Cambridge

Cambridge is situated at a distance of 70 miles from London; the greater part of the town lies on the left bank of the river Cam crossed by several bridges.

The oldest college is Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284. The most recent is Robinson College. The most famous is probably King’s, because of its magnificent chapel.

The University was exclusively for men until 1871 when the first women’s college was opened. In the1970s most colleges opened their doors both men and women. Almost all colleges are mixed now, but it will be many years before there are equal numbers of both sexes. Until today there are more than 20 colleges in Cambridge. Each college has its own building, its own internal organization, its own staff and students. In order to enter the University, one must first apply to a college and become a member of the University through the college. The colleges are not connected with any particular study. Students studying literature and those trained for physics may belong to one and the same college.

The college is governed by twenty or thirty “fellows”. Fellows of a college are tutors. Each tutor has 10-12 students reading under his guidance. Tutors teach their own subject to those students in the college who are studying it, and they are responsible for their progress.

Every college is governed by a dean. Discipline is looked after by proctors and numerous minor officials called “bulldogs”.

Students study at the University for four years, three terms a year. Long vocations last about three months.

“Your name and college, sir?”

There are over a million students in the British higher education. The government aims to have widened access to the point where 1 in 3 young people goes into higher education.

All Britain’s universities enjoy complete academic freedom. They appoint their own staff and decide what and how to teach. The tradition of excellence dates back to the Middle Ages when Oxford and Cambridge universities were founded. The rest of Britain’s 47 universities were set up in the last 200 years. The Open University is a little different, because it relies on distance-learning.

Oxford and Cambridge, thanks to their age, history and traditions, are the most famous British Universities. There are colleges for men and women. Examinations are few but important; for if the student does not pass any of them he is not given a second chance. There is an examination at the end of each year for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts /BA/ but only the final examination is taken into consideration. The final examinations are conducted by the university and not by the colleges.

The colleges of both universities are very beautiful. The most famous is the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge. Most of the colleges are built in the form of squares. A new student, or freshman, goes either to lodgings in the town or to his college where he has a sitting room and a separate bedroom. Most students spend two years in lodgings and one year in a college. The new student has to visit a tutor. He arranges with him what course of studies he will follow and lectures he will attend. The year is divided into three terms of 8 weeks each; the long vacations last from mid-June till mid-October. Of all the sports the most famous is rowing. They were invented in Oxford and Cambridge. Student traditions include wearing academic dress-cap and gown. There is a special official, the “Proctor”, whose duty is to see that this rule is obeyed. He is accompanied by two college servants, “bulldogs”. They run fast to catch the student. They take him to the Proctor who asks, ‘Your name and college, sir?’ The student must visit the Proctor later and pay the fine, called “angel”.

The University of London is the only university in Great Britain that has an External Degree for which students may present themselves without any qualifications of residence or attendance at lectures.

Education doesn’t stop with leaving school. Over 500 colleges of further education run courses on everything from catering to business studies. There are 500.000 full-time further education students and 4 million who attend college part-time. The New Vocational Qualifications are designed to ensure the relevance of vocational qualifications to employers.