Colleges of the University of Cambridge

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Arms of the University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is composed of 31 colleges in addition to the academic departments and administration of the central University. Until the mid-19th century, both Cambridge and Oxford comprised a group of colleges with a small central university administration, rather than universities in the common sense. Cambridge's colleges are communities of students, academics and staff – an environment in which generations and academic disciplines are able to mix, with both students and fellows experiencing "the breadth and excellence of a top University at an intimate level".^[1]

Cambridge Colleges provide most of the accommodation for undergraduates and graduates at the University. At the undergraduate level they have responsibility for admitting students to the university, providing pastoral support, and organising elements of their tuition, though lectures and examinations are organised by the faculties and departments of the central University. All degrees are awarded by the University itself, not the colleges, and all students study for the same course regardless of which college they attend.^[2] For graduates, research is conducted virtually entirely centrally in the faculties, departments and other university-affiliated research centres, though the colleges provide a central social and intellectual hub for students.

Colleges provide a range of facilities and services to their members in addition to accommodation, including catering, extracurricular societies, and sporting teams. Much of sporting life at Cambridge is centred around college teams and inter-collegiate competition in Cuppers. Student activity is typically organised through separate common rooms for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Another important element of collegiate life is formal hall, which range in frequency from weekly to every night of the week during Full Term.

Colleges also provide funding, accommodation, or both, for some of the academic posts in the university, with the majority of Cambridge academics being a fellow of a college in addition to their Faculty/Departmental role.^[3] Fellows may therefore hold college positions in addition to their academic posts at the University: these include roles such as Tutor (responsible for pastoral support), Director of Studies (responsible for academic oversight of students), Dean (responsible for discipline among college members), Senior Tutor (responsible for the College's overall academic provision), or Head of College ('Head of House').

Colleges are self-governed charities in their own right, with their own endowments and possessions.

"Old" and "new" colleges[]

The University of Cambridge has 31 colleges,^[3] founded between the 13th and 20th centuries. No colleges were founded between 1596 (Sidney Sussex College) and 1800 (Downing College), which allows the colleges to be distinguished into two groups according to foundation date:

• the 16 "old" colleges, founded between 1284 and 1596, and
• the 15 "new" colleges, founded between 1800 and 1977.

The oldest college is Peterhouse, founded in 1284,^[4] and the newest is Robinson, founded in 1977.^[5] Homerton, which was first founded in the eighteenth century as a dissenting academy (and later teacher training college), attained full college status in 2010.

Restrictions on entry[]

All 16 of the "old" colleges and 7 of the 15 "new" ones admit both male and female students as both undergraduates and postgraduates, without any age restrictions. Eight colleges restrict entry by sex, or by age of undergraduates, or admit only postgraduates:

• King's originally only admitted boys from Eton College until 1865.
• Murray Edwards and Newnham admit only women. Lucy Cavendish admitted only women until 2021;^[6]
• Lucy Cavendish admitted only mature students, i.e. aged 21 or older until 2020,^[6] or postgraduates until 2021;
• Clare Hall and Darwin admit only postgraduates;
• Hughes Hall, St Edmund's and Wolfson admit only mature students (defined as aged 21 or older) or postgraduates.^[7]

No colleges are all-male, although most originally were. Darwin, founded in 1964, was the first mixed college, while in 1972 Churchill, Clare and King's colleges were the first previously all-male colleges to admit women, whilst King's formally only accepted students from Eton College.The last all-male college to become mixed was Magdalene, in 1988.^[8] In 1973 Hughes Hall became the first all-female college to admit men, and Girton first admitted men in 1979.

Newnham also places restrictions on the admission of staff members, allowing only women to become fellows of the college. Murray Edwards does not place this restriction on fellows.

