a focus for debating. Drama
societies notably include the
Amateur Dramatic
Club and the comedy club
Footlights,
which are known for producing well-known showbusiness
personalities. Student newspapers include the long-established
Varsity and its younger
rival,
The Cambridge
Student. The student-run radio station,
CUR1350, promotes broadcast journalism.
The Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra explores a range of
programmes, from popular symphonies to lesser known works.
Membership of the orchestra is composed of students of the
university and it has also attracted a variety of conductors and
soloists, including
Wayne
Marshall,
Jane Glover, and
Nicholas Cleobury.
History
Roger of Wendover wrote shortly
after its foundation that the University of Cambridge could trace
its origins to a crime committed in 1209. Although not always a
reliable source, the detail given in his contemporaneous writings
lends them credence.
Two Oxford scholars were convicted of the murder or manslaughter of
a woman and were hanged by the town authorities with the assent of
the King.
In protest at the hanging, the University of
Oxford went into voluntary suspension, and scholars
migrated to a number of other locations, including the pre-existing
school at Cambridge (Cambridge had been recorded as a “school”
rather than as a university when John Grim held the office of
Master there in 1201). These exile Oxford scholars
(post-graduate researchers by present day terminology) started
Cambridge’s life as a university in 1209.
Cambridge’s status was enhanced by a charter in 1231 from King
Henry III of England which
awarded the
ius non trahi
extra (a right to discipline its own members) plus some
exemption from taxes, and a
bull in 1233
from
Pope Gregory IX that gave
graduates from Cambridge the right to teach everywhere in
Christendom.
After Cambridge was described as a
studium generale in a letter by
Pope Nicholas IV in 1290, and
confirmed as such in a bull by
Pope John
XXII in 1318, it became common for researchers from other
European
medieval universities
to come and visit Cambridge to study or to give lecture
courses.
Foundation of the colleges
Cambridge’s colleges were originally an incidental feature of the
system. No college is as old as the university itself. The colleges
were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions
without endowments, called hostels. The hostels were gradually
absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left
some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garret Hostel
Lane.
Hugh Balsham, Bishop
of Ely, founded Peterhouse
in 1284, Cambridge’s first college.
Many
colleges were founded during the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, but colleges continued to be established throughout the
centuries to modern times, although there was a gap of 204 years
between the founding of Sidney Sussex
in 1596 and Downing
in 1800. The most recent college established is
Robinson
, built in the late 1970s. However, Hughes
Hall only achieved full university college status in
April 2007, making it the newest full college.
In
medieval times, colleges were founded so
that their students would
pray for the
souls of the founders. For that reason they
were often associated with
chapels or
abbeys. A change in the colleges’ focus
occurred in 1536 with the
Dissolution of the
Monasteries.
King Henry VIII ordered the university to
disband its Faculty of Canon Law and to stop teaching “
scholastic philosophy”. In response,
colleges changed their curricula away from canon law and towards
the
classics, the
Bible, and
mathematics.
Mathematics
From the time of
Isaac Newton in the
later 17th century until the mid-19th century, the university
maintained a strong emphasis on mathematics. Study of this subject
was compulsory for graduation, and students were required to take
an exam for the
Bachelor of Arts
degree, the main first degree at Cambridge in both arts and science
subjects. This exam is known as a
Tripos.
Students awarded
first-class
honours after completing the mathematics Tripos were named
wranglers. The
Cambridge Mathematical
Tripos was competitive and helped produce some of the most
famous names in British science, including
James Clerk Maxwell,
Lord Kelvin, and
Lord Rayleigh. However, some
famous students, such as
G. H. Hardy, disliked
the system, feeling that people were too interested in accumulating
marks in exams and not interested in the subject itself.
Although diversified in its research and teaching interests,
Cambridge today maintains its strength in mathematics.
The Isaac Newton
Institute
, part of the university, is widely regarded as the
UK’s national research institute for mathematics and theoretical
physics. Cambridge alumni have won eight
Fields Medals and one
Abel Prize for mathematics. The University also
runs a special
Certificate of
Advanced Studies in Mathematics course.
