43 Facts About Cambridge University

1.

University of Cambridge is a collegiate research university in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

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2.

University of Cambridge's 13th-century founding was largely inspired by an association of scholars then who fled the University of Oxford for Cambridge following the suspendium clericorium in a dispute with local townspeople.

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3.

Cambridge University was founded from a variety of institutions, including 31 semi-autonomous constituent colleges and over 150 academic departments, faculties, and other institutions organised into six schools.

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4.

The founding of the University of Cambridge was inspired largely by an incident at Oxford during which three Oxford scholars, as an administration of justice in the death of a local woman, were hanged by town authorities without first consulting ecclesiastical authorities, who traditionally would be inclined to pardon scholars in such cases.

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5.

Colleges at the University of Cambridge were originally an incidental feature of the university; no college is as old as the university itself.

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6.

Cambridge University quickly established itself as a global leader in the study of mathematics.

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7.

Cambridge University alumni have won six Fields Medals and one Abel Prize for mathematics, and individuals representing Cambridge University have won four additional Fields Medals.

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8.

Cambridge University Act 1856 formalised the university's organisational structure and introduced the study of many new subjects, including theology, history and Modern languages.

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9.

University of Cambridge began to award PhD degrees in the first third of the 20th century; the first Cambridge PhD in mathematics was awarded in 1924.

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10.

Cambridge University was one of only two universities to hold parliamentary seats in the Parliament of England and was later one of only eight represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

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11.

Each Christmas Eve, The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols sung by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge are broadcast globally on BBC World Service television and radio and syndicated to hundreds of additional radio stations in the U S and elsewhere.

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12.

Cambridge University is divided into several sites where departments are located.

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13.

The West Cambridge site is undergoing a major expansion and will host new buildings and fields for university sports.

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14.

Cambridge University has 31 colleges, two of which, Murray Edwards and Newnham, admit women only.

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15.

School in the University of Cambridge is a broad administrative grouping of related faculties and other units.

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16.

University of Cambridge is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the G5, the League of European Research Universities, and the International Alliance of Research Universities, and forms part of the so-called golden triangle of research intensive and southern English universities.

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17.

In 2021, Cambridge introduced an over-subscription clause to its offers, which allows the university to withdraw acceptances if too many students meet its selective entrance criteria.

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18.

Statistics released by the Cambridge University show that some colleges regularly receive particularly high numbers of applicants, and these colleges tend to take fewer applicants from the Pool.

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19.

Public debate in the United Kingdom continues over whether admissions processes at Oxford and Cambridge University are entirely merit-based and fair, whether enough students from state schools are encouraged to apply to Cambridge University, and whether these students are offered sufficient admission.

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20.

University of Cambridge has been criticised for admitting a lower percentage of Black students, though many apply.

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21.

In January 2021, Cambridge University created foundation courses for disadvantaged students.

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22.

University of Cambridge has research departments and teaching faculties in nearly every academic discipline, and ll research and lectures are conducted by university departments.

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23.

The University of Cambridge maintains a research partnership with MIT in the United States, known as the Cambridge–MIT Institute.

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24.

Cambridge University Library is the central research library, and holds over eight million volumes.

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25.

Cambridge University operates eight arts, cultural, and scientific museums, and a botanic garden.

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26.

University's publishing arm, the Cambridge University Press, is the oldest printer and publisher in the world and the second largest university press in the world.

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27.

Cambridge University Assessment plays a leading role in researching, developing, and delivering assessments across the globe.

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28.

University of Cambridge is routinely ranked among the world's top five universities, and has sometimes been ranked as the world's best.

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29.

Cambridge University has been highly ranked by most international and UK league tables.

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30.

University of Cambridge is ranked the best university in the UK by Times Ranking and the UK's second best university by The Complete University Guide.

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31.

In 2005, the University of Cambridge produced more PhDs annually than any other British university .

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32.

In 2006, a Thomson Scientific study showed that the University of Cambridge had the highest research paper output of any British university and ranked first in research production as assessed by total paper citation count in ten of 21 major British research fields.

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33.

University of Cambridge is closely linked with the development of the high tech business cluster in and around Cambridge, known as Silicon Fen and sometimes referred to as the Cambridge Phenomenon.

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34.

One privilege of student life at Cambridge is the opportunity to attend formal dinners at a student's respective college, known as Formal Hall and occurring regularly during terms and daily at some of the university's colleges.

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35.

Cambridge University has an athletic track at Wilberforce Road, an indoor cricket school, and Fenner's cricket ground.

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36.

All students at the University of Cambridge are represented by Cambridge Students' Union, which was founded in 2020 as a merger of two existing Student Unions in Cambridge: CUSU and the GU .

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37.

In 1890, mathematician Philippa Fawcett, a University of Cambridge student, registered the highest score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exams but as a woman was then ineligible to claim the title Senior Wrangler.

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38.

In biology, University of Cambridge alumni include Charles Darwin, famous for developing the theory of natural selection and explaining evolution, is an alumnus of Christ's College.

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39.

Cambridge University is widely considered the birthplace of the computer; mathematician and father of the computer Charles Babbage designed the world's first computing system as early as the mid-1800s.

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40.

University of Cambridge has a strong reputation in the field of politics, having educated:.

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41.

University of Cambridge alumni are responsible some of the world's greatest advances in technology, and several have gone on to found or co-found leading technology companies, including:.

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42.

Cambridge University was mentioned as early as the 14th century in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

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43.

Cambridge University has been the setting for all or parts of numerous novels, including Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Rose Macaulay's They Were Defeated, and Tom Sharpe's Porterhouse Blue.

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