University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is the List_of_oldest_universities_in_continuous_operation university in the English language world. It was probably founded in 1209 by scholars escaping from Oxford after a fight with locals there. Like the other very early universities, it was not exactly "founded" in the sense that later institutions were: it grew out of an association of scholars. The university is situated in Cambridge, England, and its presence dominates much of the city. 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. [http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/nobelprize.html] It has often topped League Tables of British Universities ranking British universities, and a recent, although often disputed, ranking by the Times Higher Education Supplement rated Cambridge first in the world for science, as well as sixth worldwide overall. The universities of University 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 == Senate_House_(Cambridge_University),_Gonville_and_Caius_College,_Cambridge_and_the_University_Church_(Great_St._Mary's)_from_King's_Parade">Image:CambridgeTownCentre.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Left to Right: The Senate House (Cambridge University), Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and the University Church (Great St. Mary's) from King's Parade The thirty-one Colleges of the University of Cambridge 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 Tutorials. In Cambridge, "the university" often means the University as opposed to the Colleges. Cambridge is a member of the Russell Group, 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 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The current Vice-Chancellor is Alison Fettes Richard. The office of Chancellor, who holds office for life, is mainly symbolic, while the Vice-Chancellor (as is usual at British universities) is the real executive chief. The University is governed entirely by its own members, with no outside representation in its governing bodies. Ultimate authority lies with the Regent House, of which all current Cambridge academic staff are members, but most business is carried out by the Council. The Senate consists of all holders of the M.A. degree or higher degrees. It elects the Chancellor, but otherwise has not had a major role since 1926. == History == Colleges were originally an incidental feature of the system: no college is as old as the university itself. They were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, which were called Hostels at Cambridge but Halls at Oxford (which causes confusion since the terms College and Hall were used interchangeably in Cambridge). The first college to be founded was Peterhouse, Cambridge, 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 College, Cambridge, 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 of England 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. Clare_College,_Cambridge_(left)_and_King's_College,_Cambridge_Chapel_(centre),_seen_from_The_Backs">Image:KingsCollegeChapelWest.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Clare College, Cambridge (left) and King's College, Cambridge Chapel (centre), seen from The Backs 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 from the time of Isaac Newton until the mid-19th century, and study of this subject was compulsory for graduation. Students awarded British undergraduate degree classification after completing the maths course were named wranglers. The mathematics Tripos was competitive and helped produce some of the most famous names in British science, including James Clerk Maxwell, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, and John Strutt, 3rd Baron 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. 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. Originally, all students were male. The first colleges for women were Girton College in 1869 and Newnham College, Cambridge 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 University of Oxford. It is sometimes stated that Cambridge did not give degrees to women until this date: although true this is misleading. From the nineteenth century women were allowed to study courses, sit examinations, and have the result recorded: this was treated by other institutions as a degree. In the twentieth century women could be given a "titular degree". The difference was that without a full degree women were excluded from the governing of the university. Hence it was a denial of the vote rather than of a qualification. Because it was necessary to belong to a residential college, and all the old colleges were for men only, the number of women students was severely limited by the smaller number of women's colleges until the 1960s, when the men's colleges began to go mixed. One women's college (Girton) went mixed, but the others took the view that until the gender ratio problem was completely solved they should not limit the number of women's places by admitting men. Of the current 31 colleges, 28 are mixed, while three admit women only (Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, New Hall, Cambridge and Newnham College, Cambridge). Three colleges admit graduate students only (Clare Hall, Cambridge, Darwin College, Cambridge and Wolfson