|
The University of Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the
English-speaking world, after Oxford. It is situated in the city of Cambridge,
England. According to legend, the
university was founded in 1209 by scholars
escaping from Oxford after a fight with locals there.
Cambridge has produced more Nobel prize laureates than any other
university in the world, having 80 associated with it, about 70 of whom were students there. [1] (http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/nobelprize.html) It regularly leads league tables ranking British
universities, and a recent league table by the Times Higher Education Supplement rated it sixth in the world overall and first in the
world for science.
The universities of Oxford and Cambridge, often referred to together as Oxbridge, vie to be seen as the strongest overall university in the UK (see Oxbridge rivalry). Historically, they have produced a significant proportion of Britain's prominent
scientists, writers and politicians.
General information
The thirty-one colleges of the university are technically institutions independent of the
university itself and enjoy considerable autonomy. For example, colleges decide which students they are to admit, and appoint
their own fellows (senior members). They are responsible for the domestic
arrangements and welfare of students and for small group teaching, referred to at the university as supervisions.
Cambridge is a member of the Russell Group
of Universities, a network of large, research-led British universities; the Coimbra Group, an association of leading European universities; and the LERU, League of European Research Universities.
The current Chancellor of the university is HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The current
Vice-Chancellor is Professor Alison Richard.
History
The first college to be founded was Peterhouse,
established in 1284 by Hugh Balsham,
Bishop of Ely. Many of the colleges were founded
during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but colleges continued to be established throughout the centuries that followed,
right up to modern times. The most recent college to be established is Robinson, which was built in the late 1970s. In
2004, there were newspaper reports that Cambridge was planning on expanding its student
numbers by adding three new colleges, but this has been denied by the university. A full list of colleges is given below.
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. However, in 1536, in conjunction 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." This led to a change in the focus of the colleges' curricula
— away from canon law and towards the classics, the Bible, and mathematics.
A Cambridge exam for the Bachelor of Arts degree, the main first
degree at Cambridge in both arts and science subjects, is known as a Tripos. Although
the university now offers courses in a large number of subjects, it had a particularly strong emphasis on mathematics until the
early 19th century, and study of this subject was compulsory for graduation. Students awarded first-class honours after
completing the maths course were named wranglers. The mathematics Tripos was
extremely competitive and helped produce some of the most famous names in British science, including Lord Kelvin, George Gabriel Stokes, and James Clerk Maxwell. 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. Despite diversifying 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 maths and theoretical physics.
The first colleges for women were Girton College in 1869 and Newnham
College in 1872. The first women students were examined in 1882 but attempts to make women full members of the university did not succeed until 1947, 20 years later than at Oxford.
Of the current 31 colleges, 28 are mixed, while three admit women only (Lucy Cavendish, New Hall and Newnham). Three colleges admit graduate students only (Clare Hall, Darwin and Wolfson).
Admission
Undergraduate admission to Cambridge colleges used to depend on knowledge of Latin and
Ancient Greek, subjects taught principally in Britain at fee-paying
schools, called public schools. This tended to mean that students came
predominantly from members of the British social elite. Since the 1960s, the admission
process has changed, and aspiring students are now expected to have the best, or nearly the best, possible qualifications at
A-level relevant to the undergraduate course and to impress college fellows at
interview. In addition, in recent years admissions tutors in certain technical subjects, for example mathematics, have required
applicants to sit the more difficult STEP
papers in addition to achieving top grades in their A-levels. However, there is still considerable public debate in Britain
over whether admissions processes at Oxford and Cambridge are entirely meritocratic and fair, and whether enough students from
state schools succeed in gaining entry. Almost 50% of the successful applicants come from public schools, but the average qualifications for these successful applicants are higher than for sucessful
applicants from state schools.
Graduate admission is by the faculty or department in the first instance — following this, admission to an applicant's
college of choice is essentially guaranteed.
Sports and recreation
There is a long tradition at Cambridge of student participation in sports and recreational pursuits. Rowing is a particularly popular sport 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, including rugby, cricket, chess and tiddlywinks. Representing the university in certain sports entitles the athlete to apply for a blue at the discretion of a Blues Committee consisting of the
captains of the thirteen most prestigious sports]. [2] (http://www.sport.cam.ac.uk/committees/meetings.html) The Cambridge Union is a focus for politics and debating. There are many drama societies, notably
including the Amateur Dramatic Club (ADC) and the comedy club Footlights.