Contributions to the advancement of science
Many of the most important scientific discoveries and revolutions
were made by Cambridge alumni. These include:
- Understanding the scientific
method, by Francis Bacon
- The laws of motion, by
Sir Isaac Newton
- The discovery of the electron, by
J. J.
Thomson
- The splitting of the atom by
Sir John Cockcroft and
Ernest Walton
- The unification of electromagnetism, by James Clerk Maxwell
- The discovery of hydrogen, by Henry Cavendish
- Evolution by natural selection, by Charles Darwin
- The Turing machine, a basic model
for computation, by Alan Turing
- The structure of DNA, by Francis Crick and James D. Watson
- Pioneering quantum mechanics,
by Paul Dirac
Women’s education
Initially, only male students were enrolled into the university.
The first
colleges for women were Girton College
(founded by Emily
Davies) in 1869 and Newnham College in 1872 (founded by Anne
Clough and Henry Sidgwick)
followed by New
Hall
in 1954. The first women students were
examined in 1882 but attempts to make women full members of the
university did not succeed until 1947.
Although Cambridge
did not give degrees to women until this date women were in fact
allowed to study courses, sit examinations, and have their results
recorded from the nineteenth century onwards; for a brief period
after the turn of the twentieth century, this allowed women to
receive ad eundem degrees
from the University
of Dublin
(see steamboat
ladies). Later, women could be given a “titular degree”;
although they were not denied recognised qualifications, without a
full degree they were excluded from the governing of the
university. Since students must belong to a college, and since
established colleges remained closed to women, women found
admissions restricted to colleges established only for women.
Starting with Churchill College, all of the men’s colleges began to
admit women between 1972 and 1988. One women’s college, Girton,
also began to admit male students from 1979, but the other women’s
colleges did not follow suit.
As a result of St Hilda's
College, Oxford
ending its ban on male students in 2008, Cambridge
is now the only remaining United Kingdom University with colleges
which refuse to admit males, with three such institutions in
total. In the academic year 2004–5, the university’s student
gender ratio, including post-graduates, was male 52%: female
48%.
Myths, legends and traditions
As an institution with such a long history, the University has
developed a large number of myths and legends. The vast majority of
these are untrue, but have been propagated nonetheless by
generations of students and tour guides.
A discontinued tradition is that of the
wooden spoon, the ‘prize’ awarded to
the student with the lowest passing grade in the final examinations
of the Mathematical Tripos.
The last of these spoons was awarded in 1909
to Cuthbert Lempriere Holthouse, an oarsman of the Lady Margaret
Boat Club of St John’s College
. It was over one metre in length and had an
oar blade for a handle. It can now be seen outside the Senior
Combination Room of St John's. Since 1909, results were published
alphabetically within class rather than score order. This made it
harder to ascertain who the winner of the spoon was (unless there
was only one person in the third class), and so the practice was
abandoned.
On the other hand, the legend of the
Austin
7 delivery van that ended up on the apex of the Senate House is
no myth at all.
The Caius
College website recounts in detail how this vehicle “went
up in the world”.
Each
Christmas Eve,
BBC radio and television broadcasts
The Festival of Nine Lessons and
Carols by the
Choir of King's College,
Cambridge. The radio broadcast has been a national Christmas
tradition since it was first transmitted in 1928 (though the
festival has existed since 1918). The radio broadcast is carried
worldwide by the
BBC World Service
and is also syndicated to hundreds of radio stations in the USA.
The first television broadcast of the festival was in 1954.
Great Court of King's College.
Reputation
Historically, Cambridge University has had a strong reputation for
both mathematics and the sciences.
According to
UCAS, Cambridge and Oxford are the
most academically selective universities in the United Kingdom –
there is a special national admissions process which sets
Oxbridge apart from other British universities.