College, Cambridge). == 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 they are applying for 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 Sixth Term Examination Paper 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 successful applicants from state schools. Graduate admission is decided by the faculty or department relating to the applicant's subject — following this, admission to a college (not necessarily the applicant's preferred choice) is 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 football, cricket, chess and tiddlywinks. Representing the university in certain sports entitles the athlete to apply for a Cambridge Blue at the discretion of a ''Blues Committee'' consisting of the captains of the thirteen most prestigious sports. [http://www.sport.cam.ac.uk/committees/meetings.html] The Cambridge Union is a focus for politics and debating. There are also many drama societies, notably the Amateur Dramatic Club (ADC) and the comedy club Footlights. Student newspapers include the long-established ''Varsity (newspaper)'' and its younger rival, ''The Cambridge Student''. == Myths and Legends == [[Image:Mathematicians_bridge_cambridge_large.jpg|thumb|350px|right|The Mathematical Bridge over the river Cam (at Queens' College, Cambridge)]] There are a number of popular 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, Cambridge's so-called Mathematical Bridge (pictured right), which was supposedly constructed 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 without the use of bolts. The story is false, as the bridge was 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 (award), which was the 'prize' awarded to the student with the lowest passing grade in the final examinations of the Mathematical Tripos. The last of many spoons was awarded in 1909 to Cuthbert Lempriere Holthouse, an oarsman of the Lady Margaret Boat Club of St John's College, Cambridge. 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 Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge website. [http://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/college/past/legend/index.php] == Miscellaneous == [[Image:StJohnsCambNewCourt.jpg|thumb|right|350px|St Johns College New Court and Chapel seen from The Backs]] Building on its reputation for science and technology, Cambridge has a partnership with MIT in the United States, the Cambridge-MIT Institute. The university is also closely linked with many of the high-tech businesses in and around Cambridge, which form the area known as Silicon Fen. Cambridge businesses and the university 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, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation set up the Gates Scholarships to help students from outside the UK study at Cambridge. The University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory is also housed in a building partly funded by Gates and named after him. After Cambridge was recognised as a Studium generale in the 13th century, it became common for researchers from other European medieval universities to come and visit Cambridge to study or to give lecture courses. In the Meiji Era (1868-1912), several Japanese students studied at the university.[http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/hatenkou.html]. In Japan, there is a Cambridge and Oxford Society[http://www.camford.org/index.htm], a rare example of the name Cambridge coming before Oxford when the two universities are referred to together — 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 this inversion is that the Cambridge Club was founded first in Japan, and it also had more members than its Oxford counterpart when they amalgamated in 1905. ==Colleges== Trinity_College,_Cambridge,_Gonville_and_Caius_College,_Cambridge_and_Clare_College,_Cambridge_towards_King's_College,_Cambridge_Chapel,_seen_from_St_Johns_College,_Cambridge_chapel._On_the_left,_just_in_front_of_Kings_College_chapel,_is_the_University_Senate_House_(Cambridge_University)">Image:Cam_colls_from_johns.jpg|thumb|right|350px|View over Trinity College, Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Clare College, Cambridge towards King's College, Cambridge Chapel, seen from St Johns College, Cambridge chapel. On the left, just in front of Kings College chapel, is the University Senate House (Cambridge University) {| !align=left|College !Founded ! |- |Christ's College, Cambridge |1505 |[http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Churchill College, Cambridge |1960 |[http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Clare College, Cambridge |1326 |[http://www.clare.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Clare Hall, Cambridge |1965 |[http://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Corpus Christi College, Cambridge |1352 |[http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Darwin College, Cambridge |1964 |[http://www.dar.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Downing College, Cambridge |1800 |[http://www.dow.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Emmanuel College, Cambridge |1584 |[http://www.emma.