Student newspapers include the long-established Varsity and its younger rival The Cambridge Student.
Legends and myths
There are also a number of myths associated with Cambridge University and its history, some of which should be taken less
seriously than others.
One famous myth relates to Queens'
College Mathematical Bridge (pictured below), which was
supposedly designed by Sir Isaac Newton to hold itself together
without any bolts or screws. It was also supposedly taken apart by inquisitive students who were then unable to reassemble it.
The story is false, as the bridge was actually erected 22 years after Newton's death. It is thought that this myth arises from
the fact that earlier versions of the bridge used iron pins and screws at the joints, whereas the current bridge uses nuts and
bolts, which are more visible.
A true legend is that of the wooden spoon, which was
the 'prize' awarded to the student with the lowest passing grade in the final examinations of the Mathematical Tripos. It was last 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, with a blade for a handle. From 1910 results were published alphabetically within
class as opposed to score order, which made it harder to ascertain who the winner of the spoon was (unless there was only one
person in the third class), and so reluctantly the practice was abandoned.
More recently, the legend of the Austin Seven delivery van which "went up in the world" is recounted in detail on the Caius College website. [3] (http://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/college/past/legend/index.php)
Miscellaneous
Cambridge has a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (see the Cambridge-MIT Institute). The university is closely linked
with the high-technology businesses in the Cambridge area (see Silicon Fen).
The university and the Cambridge area have also been financially supported by several prominent figures in the technology world,
including Gordon Moore of Intel Corporation and Bill Gates of Microsoft. In 2000, Gates set up the Gates Scholarships to help students from outside the UK study at
Cambridge.
In the Meiji Era (1868-1912) several Japanese students studied at the University. See here (http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/hatenkou.html) for details. In Japan, there is a
Cambridge and Oxford Society [4] (http://www.camford.org/index.htm), a
rare example of the name Cambridge coming before Oxford — traditionally, the order used when referring to both universities
is "Oxford and Cambridge", even though "C" precedes "O" in the Latin
alphabet. The probable reason for the inversion is that the Cambridge Club was founded first in Japan, and also it had more
members than its Oxford counterpart when they amalgamated in 1905.
Colleges
This list does not include several historical colleges which no longer exist. Some examples of these are:
- King's Hall (which was founded in 1317)
- Gonville Hall
- Michaelhouse (which King Henry VIII combined with
King's Hall to make Trinity in 1546).
Cambridge University in literature
Fiction
See also the list of Fictional Cambridge Colleges
Non-fiction
- A concise history of the University of Cambridge, by Elisabeth Leedham-Green, Cambridge University Press, 1996,
ISBN 0521439787, ISBN 9780521439787
- A history of the University of Cambridge, by Christopher N.L. Brooke, Cambridge University Press (4 volumes) ISBN 0521328829, ISBN 052135059X, ISBN 0521350603, ISBN 052134350X
- Bedders, bulldogs and bedells: a Cambridge glossary, by Frank Stubbings, Cambridge 1995
- Japanese Students at Cambridge University in the Meiji Era, 1868-1912: Pioneers for the Modernization of Japan
[5] (http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/hatenkou.html), by Noboru Koyama, translated by Ian
Ruxton, Lulu Press, September 2004, ISBN
1411612566). This book includes information about the wooden spoon and the university in the 19th century as well as the
Japanese students.
- Teaching and Learning in 19th century Cambridge, by J. Smith and C. Stray (ed.), Boydell Press, 2001
- The Architectural History of the University of Cambridge and of the Colleges of Cambridge and Eton, Robert Willis,
Edited by John Willis Clark, 1988. Three volume set, Cambridge University Press ISBN 0521358515
- The Cambridge Apostles: A History of Cambridge University's Elite Intellectual Secret Society, by Richard Deacon,
Cassell, 1985, ISBN 0947728139
Societies and leisure activities
Organisations and institutions associated with the university
Miscellaneous
External links
|