Traditionally, Cambridge applicants have had to fill the Cambridge
Application Form (CAF) in addition to the UCAS process, although
this ended for entry in 2009, being replaced with a more standard
supplementary information form (completed online), as is common
with some other universities in the UK.
In the last two British Government
Research Assessment Exercise in
2001 and 2008 respectively, Cambridge was ranked first in the
country. In 2005, it was reported that Cambridge produces more PhDs
per year than any other British university (over 30% more than
second placed Oxford). In 2006, a
Thomson Scientific study
showed that Cambridge has the highest research paper output of any
British university, and is also the top research producer (as
assessed by total paper citation count) in 10 out of 21 major
British research fields analysed. Another study published the same
year by Evidence showed that Cambridge won a larger proportion
(6.6%) of total British research grants and contracts than any
other university (coming first in three out of four broad
discipline fields).
The university is also closely linked with the development of the
high-tech business cluster in and around Cambridge, which forms the
area known as
Silicon Fen or sometimes
the “Cambridge Phenomenon”.
In 2004, it was reported that Silicon Fen
was the second largest venture
capital market in the world, after Silicon Valley
. Estimates reported in February 2006 suggest
that there were about 250 active
startup
companies directly linked with the university, worth around
US$6 billion.
League tables of British universities
| University of Cambridge Ranking in League Tables |
| Below is the ranking of the University of Cambridge in various
university league tables
|
In the
2009 Times Higher
Education-QS World University Rankings, Cambridge was ranked
2nd amongst world universities, behind Harvard
. It came in first in the international
academic reputation peer review, first in the
natural sciences, first in
biomedicine, first in the
arts & humanities, fourth in the
social sciences, and sixth in
technology.
In the 2008 Academic Ranking of World
Universities compiled by Shanghai
Jiao Tong University
, Cambridge was placed 4th amongst world
universities. A 2006
Newsweek ranking which combined elements of
the THES-QS and ARWU rankings with other factors that purportedly
evaluated an institution's global "openness and diversity"
suggested that Cambridge was ranked 6th in the world overall.
In the 2008 Sunday Times University Guide, Cambridge was ranked
first for the 11th straight year since the guide's first
publication in 1998. In the 2008 Times Good University Guide,
Cambridge topped 37 of the guide's 61 subject tables, including
Law,
Medicine,
Economics,
Mathematics,
Engineering,
Physics, and
Chemistry and
has the best record on research, entry standards and graduate
destinations amongst UK universities. Cambridge was also awarded
the University of the Year award.
In the 2009 The Times Good University Guide Subject Rankings,
Cambridge was ranked top (or joint top) in 34 out of the 42
subjects which it offers. The overall ranking placed Cambridge in
2nd behind Oxford. The 2009 Guardian University Guide Rankings also
placed Cambridge 2nd in the UK behind Oxford.
Notable alumni
Cambridge University has over the course of its history built up a
sizeable number of alumni who are notable in their fields, both
academic, and in the wider world. Officially, affiliates of
Cambridge University have won a total of 84
Nobel Prizes, more than any other university
according to
some counts, as
well as eight
Fields Medals.
In addition to a long and distinguished tradition in mathematics
and the sciences, Cambridge University has educated:
Literature and popular culture
- Jill Paton Walsh is the author
of four detective stories
featuring Imogen Quy, the nurse at St. Agatha's, a fictional
Cambridge college: The Wyndham Case, A Piece of
Justice, Debts of Dishonour and The Bad
Quarto.
- In Atonement by Ian
McEwan the characters Cecilia and Robbie attended Cambridge
- Chaucer’s The Reeve’s Tale takes place at Soler
Halle. It is believed that this refers to King’s Hall, which later
became part of Trinity College.
- The Glittering Prizes (1976 TV drama) and Oxbridge Blues (1984 TV drama) by
Frederic Raphael.
- The Longest
Journey and Maurice by E.M. Forster
- Still Life by A. S. Byatt
- Chariots of Fire, 1981
film
- Peter's Friends, 1992
film
- The Masters and
The Affair by C. P. Snow (features an
unnamed fictional college, partly based on his own college,
Christ’s)
- Porterhouse Blue and
its sequel Grantchester
Grind by Tom Sharpe feature
Porterhouse, a fictional Cambridge College.