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge |1966 |[http://www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Girton College, Cambridge |1869 |[http://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |1348 |[http://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Homerton College, Cambridge |1976 |[http://www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Hughes Hall, Cambridge |1885 |[http://www.hughes.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Jesus College, Cambridge |1496 |[http://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |King's College, Cambridge |1441 |[http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge |1965 |[http://www.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Magdalene College, Cambridge |1428 |[http://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |New Hall, Cambridge |1954 |[http://www.newhall.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Newnham College, Cambridge |1871 |[http://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Pembroke College, Cambridge |1347 |[http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Peterhouse, Cambridge |1284 |[http://www.pet.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Queens' College, Cambridge |1448 |[http://www.quns.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Robinson College, Cambridge |1979 |[http://www.robinson.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |St Catharine's College, Cambridge |1473 |[http://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |St Edmund's College, Cambridge |1896 |[http://www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |St John's College, Cambridge |1511 |[http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Selwyn College, Cambridge |1882 |[http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |1596 |[http://www.sid.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Trinity College, Cambridge |1546 |[http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Trinity Hall, Cambridge |1350 |[http://www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |- |Wolfson College, Cambridge |1965 |[http://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/ Website] |} 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 (founded in 1348 and re-founded in 1557 as Gonville & Caius) *Michaelhouse (which Henry VIII of England combined with King's Hall to make Trinity in 1546). ==Cambridge University in literature== ===Fiction=== *''Porterhouse Blue'' and its sequel ''Grantchester Grind'', features the fictional Porterhouse College. * ''The Glittering Prizes'' by Frederic Raphael. *''Chariots of Fire'', 1981 film *''Doctor Who'' episode ''Shada'' written by Douglas Adams *Douglas Adams' ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' *''Darkness at Pemberley'' by T. H. White *''The Masters'' and ''the Affair'' by C.P. Snow (features an unnamed fictional college, partly based on his own college, Christ's) *''All Sorts and Conditions of Men'' by Sir Walter Besant * ''For the sake of Elena'' by Elizabeth George. * ''High Table, Lower Orders'' BBC Radio serial broadcast in 2005 based in a college with some resemblance to Magdalene. See also the list of 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, 1988-2004, ISBN 0521328829, ISBN 052135059X, ISBN 0521350603, ISBN 052134350X * ''Bedders, bulldogs and bedells: a Cambridge glossary'', by Frank Stubbings, Cambridge 1995 ISBN 0521479789 * ''Japanese Students at Cambridge University in the Meiji Era, 1868-1912: Pioneers for the Modernization of Japan'' [http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/hatenkou.html], by Noboru Koyama, translated by Ian Ruxton [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/1/prweb201396.htm], 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 ISBN 0851157831 * ''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 == See also == === Assorted alumni === *Isaac Newton (Trinity) *Stephen Hawking (Trinity Hall, Gonville & Caius) *Charles Darwin (Christ's) *John Harvard (clergyman) (Emmanuel) *Sir Francis Bacon (Trinity) *John Maynard Keynes (King's) *Ernest Rutherford (Trinity) *James Clerk Maxwell (Trinity) *Niels Bohr (Trinity) *Oliver Cromwell (Sidney Sussex) *Charles Babbage (Peterhouse) *Desiderius Erasmus (Queens') *John Venn (Gonville & Caius) *Paul Dirac (St John's) *Alfred North Whitehead (Trinity) *Bertrand Russell (Trinity) *Ludwig Wittgenstein (Trinity) *E.M. Forster (King's) *Sylvia Plath (Newnham) *Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Jesus) *Siegfried Sassoon (Clare) *Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Trinity) *William Wordsworth (St John's) *Salman Rushdie (King's) *Lord Byron (Trinity) *William Harvey (Gonville & Caius) *Ted Hughes (Pembroke) *Douglas Adams (St John's) *A. A. Milne (Trinity) *Graham Chapman (Emmanuel) *John Cleese (Downing) *Peter Cook (Pembroke) *CS Lewis (Magdalene) *Germaine Greer (Newnham) *Stephen Fry (Queens') *Ian McKellen (St Catharine's) *Charles, Prince of Wales (Trinity) *Alan Turing (King's) *And many more. See List of University of Cambridge people. === History and traditions === *Cambridge University List of Professorships at the University of Cambridge, List of Chancellors of the University of Cambridge and List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge *List of Oxbridge sister colleges *Oxbridge scarf colours *Academic dress of Cambridge University === Societies and leisure activities === *See complete list on the [http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/ University website] *May balls *The Boat Race against Oxford University *Punt (boat) *The Cambridge Union Society *Varsity (newspaper) and The Cambridge Student, the student newspapers. *Cambridge Apostles *Cambridge University Association Football League === Organisations and institutions associated with the university === *Cambridge University Press *Cambridge University Library *University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate *Coimbra Group, Russell Group, Auto-ID Labs *The Cambridge Union *Phoenix (computer) *Westminster Quarters *West Cambridge *Sidgwick Site *The Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU) === Miscellaneous === * UK topics == External links == * [http://www.cam.ac.uk/ University of Cambridge official website] * [http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/pubs/history/ A Short History of the University] - from the official website * [http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/v-c/vicechancellors.html Historical list of Vice-Chancellors] * [http://www.varsity.co.uk/ Varsity] - a student newspaper * [http://www.cusu.cam.ac.uk/tcs/ The Cambridge Student (TCS)] - a student newspaper * [http://www.srcf.ucam.org/gown/ Gown] - the graduate magazine * [http://www.cambridge2000.com/cambridge2000/ Cambridge 2000] - a large collection of photographs of Cambridge architecture * [http://www.quns.cam.ac.uk/Queens/Misc/jargon/CUjargon-all.html Cambridge University jargon] * [http://www.camcity.co.uk/ Cambridge Search Engine] - a comprehensive city guide and directory with thousands of pages of local information contributed by Cambridge residents * [http://www.cam.ac.uk/map/v3/drawmap.cgi?mp=city Interactive map] - A well designed zoomable map linking to all the University departments and colleges * [http://www.coimbra-group.be Coimbra Group] (Network of leading European universities) * [http://www.cambridgeincolour.com Cambridge in Colour] (Cambridge University Photography) * [http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2004/top500(1-100).htm Cambridge is currently ranked 3rd-best university in the world] University of Cambridge English universities th:มหาวิทยาลัยเคมบริดจ์

University of Cambridge

== What is a fellow? == I am searching for the meaning of "Fellow", such as Research Fellow. What does a fellow have to do, or how much education is needed to become a fellow? Cannot find in reference books... Thanks, Allison Bilbao abilbao@aol.com :In this context, a fellow is a role within a college. Duties and status vary widely. A research fellow is most frequently a junior post-doc-ish position. A fellow of a college may or may not have a separate position in the university. User:Matthew Woodcraft == Relative age of ancient colleges == There appears to be a little internal controversy over foundation dates =). This article, and the college's own site, claim that Clare was founded before my college, Pembroke (Clare is claimed for 1326, Pembroke claims 1347). However, Pembroke's website claims that it is the "third oldest college". Since we have 1284 for Peterhouse and 1317 for King's Hall, someone has to be lying :). Unless Pembroke don't consider King's Hall a "college", possibly. Anyone got any ideas? --user:AdamWill :Yes, Pembroke mean 'third oldest surviving college'. Michaelhouse also was older than Clare and Pembroke. User:Matthew Woodcraft == What is a tripos? == On Bachelor's degree there is a reference to the Tripos of Cambridge in relation to the granting of honors degrees. Can anyone explain it? User:Rmhermen 15:28, Jan 21, 2004 (UTC) Approximately ''Tripos'' means subject. i.e. Mathematics Tripos, English Tripos etc. I'll investigate. User:DJ Clayworth 15:36, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC) see Tripos User:DJ Clayworth 22:07, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC) :User:Charles Matthews and User:Oliver Periera should be able to furnish you with more detail if you press them. They are alumni of the university. User:Pcb21 User_talk:Pcb21 22:23, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC) (apologies in advance to those two if they don't want that info public - if so please delete this message) ::Tripos == an honours examination, apparently. See http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/prospectus/tripos.html or http://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/admissions/teaching.html . User:Penfold 15:27, Mar 27, 2004 (UTC) :: Formally, the word "tripos" describes the examination, yes. Informally, however, it is used for almost everything relating to it: The course and its syllabus, the examination, the qualification obtained, and sometimes (rarely) even the department or buildings associated with a subject. — User:Timwi 16:41, 27 Mar 2004 (UTC) ::My understanding is that Tripos originally refered to three legged stools that students sat on when taking exams! User:Jp347 18:25, 21 May 2004 (UTC) ::Triposes were originally the 3-legged stools that viva exams were taken on. Now it generally applies to the Cambridge system of Parts of a degree, generally Parts 1A, 1B, and 2 are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years respectively. You can take differing Parts 1 and 2 (Part 3 is often a 4th Masters