Widely regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world, the
is the second oldest in the English-speaking world (after
Oxford). According to
legend, the
University in
England was founded in
1209 by
scholars escaping Oxford after a fight with locals.
Cambridge and the
University_of_Oxford, referred to together as
Oxbridge, vie for the position of best overall university in the UK (see
Oxbridge_rivalry). Together, they produce a significant proportion of Britain's and the world's prominent
scientists,
writers and
politicians. In addition, both are members of the
Russell_Group_of_Universities. Cambridge has produced more
Nobel_prize winners than any other university, having some 80 associated with it, 70 of whom were students there. It also regularly heads
league tables ranking British universities.
The thirty-one
Colleges of the University are independent institutions, separate from the University itself, and they enjoy considerable autonomy. For example, Colleges decide which students they are to admit (though this is under review in
2003), are responsible for the welfare and domestic arrangements of students and for small group teaching ('
supervisions'). They appoint their own 'fellows' (senior members). Many of the colleges are also quite wealthy (in some cases very wealthy), while the university is less so.
Admission to Cambridge colleges used to be dependent on knowledge of Latin and Greek, subjects taught principally in Britain at
public_schools - restricting entry to members of the British social elite. Since the 1960s, changing attitudes (not least amongst Cambridge academics) have meant a shift to an admission process that aims at strict meritocracy. Cambridge undergraduates from Britain are expected to have the best, or nearly the best,
A-level qualifications available and to impress College fellows at interviews.
The first
College was
Peterhouse founded in
1284 by
Hugh_Balsham,
Bishop of
Ely. The second-oldest College is King's Hall which was founded in
1317, though it no longer exists as a separate entity. Many other colleges were founded during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A full list of Colleges is given below, though some, such as Michaelhouse (which
King Henry VIII combined with King's Hall to make Trinity in
1546) and Gonville Hall no longer exist. The newest college is
Robinson, built in the late 1970s, although
as_of_2004, there are plans to expand the university by increasing the size of existing colleges and (possibly) adding new ones.
During the early times, the Colleges were founded so that their students would pray for the souls of the founders and were often associated with chapels, if not abbeys. In conjunction with the
Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries, in
1536 King
Henry VIII ordered the University to disband its Faculty of Canon Law and to stop teaching "scholastic philosophy." So instead of focusing on canon law, the colleges' curricula then became centered on the Greek and Latin classics, the Bible, and mathematics. The university today teaches and researches a complete range of subjects.
King's College Chapel, seen from The Backs
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 31 Colleges, three are now for women only (
Lucy Cavendish,
New Hall, and
Newnham College), and four are for graduate students only (
Clare Hall,
Darwin,
Wolfson and
St Edmund's).
A Cambridge exam for the Bachelor of Arts degree 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 up 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 it helped produce some of the most famous names in British science, including
Lord Kelvin,
Stokes and
Maxwell. However, some famous students, such as
Hardy disliked the system, feeling that people were too interested in accumulating large numbers of marks in exams and not interested in the subject itself.
The 'Wooden Spoon' was the 'prize' awarded to the last-placed student in the Mathematical Tripos. It was last awarded in 1909 to C. L. Holthouse, an oarsman of the Lady Margaret Boat Club (St. John's College). It was over one metre in length, with a blade for a handle.
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