- Darkness at Pemberley by T.
H. White
- All Sorts and Conditions of Men by Sir Walter Besant
- High Table, Lower
Orders BBC Radio comedy serial broadcast in 2005 and 2006
set in a fictional college.
- The Matthew Bartholomew Chronicles, a series of murder
mysteries, by Susanna Gregory
- Avenging Angel, a murder
mystery by the philosopher Kwame
Anthony Appiah
- Eskimo Day is a 1996 BBC TV drama,
written by Jack Rosenthal, and
starring Maureen Lipman, Tom Wilkinson, and Alec Guinness, about the relationship between
parents and teenagers during an admissions interview day at
Queens’
College
. There was also a 1997 sequel, Cold
Enough for Snow.
- The final episode of Star Trek: The Next
Generation, (All Good
Things...) features the android character Data as Lucasian Professor of
Mathematics in his Cambridge college rooms. An establishing
location shot shows a futuristic version of the Cambridge
University skyline around the year 2395.
- The unaired Doctor Who
episode "Shada" shows the Fourth Doctor and his companion Romana in the fictional St Cedd's College, which was
filmed in New Court, Emmanuel College. Footage of the pair punting
by the backs from this episode was re-used in the twentieth
anniversary episode, The Five
Doctors.
- Civilization - a classic
turn-based strategy video game by Sid
Meier features 'Isaac Newton’s
College' as a Wonder of the World. This could be a reference to Cambridge
University as a whole or to Trinity College
specifically. The video
accompanying the wonder in Civilization
II however, erroneously shows the University of
Oxford.
- In many novels and plays by Thomas
Bernhard, Cambridge (Geistesnest) is the refuge of a
Geistesmensch escaping from Austria
- Cambridge Spies
(BBC Drama 2003) about the famous Cambridge Five double agents who started
their career at Cambridge: Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean
and Anthony Blunt.
- In Tom Stoppard's 2006 play
Rock 'n Roll,
Cambridge University is a key setting.
- In Bob Fosse's 1972 film Cabaret, one of the central characters,
Englishman Brian Roberts is a King's College student finishing his
German studies in Berlin.
- In Virginia Woolf's The
Waves, the characters Bernard and Neville both attended
Cambridge University, and in Jacob's Room, the protagonist
Jacob Flanders attends Cambridge.
- In Charles Dickens's
A Tale of Two Cities,
Charles Darnay tutors Cambridge undergraduates in French language
and literature.
- Alan Bennett's 2004 play
The History Boys and the
2006 film centre around
students in the north of England preparing for the old entrance
exams at Cambridge and Oxford in 1983.
- In Stephen Fry's novels Making History and The Liar, the main characters attend
Cambridge University
- In Dirk
Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams, much of the action takes place
in the fictional Cambridge college of St. Cedds
- Engleby, Sebastian Faulks' 2007 novel is largely
based at a fictionalised version of Cambridge University.
See also
Notes
- Statute and Ordinances, Historical Note: "The
University is ... consisting of a Chancellor, Masters and Scholars
who from time out of mind have had the government of their
members"
- Grace 2 of 5 December 2007
- Statutes and Ordinances, 2007-2008
- Grace 2 of 5 December 2008
- Acta in the Reporter, No 6107, publishing Results of
Ballot
-
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6350374.ece
- {{cite
web|url=http://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings|title=THE-QS
World University Rankings 2009 Results
References
- A history of the University of Cambridge, by
Christopher N.L. Brooke, Cambridge University Press, 4 volumes,
1988–2004, ISBN 0-521-32882-9, ISBN 0-521-35059-X, ISBN
0-521-35060-3, ISBN 0-521-34350-X
- , by Noboru Koyama, translated by Ian Ruxton, This book
includes information about the wooden spoon and the university in
the 19th century as well as the Japanese students.
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
Search
