The University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge

The University of 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.

Cambridge is a university city and the county town of Cambridgeshire, England, on the River Cam about 50 miles (80 km) north of London. Law has been studied and taught in Cambridge since the thirteenth century, when the core subjects of legal study in all European universities were Civil law (the law of ancient Rome) and the Canon law of the Church. Early graduates of the Cambridge Faculty of Canon Law held the highest judicial positions in Europe - in the Rota at Avignon - and two of them (William Bateman and Thomas Fastolf) wrote the first known law reports in the ius commune tradition.

In its earliest days, the University had no premises of its own: it relied on parish churches, especially Great St Mary's and St Benedict's (or 'Bene't's') and on the premises of the religious orders, as sites for its public ceremonies. Lectures, disputations and lodgings were found in private houses which frequently changed hands or went out of use. Soon a few groups of Regent Masters, lawyers and theologians, began to build or hire larger premises for teaching and lodging. A few of the hostels survived until the sixteenth century when they were often acquired as part of the premises of Colleges. Unlike the Colleges, hostels had few endowments and were always privately owned.

During the late fourteenth century and after, the University began to acquire property on the site today known as Senate-House Hill, and to build on it a group of buildings called the 'Schools' - some of which survive today as the 'Old' Schools. Here were the teaching rooms of the higher faculties - the first building to be erected was the Divinity School - where lectures and disputations were held, the chapel, the library, and the treasury, with its chests and muniments. Most of the land and buildings in the town was still in private hands, or in those of religious houses, although from the late thirteenth century much was already passing to the new institutions called Colleges.

The size of the official University greatly increased, but the total population of young men in the town included those who came to Cambridge, not so much with the intention of eventual graduation, but to profit from unofficial contacts and extra-curricular activities, and who then went on for a year or so to an Inn of Court in London. These lay students, their servants, and the tailors, fencing-masters, tennis-court-keepers, riding-masters and the like, who came to profit from them, put very great pressure on living accommodation and food-supplies in the town and created serious problems of public order. Sixteenth century

The University after 1945 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. 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.

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.

Term dates The University's academical year extends from 1 October to 30 September, and is divided into three terms and three vacations. The term dates for this year, and the next few years are published on the University's website.

Student unions There are two student unions supported by the University: CUSU and the Graduate Union. They provide advice, information, resources, and support on all matters of student life, from access through education to welfare. You will find your union representatives approachable and always ready to help.

Sport and fitness For many people, sport at Cambridge is epitomised by the annual Boat Race against Oxford, but there is more to Cambridge sport than rowing. There are countless opportunities to join a University sport club. In addition, most Colleges have their own sports teams and many have excellent facilities. Friendly, but fierce, competition is guaranteed through the intercollegiate 'Cuppers'.

Transport Two of the most celebrated symbols of Cambridge are bicycles and punts. Two very different forms of transport, but inextricably linked to the symbolism of the town and University. Students are not usually permitted to possess a car in the city.

Cycling Cambridgeshire County Council provides information on cycle routes (in the city and outlying areas), cycle safety (including information on cycle helmets, how to make yourself visible, and how to maintain your bike), and cycle training.

Thank you for your attention!