When was the University of Cambridge founded?
History of the founding of the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is the second oldest and most prestigious university in the foreign world, and many are looking forward to taking knowledge and degrees from this university:
- The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209, with two Oxford scholars convicted of one murder and hanged by the city authorities.
- In protest of the hangings, the University of Oxford went into voluntary suspension, and scholars began to migrate to a number of other institutions which included the pre-existing school at Cambridge 1209.
- In 1233, Pope Gregory IX confirmed the status of the University of Cambridge in an edict granting a form of legal protection to the rector and all scholars present.
- In 1290 Cambridge’s status was recognized by the Pope during the reign of Pope Nicholas IV, and the visit of respected lecturers and scholars to the university began.
- In the sixteenth century, the University of Cambridge played an important role in advancing Puritanism and Separatism.
- Spiritual, moral, cultural and social education is also an important dimension, which is why students must be residents of the College for all or most of the term.
When was Cambridge University Colleges founded?
Cambridge colleges were originally an incidental feature of the university, and began as scholarships from scholars. You can learn more about Cambridge University scholarships. The colleges were called hostels. Let’s get to know the Cambridge colleges:
- In 1284 Hugh Belsham, then Bishop of Ely, founded Peter’s Lodge, which became the first college of the University of Cambridge.
- Although the majority of colleges were established between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, a number of colleges were established at later dates.
- The university’s Robinson College was founded in the late 1970s.
- In the beginnings of the founding of Cambridge colleges it was in order for its students to be taught to pray for the souls of its founders; It is for this reason that many of the colleges of Cambridge have been associated with monasteries.
- In 1536, with the dissolution of the monasteries, King Henry VIII ordered the University of Cambridge to dissolve the Faculty of Canon Law and to stop teaching “scholastic philosophy.” In response, the university faculties shifted their curricula towards mathematics, classics, and the Bible.
Cambridge University departments
- The University of Cambridge is divided into 31 colleges, three of which accept women only: New Hall, Newnham College and Lucy Cavendish College.
- The remaining 28 colleges are coeducational, with Magdalen College being the last all-male college to admit women in 1988.
- Claire Hall and Darwin College accept graduates only.
- The following four colleges mainly accept postgraduate students and these colleges are Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish College, St. Edmund’s College and Wolfson College.
- The other 25 colleges primarily admit undergraduate students, although some graduate students pursuing certain courses of study or research are allowed.
- Although some colleges emphasize the pursuit of a particular subject, such as Churchill College which has a formal bias towards science and engineering, the majority of Cambridge colleges accept students who study a wide range of subjects.
- There are also several theological colleges in Cambridge, such as Westminster College and Ridley Hall, which are closely linked to the university through the Cambridge Theological Union.
University of Cambridge standing
- The University of Cambridge ranks high among world and international universities, and is the fifth university in terms of global education rankings
- Academically, the University of Cambridge is consistently ranked among the top three universities in the world.
- The Times listed Cambridge first for the natural sciences, second for biomedicine and third for the arts and humanities.
- The University of Cambridge is a member of the Russell Group, a network of research-led British universities.
- It is also a member of the Coimbra Group, an association of leading European universities; Association of European Research Universities; and the International Alliance of Research Universities.
- The University of Cambridge is one of the most selective academic institutions in the UK.
- Each year, Cambridge consistently tops the British Universities League tables, a system that ranks the best universities in Great Britain.
- In 2001, according to the England Research Assessment Exercise, Cambridge was named the best university in Great Britain.
- Cambridge has been named the best research product in 10 out of 21 major UK research areas.
- The University Library contains more than 3,000,000 volumes, and the University is one of those entitled to a copy of every book published in Great Britain.
- The Fitzwilliam Museum contains, among other things, important collections of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities. Medieval and modern manuscripts, and paintings by European masters.
- The University of Cambridge is also closely associated with the development of high-tech business clusters in and around the Cambridge area.
The University of Cambridge, being a great edifice, includes many institutions, each of which carries a specific function:
- The University of Cambridge is made up of a number of institutions, and their main functions are divided between the central departments of the university and the university colleges.
- Each department is responsible for conducting research and delivering lectures central to Cambridge students.
- University colleges are responsible for the general welfare and domestic administration of all students and some of the university’s staff.
- Colleges also provide the majority of undergraduate small tutoring groups, known as tutoring.
- The faculties are all mostly independent of the university itself and enjoy significant autonomy.
- Colleges can decide which students to accept and designate “senior members,” or faculty.
- Chancellor of the University, a title he retains for life, is mainly a symbolic position.
- The position of Vice-Chancellor is the academic chief executive of the university.
- The University of Cambridge is governed entirely by internal members, with no external representation on its governing bodies.
- Ultimate authority rests with the main governing body of the University to which all current members of Cambridge faculty belong.
- The Senate, the primary governing body for Cambridge until 1926, is responsible for appointing the chancellor of the university.