The university of Cambridge (England) is the second older institution academic of the anglophone world (the first being the Université of Oxford): it belongs to the Ancient universities . According to the legend, Cambridge was founded in 1209 by academics fleeing Oxford after a disagreement with the local leaders. However, the still existing oldest college in Cambridge east Peterhouse, founded in 1284. It was in 1318 that the university obtained from the pope Jean XXII the right to deliver diplomas. Cambridge means " Bridge on Cam" who is the river which crosses the city. With the difference of Oxford where the city preceded the university, the town of Cambridge did not exist at the time of the creation of the University. This is why it is rather pleasant to make its studies there, because to go of its College instead of study, it is very current to cross parks and fields where one could still see cattle a few years ago.

Like all the English universities, it is a relatively autonomous, formed institution of a certain number of colleges and private foundations which are affiliated for him. The university teaches philosophy, the modern and old languages, but it is mainly centered on the problems of research and scientific teaching.

On a worldwide scale, the university of Cambridge is classified second all disciplines confused (behind Harvard and in front of Stanford), but it is regarded as being the best in the scientific disciplines (in particular in physics, chemistry and biology).

With 83 Nobel Prize directly associated with the university (including 70 former students), Cambridge generated more Nobel Prize that any other university in the world and as much as the universities of Oxford, Paris and Yale joined together.

The universities of Oxford and Cambridge, whose names are often gathered under name Oxbridge, are famous being the two best universities of the the United Kingdom. Together, they are at the origin of a substantial proportion of the largest scientists, writers and politicians British. The two universities are members of the Russell Group off universities (a network of large British universities of research), Groupe of Coïmbre (an association of the largest European universities) and Them (League off European Research Universities).

General information

Contrary at the end French, the " college" indicate the place of dwelling and life of the students and not their place of studies. In addition to the rooms which sometimes in the oldest buildings, are true continuations or apartments of several tens of m ², the colleges have all: a vault, a dining room where the table of the professors is perpendicular and elevated compared to that of the students, a living room with television, a laundry, etc and especially of the sports grounds, often outside the city. Until in the years 1970, the students were to come to table out of black toga and was to put " upright; with the blow of gong" to recite the " benedicite" in Latin. At the wall of the dining rooms richly decorated, are fixed the portraits of famous old college.

" collèges" have since oldest, until most modern one extremely neat architecture, contrary to the buildings of study or research which do not have for the majority any originality. The 31 colleges are independent of the university and enjoy a considerable autonomy. For example, the colleges choose the students whom they wish to accommodate (although that is currently called into question) as well as the speakers. They are responsible for the conveniences and the social security for the students, as well as courses in restricted group. In addition, much of colleges are richer than the university itself (Trinity and St John' S in particular).

Today, the Chancelier of the university is the duke of Edinburgh and the vice-chancellor is the professor Alison Richard.

History

The first college with being created is the Peterhouse in 1284 by Hugh Balsham, bishop of Ely. Many colleges were created during 14th and 15th centuries, but of others will be created later, until our time. The most recent college is Robinson, builds in the years 1970. In 2004, certain newspapers announced that the university studied the possibility of adding 3 new colleges, but information was contradicted by Cambridge.

With the the Middle Ages, the colleges were created in order to make it possible to the students to request for the safety of their founders. For this reason they were often associated with vaults or abbeys. However, in 1536, conjunction with the Dissolution of the monasteries, the king Henri VIII orders at the university to close its fFaculté of the canonical law and to stop teaching philosophy scholastic (religious teaching). This change directs the university far from the canonical law and more towards the traditional ones, the Bible and mathematics.

One calls Tripos the diploma of license in arts (the first diploma of Cambridge gathering arts and sciences). Although the university offers today courses in many fields, it was primarily centered on mathematics until the 19th century and the study of this subject was obligatory to obtain its diploma. The students having obtained the honors of first rank are called Wranglers. Tripos of mathematics was extremely disputed and it contributed to make emerge some very famous names in the world of science in England, like Lord Kelvin, Stokes and Maxwell. However, some famous students as Hardy did not like the system, thinking that the students were interested by the accumulation of honors and price rather than not the subject itself. In spite of the diversification of subjects of research and teaching, Cambridge keeps its mathematical prevalence. The Institut Isaac Newton, which belongs to the university, is regarded as the national research institute in mathematics and theoretical physics.

The first colleges for women are the Girton, created in 1869, and the Newnham, created in 1872. The first coeds passed their examinations in 1882, but it is only in 1947, 20 years after Oxford, that the women were regarded as full members of the university.

Among the 31 current colleges, 3 are reserved to the women (Lucy Cavendish, New Hall and Newnham) and 4 are reserved for the higher diplomas (Clare Hall, Darwin, Wolfson and St Edmund' S).