Architectural influence[]

The Cambridge and Oxford colleges have served as an architectural inspiration for Collegiate Gothic Architecture, used by a number of American universities including Princeton University and Washington University in St. Louis since the late nineteenth century.^[9][10]

List of colleges[]

College, with logo and scarf colours[11]	Founded[12]	Head of House	Undergraduates	Postgraduates	Total[13]	Endowment (2019)	Net Assets (2019)	Assets per student (2019)	Annual Accounts (2019)	Abbreviation[14] (and short form)	Notes
Christ's	1505	Dr Jane Stapleton, Master	433	256	689	£126,626,000	£196,757,000	£285,586	[15]	CHR
Churchill	1960	Professor Dame Athene Donald, Master	499	346	845	£108,833,000	£181,280,000	£214,532	[16]	CHU
Clare	1326	Loretta Minghella, Master	519	289	808	£128,953,000	£283,106,000	£350,378	[17]	CL
Clare Hall	1966	Professor Alan Short, President	0	249	249	£29,004,099	£34,931,819	£140,288	[18]	CLH	Graduate students only.
Corpus Christi	1352	Professor Christopher Kelly, Master	294	259	553	£94,390,000	£231,571,000	£418,754	[19]	CC (Corpus)
Darwin	1964	Dr Mike Rands, Master	0	755	755	£26,667,686	£74,424,534	£98,575	[20]	DAR	Graduate students only.
Downing	1800	Alan Bookbinder, Master	463	382	845	£49,800,000	£197,200,000	£233,372	[21]	DOW
Emmanuel	1584	Doug Chalmers, Master	512	206	718	£102,465,915	£282,706,712	£393,741	[22]	EM (Emma)
Fitzwilliam	1869 (1966)	Sally Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Huyton, Master	486	413	899	£61,074,000	£135,672,000	£150,914	[23]	F (Fitz)
Girton	1869	Professor Susan J. Smith, Mistress	516	292	808	£53,123,000	£153,413,000	£189,867	[24]	G	Formerly women's only; became mixed in 1976.
Gonville and Caius	1348	Dr Pippa Rogerson, Master	602	247	849	£227,459,000	£347,917,000	£398,017	[25]	CAI (Caius)
Homerton	1768 (1976)	Simon Woolley, Baron Woolley of Woodford, Principal	594	645	1239	£124,425,000	£198,304,000	£160,051	[26]	HO
Hughes Hall	1885 (1949)	Dr Anthony Freeling, President	150	711	861	£13,840,000	£45,734,088	£53,117	[27]	HH	Mature undergrad, and grad students only. Became mixed in 1973.
Jesus	1496	Sonita Alleyne, Master	513	411	924	£203,565,936	£344,813,325	£373,174	[28]	JE
King's	1441	Professor Michael Proctor, Provost	442	284	726	£100,380,000	£376,940,000	£519,201	[29]	K
Lucy Cavendish	1965	Professor Dame Madeleine Atkins, President	120	320	440	£13,754,000	£45,018,000	£102,313	[30]	LC (Lucy Cav)	Mature female undergrad, and female grad students only. Mixed from 2021 entry, all ages from 2020 entry.
Magdalene	1428	Professor Sir Christopher Greenwood, Master	382	190	572	£62,619,000	£178,556,000	£312,160	[31]	M
Murray Edwards	1954	Dorothy Byrne, President	376	189	565	£46,457,000	£105,100,000	£186,017	[32]	MUR (Medwards)	Female only. Formerly New Hall.
Newnham	1871	Alison Rose, Principal	416	290	706	£59,172,000	£218,882,000	£310,031	[33]	N	Female students only.
Pembroke	1347	Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury, Master	475	285	760	£80,445,000	£259,162,000	£341,002	[34]	PEM
Peterhouse	1284	Bridget Kendall, Master	292	178	470	£204,078,000	£328,230,000	£698,361	[35]	PET
Queens'	1448	Dr Mohamed A. El-Erian, President	521	500	1021	£59,785,000	£123,464,000	£120,924	[36]	Q
Robinson	1977	Sir Richard Heaton, Warden	412	252	664	£21,345,000	£92,958,000	£139,996	[37]	R
Selwyn	1882	Roger Mosey, Master	419	249	668	£67,600,000	£121,639,000	£182,094	[38]	SE
Sidney Sussex	1596	Professor Richard Penty, Master	380	247	627	£27,960,000	£131,665,000	£209,992	[39]	SID (Sidney)
St Catharine's	1473	Professor Sir Mark Welland, Master	481	287	768	£67,689,000	£145,952,000	£190,041	[40]	CTH (Catz)
St Edmund's	1896	Catherine Arnold, Master	121	452	573	£18,127,000	£40,904,000	£71,385	[41]	ED	Mature undergrad, and grad students only.
St John's	1511	Heather Hancock, Master	658	319	977	£542,446,000	£834,697,000	£854,346	[42]	JN
Trinity	1546	Professor Dame Sally Davies, Master	722	332	1054	£1,286,289,000	£1,532,280,000	£1,453,776	[43]	T
Trinity Hall	1350	The Reverend Canon Dr Jeremy Morris, Master	376	226	602	£286,665,000	£320,529,000	£532,440	[44]	TH (Tit Hall)
Wolfson	1965	Professor Jane Clarke, President	180	832	1012	£25,820,000	£67,285,000	£66,487	[45]	W	Mature undergrad, and grad students only.
Totals:			12,354	10,893	23,247	£4,101,210,636	£7,424,334,478	£319,367