year), and still get "A Cambridge Degree". They are structured like this to allow widely-based studies in Part 1, leading to increasingly specialised Parts 2 and 3. For instance, in the Medical Sciences, Part 1 is the basic Medical undergraduate studies, then Part 2 (3rd year) is available for specialisation in, say, Medical Law and Ethics, or Biochemistry, Anatomy, Genetics, etc. and if you wish, with your tutor's and DoS's permission, you can jump to almost any other Part II on completion of your Part 1, so long as it is considered "beneficial to your education". For that, read "we think you're serious and you'll do well."User:Wee Jimmy 23:26, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC) == Is the University wealthy? How about the colleges? == Is Cambridge University itself not wealthy? I was under the impression that even aside from collegiate wealth it was by no means poor. User:Arbiter :You can see the financial statements at [http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2003-04/special/08/]. In 2002 the university had total investments of about �850m[http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2003-04/special/08]. (The BBC says they had investments of �1200m in 2001[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1436211.stm] but I'm assuming they included the colleges in that.). Anyway, compare this to Trinity (by far the richest college) which apparently had assets of �310m in 1997 with income of �19m [http://www.btinternet.com/~akme/accounts.html]. This year I can't find figures on its assets, but the college accounts give a figure of income of =25m [http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/show.php?dowid=130]; if the investment value has risen in proportion we could estimate it's about �407m now. So, very roughly, the university is twice as rich as Trinity. :AFAIK, this wasn't so in the past; in the last century or so the university has had to increase its ownership of real property because so much more scientific research is being done, which is expensive and done at a university level and not by the colleges. :The figures the BBC gives for 2001 show the wealth of various redbrick universities, none of which come close to these figures even if we don't count collegiate wealth. User:Marnanel 02:57, Apr 12, 2004 (UTC) ::It is undoubtedly true the nominal wealth has increased dramatically due to property. It seems appropiate here to mention the Cambridge2000 project - someone's fantastic pet project to photograph the whole of Cambridge. See in particular [http://www.cambridge2000.com/cambridge2000/html/date_built/date_built.html] which is an index to all the buildings he has photographed, indexed by date of building... you soon realise how many University buildings have been built over the last 40 years or so! User:Pcb21 User_talk:Pcb21 14:13, 12 Apr 2004 (UTC) I think the University being roughly twice as rich as Trinity is remarkable more due to Trinity's wealth than anything else - I think the point about comparative wealth with the redbricks should be noted - perhaps the line under debate in the Univ of Cambridge Article is misleading? == "One of the most prestigious universities": weasel words? == :''Widely regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world'' The above line was recently added to the second sentence. Although it may well be true, it smells rather weasely (in the sense of Wikipedia:Avoid weasel terms). Could we say something more definitive? User:Pcb21 User_talk:Pcb21 08:49, 13 May 2004 (UTC) : Well, we ''can'' - we can say it's "the best undergraduate university for science in the world", for example, or that it's "one of the world leaders in computer security research", or that it's "perhaps the most widely-recoginised non-American university in the world", or... But I can't think of anything NPOV that we can say, because there is and probably never will be a proper analysis done of the world's universities, because they're all from slightly different cultures and so work in slightly different ways, and so on... : User:Jdforrester User_talk:Jdforrester 18:50, 21 May 2004 (UTC) : Well, I suppose you could say that it has had more Nobel prize winners associated with it than any other university, or that you 'believed' that the university is held in high regard by many, but when it comes to such words like 'best' and 'greatest', people tend to be offended and such words are generally highly contentious. That said, someone did do some table of the 100 "best" universities in the world (The Times Uni Guide 2004 mentioned it) and Cambridge came 3rd, the ighest non-USA institution in the world. --User:Wee Jimmy 21:07, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Date of foundation of the University? == Does anybody know when Cambridge University was founded, as the Ancient Universities page contradicts the UK Universities page, and the Cambridge University page. I think oxford may have the same problem. User:Jp347 18:27, 21 May 2004 (UTC) :I don't think anyone knows exactly for sure. User:Marnanel 14:37, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC) : The short answer is, no-one knows. They started off as localised gatherings of scholars, where students came to study, but there was no unified body, as such. As the student and scholar numbers grew, firstly houses and then halls and hostels were taken over to provide residence. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge at first were just federations of these halls to give themselves a level of protection, as town/gown relations were never that great. The universities were never founded as such, they gradually took form. As for earliest records, Oxford was eminent enough to attract foreign scholars of note by 1115, and the traditional founding of Cambridge is 1209, allegedly when eminent scholars from Oxford fled after a particularly vicious fight between town and gown, where several students were lynched. I hope this answers your question. User:Wee Jimmy 23:26, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC) == Move alumni to separate page? == It seems everybody wants to put their favourite alumni on the list, and it's growing rather long. Maybe the list should move to a separate page? What do people think? User:Stephen Turner 10:23, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC) : I agree. I've moved it. Unfortunately I gave it small letters and wasn't skilled enough to work out how to rename the page so it would be great if someone could correct this. By the way there is also a duplicate list of Colleges of the University of Cambridge which should I assume be merged with the list on this page. --User:Cjnm 14:29, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC) ::I fixed the links: List of alumni of the University of Cambridge 00:02, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC) I removed [http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.html this link] from the page because it didn't work. Archived here incase it was just my browser or a temporary problem. User:131.111.212.183 18:17, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC) == Wooden spoon statement == What is the source of the statement that "They stopped awarding the wooden spoon when they learned some students were attempting to win it."? The proposal of the reform including the abolition of the order of merit (Cambridge University Reporter, 1905-6, pp 740-746) and the subsequent Discussion (pp 873-890) mention the problem of the order of merit causing students at the top to devote too much effort to doing well in the examination on elementary mathematics at the expense of learning real mathematics, but not undesired effects on the behaviour of students at the bottom. I don't recall such a mention in the minutes of the Board of Mathematical Studies / Special Board of Mathematics, 1848-1916 (Cambridge University Archives: Min.V.7) either. But there may have been issues left unsaid in the official proposals and the formal Discussion; I haven't e.g. looked at what may have been said at the time in the Cambridge Review, or at what was said in Discussion of the unsuccessful 1900 reform attempt. User:Joseph Myers 01:26, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC) I removed this statement after no verification was provided. User:Joseph Myers 23:39, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC) ==Alumni== Hi Richie, I reverted your edit because it deleted some well-known alumni. I don't know whether you intended that. Let me know if you object. User:SlimVirgin ^{User_talk:SlimVirgin} 16:04, May 2, 2005 (UTC) Copied from User talk:Richie: I suppose I do agree, otherwise the list will be endless. But it's hard to judge the criteria for inclusion in such a short list. For example, I see that Turing is not there (this is based on a glance, so I could be wrong) and nor is Keynes. On the other hand, more WP readers will have heard of Peter Cooke and John Cleese than Turing or Keynes. So do we go by fame or by significance of work? User:SlimVirgin ^{User_talk:SlimVirgin} 17:04, May 2, 2005 (UTC) :I think we should find a balance between fame and significance of work (focus). This should also be seen more generally and not too UK-centric. I don't know Peter Cook, but think that John Cleese definitely deserves to be listed there. I would also like to see Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G) listed there, but I accept that some wouldn't like this. I would remove John Harvard (clergyman) Sylvia Plath, Siegfried Sassoon, Ted Hughes and Graham Chapman from the list, maybe also William Harvey. Added Turing. — User:Richie 19:29, 2 May 2005 (UTC) ::Richie, we should probably have this discussion on the talk page there, so I'm copying this to there. However, I'd say that Peter Cook is probably a more eminent comedian than John Cleese, Sacha Baron Cohen I wouldn't include, and I'd see no argument for excluding Ted Hughes as a poet laureate. Perhaps we should just leave it until it becomes too large, which hasn't happened yet. User:SlimVirgin ^{User_talk:SlimVirgin} 19:53, May 2, 2005 (UTC) == Myths and Legends == This section needs to be fixed. A portion of the history section has been pasted here. User:193.1.100.102 :Fixed, I think. Thanks for pointing it out. User:SlimVirgin ^{User_talk:SlimVirgin} 20:43, May 24, 2005 (UTC)

University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

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University of Cambridge

Oxbridge Cambridgeshire Cambridge Education in Cambridgeshire

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