The University of Cambridge is the second oldest academic institution in the English-speaking world (after Oxford). According to legend, the University was founded in 1209 by scholars escaping Oxford after a fight with locals.
Cambridge and the University of Oxford, referred to together as Oxbridge, vie for the position of best overall university in the UK (see Oxbridge rivalry). Together, they produce a significant proportion of Britain's prominent scientists, writers and politicians. In addition, both are members of the Russell Group of Universities (a network of large, research-led British universities), the Coimbra Group (an association of leading European universities) and the LERU (League of European Research Universities).Cambridge has produced more Nobel prize winners than any other university, having around 80 associated with it, about 70 of whom were students there. It also regularly heads league tables ranking British universities. Cambridge is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. The thirty-one Colleges of the University are independent institutions, separate from the University itself, and they enjoy considerable autonomy. For example, colleges decide which students they are to admit (though this is under review in 2003), are responsible for the welfare and domestic arrangements of students and for small group teaching ('supervisions'). They appoint their own 'fellows' (senior members). Many of the colleges are also quite wealthy (in some cases very wealthy), while the university is less so.
Admission to Cambridge colleges used to be dependent on knowledge of Latin and Greek, subjects taught principally in Britain at public schools - restricting entry to members of the British social elite. Since the 1960s, changing attitudes (not least amongst Cambridge academics) have meant a shift to an admission process that aims at strict meritocracy. Cambridge undergraduates from Britain are expected to have the best, or nearly the best, A-level qualifications available and to impress College fellows at interviews. In recent years admissions tutors in certain technical subjects, most notably the Mathematics Tripos, have required applicants to sit the harder STEP papers as most candidates achieve top grades in their A-levels.
sources: july.fixedreference.org