Admissions

The admission in the colleges of Cambridge was for a long time dependant on the level of Latin and the Greek, a teaching which holds an important place in the semi-private schools ( public schools ) British. That resulted in accommodating students coming mainly from the British social elite. Since the Years 1960, the process of admission is founded on the Méritocratie. The applicants must have the best qualifications or almost level Have-level (near to the French baccalaureat or cégep) and impress the speakers of the college during the talks. Moreover, for a few years, the directors of studies of certain technical fields like mathematics have asked that the applicants pass a specialized examination (called STEP papers ). There exists nevertheless a obvious debate on the process of admission of the universities in Great Britain and one wonders whether the students coming from public schools have sufficient chances to be accepted. There is indeed a large shift of level between the two types of establishments and of the students however brilliant can fail the level of the talks because their preparation is insufficient in the public system.

Evaluation of the students

It is important to stress that in the British university system, the level of a student is not judged solely compared to the establishment in which it studied (as it can be the case in the French Universities). In Cambridge, as in all the other universities, the students are indeed classified in 4 classes ( 1st , 2:1 , 2:2 and 3rd ). The students being classified in the best class ( 1st ) regarded themselves as most brilliant. This classification is crucial when the graduates seek an employment.

Sport and leisures

According to a long tradition, the students take an active part in the sports activities and the leisures. For example, the Aviron is a popular sport and there exist competitions between colleges (the Bumps race S or races of bumps) and against Oxford (the Boat Race which opposes to every year on the the Thames to London the best oarsmen of the two universities). There exist also many other competitions between Oxford and Cambridge, called Varsity Matches , in particular of the competitions of Rugby, Cricket, failures and Tiddlywinks. For certain sports, to take part in competitions against of other universities gives the right to the students to require a special distinction, called Blue , decreed by the Blues Committee made up of the captains of the teams of the 13 most prestigious sports. There also exists of many associations devoted to the theater, like the famous club of comedy Footlights .

At the beautiful days, one of the favorite leisures of the students is the " punting" on the river " Cam" whose bridge (English bridge gave the name to the city. The " punting" is the fact of sailing on the Camwood by means of a flat-bottomed narrow barge, propelled using a pole, with the image of the gondoliers of Venice. Art being to remain in the middle of the river where the paved bottom ensures a good behavior of the pole the bottom, to deviate the inexperienced pole vaulters towards banks where the pole with the bad habits to be inserted deeply in the mud, taking along with it the pole vaulter to water!

Legends and myths

There exist many myths associated with the university with Cambridge and its history, some having to be considered less seriously than of others.

One of the most famous myths is related to the Mathematical Bridge (bridge of mathematics) of the Queens' College , which would have been built by Isaac Newton with for objective that it holds without screw nor bolts. It would then have been dismounted by students too curious and unable to go up it. This history is not veracious, insofar as the bridge were built 22 years after the death of Newton. It is thought that the legend comes owing to the fact that the first versions of the bridge held with not very visible nails and screws, which is not the case for the current version of the bridge which uses nuts and bolts much more indicator.

On the other hand, the legend of the spoon out of wooden given as price to the worst student in mathematics is veracious. This price was decreed for the last time in 1909 with Cuthbert Lempriere Holthouse, an oarsman of the Lady Margaret Boat Club ( St John' S College ). The spoon was long of more than one meter, with a blade in the place of the handle. It is now exposed to the St John' S College .

Others

Cambridge enjoys off a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute Technology ( MIT ) which gave place to the creation of the Cambridge-MIT Institute . The university is very attached to the companies of high technologies located in the area of Cambridge (this unit is called Silicon Fen ). The university and the Silicon Fen were largely financed by several great names of technology, like Gordon Moore (Intel Corporation) and Bill Gates (Microsoft). In 2000, Bill Gates set up the Gates Scholarships aiming at helping the students apart from the the United Kingdom to study in Cambridge.

During the Era Meiji (1868 - 1912), Cambridge accommodated several Japanese students. With the Japan, one can find Cambridge and Oxford Society, a rare example of the name of Cambridge preceding that by Oxford (one usually speaks about Oxford and Cambridge). The reason of this characteristic is probably that the Cambridge Club was founded in first with the Japan. It had also more members than the Oxford Club during their fusion in 1905.

The university of Cambridge organizes examinations of English language intended for the people whose native tongue is not English, or examinations ESOL ( English for Speakers off Other Languages ). The examination moreover high level is the Certificate off Proficiency in English.

Various colleges

See article: Colleges of the university of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge in the fiction

• Porterhouse ( Porterhouse Blue ) of Tom Sharpe: The college of Porterhouse is known universally for the quality of its refectory, the arrogance of its teachers, the mediocrity of its results. Sir Godber Evans, ex-minister and new Main of the college, is decided to change all that.

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