There are also several theological colleges in Cambridge (for example Ridley Hall, Wesley House, Westcott House and Westminster College) that are affiliated with the university through the Cambridge Theological Federation. These colleges, while not officially part of the University of Cambridge, operate programmes that are either validated by or are taught on behalf either of the university or of Anglia Ruskin or Durham Universities.^[47]

Timeline of the colleges in the order their students are presented for graduation, compared with some events in British history.

Heads of colleges[]

Most colleges are led by a Master, even when the Master is female. However, there are some exceptions, listed below. Girton College has always had a Mistress, even though male candidates have been able to run for the office since 1976.

• Mistress: Girton College
• President: Clare Hall, Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish College, Murray Edwards College, Queens' College, Wolfson College
• Principal: Homerton College, Newnham College
• Provost: King's College
• Warden: Robinson College

Also see List of current heads of University of Cambridge colleges.

Former colleges[]

The above list does not include several former colleges that no longer exist. These include:

• Ayerst Hostel, founded in the 1880s, renamed as St Edmund's House in 1896 and later St Edmund's College in 1996.^[48]
• Buckingham College, founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hall, refounded as Magdalene in 1542.^[49]
• Bull College, an unofficial college for US GIs returning from World War II, existing in Michaelmas 1945 and Lent 1946.^[50]
• Cavendish College, founded in 1873, an attempt to allow poorer students to sit the Tripos examinations, whose buildings were bought by Homerton in 1895.^[51][52]
• "Clare Hall" was the name of Clare College between 1338 and 1856. Clare College founded a new college named Clare Hall in 1966.
• Gonville Hall, founded in 1348, and re-founded in 1557 as Gonville and Caius College.^[53]
• God's House, founded in 1437, and re-founded in 1505 as Christ's College.^[54]
• King's Hall, founded in 1317, and combined with Michaelhouse to form Trinity College in 1546.^[55]
• Michaelhouse, founded in 1324, and combined with King's Hall to form Trinity College in 1546.^[55]
• New Hall, founded 1954, and re-founded in 2008 as Murray Edwards College
• Physwick Hostel, Cambridge - was a predecessor of Gonville and Caius College
• University College, founded 1965, and re-founded in 1972 as Wolfson College
• University Hall, founded 1326, refounded as Clare Hall in 1338, renamed as Clare College in 1856.

See also[]

• Colleges of Durham University
• Colleges of the University of Oxford
• Colleges of the University of York
• List of current heads of University of Cambridge colleges
• List of fictional Cambridge colleges
• List of Oxbridge sister colleges

References[]