University of Cambridge United Kingdom

University of Cambridge  United Kingdom

 

 

University of Cambridge  United Kingdom

The University is a confederation of Schools, Faculties, Departments and Colleges. The Colleges are governed by their own statutes and regulations, but are integral to the make-up of the University of Cambridge.

Colleges

Students live, eat and socialise in one of the University’s 31 autonomous Colleges. Undergraduates receive College supervisions – small group teaching sessions – regarded as one of the best teaching models in the world.

Each College has its own internal procedures. They select their own students, subject to University regulations, and most admit both undergraduate and postgraduate students. College representatives sit on the University Council and Finance Committee.

Schools

There are six Schools, which each form an administrative grouping of Faculties and other institutions. They are: Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Clinical Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Technology.

There is a Council of each School – including representatives of its Faculties and Departments. The Schools are represented on the General Board.

Faculties and Departments

University Faculties organise teaching and research into individual subjects or groups of subjects. Their work is normally organised into sub-divisions called Departments.

Centres of studies are controlled by committees of management, bringing together representatives from several disciplines.


With more than 18,000 students from all walks of life and all corners of the world, nearly 9,000 staff, 31 Colleges and 150 Departments, Faculties, Schools and other institutions, no two days are ever the same at the University of Cambridge.

At the heart of this confederation of Departments, Schools, Faculties and Colleges is a central administration team. It is small because the Colleges are self-governing and teaching staff carry out much of the daily administration at Cambridge.

The University of Cambridge is rich in history - its famous Colleges and University buildings attract visitors from all over the world. But the University's museums and collections also hold many treasures which give an exciting insight into some of the scholarly activities, both past and present, of the University's academics and students.

The University of Cambridge is one of the world's oldest universities and leading academic centres, and a self-governed community of scholars. Its reputation for outstanding academic achievement is known world-wide and reflects the intellectual achievement of its students, as well as the world-class original research carried out by the staff of the University and the Colleges.

Many of the University's customs and unusual terminology can be traced to roots in the early years of the University's long history, and this booklet looks to the past to find the origins of much that is distinctive in the University of today.

This period has seen an accelerated rate of development in almost every direction. The reputation of Cambridge scientists had already been established in the late nineteenth century by Clerk Maxwell and the Darwins among others and was maintained afterwards by J. J. Thomson, Lord Rayleigh and Lord Rutherford. Work done by their pupils and associates during the Second World War greatly increased this reputation and large numbers of students anxious to use the laboratories flocked to the University and to the growing number of government-sponsored institutions established in the town (which was chartered as a city in 1951). University departments and research institutes were established as new areas of study developed, and with them new teaching courses.

The 1950s and 1960s saw an unprecedented expansion of the University's teaching accommodation. Some older departmental and faculty buildings were replaced - for instance, those for Chemistry and Engineering - and the growing arts faculties received permanent accommodation for the first time, notably in the complex of buildings on the Sidgwick Avenue Site. Development of a huge new regional general hospital south of the city, eventually replacing the ancient Addenbrooke's Hospital in the city centre, provided the nucleus for a wide range of medically related departments and institutes, including a new School of Clinical Medicine. The need for more space than could be made available on the cramped central sites led to dispersal of other departments, notably the Cavendish Laboratory to a spacious site west of Cambridge in the 1970s. The west Cambridge expansion continues today, and the area now houses many facilities including the Computer Laboratory and the Centre for Nanoscience.

Social and cultural activities were not neglected, and in this period a permanent social centre for graduate students and staff - the University Centre - was established with funds provided by the Wolfson Foundation, a purpose-built music school and concert hall was built, again partly from benefactions, the University Library was again extended, the modern art collection of Kettle's Yard was acquired and enlarged, and England's oldest University playhouse, the ADC, opened by the Amateur Dramatic Club in 1855, was leased by the University and refurbished as a centre for undergraduate drama. Such developments as these showed an increasing awareness of the wider responsibilities of the University, both to its own members and to the community at large.

More directly related to its core activities was the development named 'the Cambridge Phenomenon', the rapid and successful growth of science-based industry in and around the city, much of it deriving from research conducted in University laboratories. Crucial in this process was the establishment of the Cambridge Science Park by Trinity College, an innovation which has now grown vastly in size and which has been followed by other similar developments. The University's own Industrial Liaison Office began in the 1970s with the support of the Wolfson Foundation, and has now developed into the Research Office.

Meanwhile the undergraduate numbers were increased after the war by the admission to full membership from 1947 of women students, by the foundation of a third women's College, New Hall (1954, now Murray Edwards College), as well as the foundation of Churchill (1960) and Robinson (1977). More revolutionary steps were taken in the 1960s. Four new Colleges were established to provide fellowships for some of the growing number of teaching and research staff, as well as more places for research students (Darwin, Wolfson, Clare Hall and Lucy Cavendish). Some older foundations originally loosely connected with the University - Hughes Hall, St Edmund's and Homerton - were recognised as Colleges. The older men's Colleges now began to admit women students and appoint women Fellows. Now 'co-residence' is usual, but three Colleges admit women students only - Newnham, New Hall (now Murray Edwards College), and Lucy Cavendish.

The University has a central senior administrative team, responsible for the management of the University. Academic, research and support staff work throughout the University and Colleges; they are crucial to the University’s success and reputation.

The Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor

The Chancellor is elected for life as the constitutional head of the University although the role is now largely ceremonial. The Chancellor is elected by the Senate, which comprises all senior graduates of the University. In modern times, the Chancellor's principal public role has been the conferment of Honorary Degrees at an impressive annual ceremony, but this is only a small aspect of his continuous overall involvement with the University.

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh stood down as Chancellor at the end of June 2011 having served since election in 1976. An election for his successor took place in Cambridge on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th October 2011.

The Vice-Chancellor is appointed for a period of seven years and is the University’s main academic and administrative officer.

Pro-Vice-Chancellors

Five Pro-Vice-Chancellors are appointed to support the ViceChancellor. Their responsibilities are determined by the ViceChancellor and the Council – the University’s main executive and policy-making body – and currently include planning and resources, research and education. The office of Pro-ViceChancellor is limited to six years.

The Registrary

The Registrary, reporting to the Vice-Chancellor, is the principal administrative officer of the University and head of the Unified Administrative Services, which is divided into functional divisions for the day to day management of the University.

Proctors

Two Proctors are elected annually on the nomination of the Colleges. They are primarily disciplinary and ceremonial officers, responsible for maintaining good order in the University. They are supported by four Pro-Proctors.

Mission

The mission of the University of Cambridge is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

Core values

The University's core values are as follows:

freedom of thought and expression
freedom from discrimination
Education

the encouragement of a questioning spirit
an extensive range of academic subjects in all major subject groups
quality and depth of provision across all subjects
the close inter-relationship between teaching, scholarship, and research
strong support for individual researchers as well as research groups
residence in Cambridge as central to most courses
education which enhances the ability of students to learn throughout life
The University's relationship with society

the widest possible student access to the University
the contribution which the University can make to society through the pursuit, dissemination, and application of knowledge
the place of the University within the broader academic and local community
opportunities for innovative partnerships with business, charitable foundations, and healthcare
concern for sustainability and the relationship with the environment
The Collegiate University

the relationship between the University and the Colleges as fundamental to the nature of Cambridge
the interdisciplinary nature of the Colleges as a major stimulus to teaching and learning
the enhanced quality of experience for students and staff through College membership
University staff

recognition and reward of the University's staff as its greatest asset
the encouragement of career development for all staff
Other activities

the opportunities for broadening the experience of students and staff through participation in sport, music, drama, the visual arts, and other cultural activities