Cambridge University - BPB Business Podium Boards: Offshore, Firmengründungen, Beruf & Karriere

jedi · #1 (**permalink**) 06.12.2006, 01:35

Cambridge University

Die Universität Cambridge ist eine britische Universität in Cambridge. Sie wurde im Jahr 1209 durch einen Auszug von Dozenten und Studenten aus Oxford gegründet. Das offizielle Gründungsdatum des ersten Colleges, Peterhouse, war 1284.

Die Universität Cambridge gilt als eine der angesehensten Universitäten in der Welt. Sie hat mehr Nobelpreisträger als irgendeine andere Universität auf der Welt hervorgebracht. Mitglieder der Universität haben mehr als 80 Nobelpreise gewonnen, rund 70 davon waren selbst Studenten in Cambridge. In einer aktuellen weltweiten Rangliste lag Cambridge hinter Harvard auf Platz zwei.

Die führende Stellung von Oxford und Cambridge im akademischen Leben Großbritanniens kommt in der ironisch zusammenfassenden Bezeichnung Oxbridge zum Ausdruck. Die Rivalität zwischen Oxford und Cambridge hält bis heute an und findet ihren folkloristischen Ausdruck in dem berühmten Boat Race, einem auf der Themse seit 1829 jährlich ausgetragenem Achterrennen der beiden Universitätsmannschaften. Da Oxford und Cambridge sowie einige weitere Traditionsuniversitäten sehr ähnlich aufgebaut sind – jedenfalls im Vergleich mit kontinentaleuropäischen Universitäten – wird ihre Struktur in dem Artikel Britische Universitäten dargestellt.

Allgemeine Informationen

Die 31 Colleges der Universität sind unabhängige Institutionen, getrennt von der Universität selbst, und sie genießen beträchtliche Selbstständigkeit. Zum Beispiel entscheiden die Colleges, welche Studenten sie aufnehmen und sind verantwortlich für Fürsorge, Unterkunft und Lernen in kleinen Gruppen (sog. Supervisions). Vorlesungen, Vorträge und Forschung sind hingehen universitär organisiert, d. h. sie finden in den Fakultäten und Instituten statt. Sie ernennen weiterhin ihre eigenen Fellows (Dozenten und Lehrende). Viele Colleges sind außerdem recht wohlhabend, was auf die Universität selbst in geringerem Maße zutrifft.

Die Aufnahme in Cambridge war bis in die 1960er Jahre abhängig von Sprachkenntnissen in Latein und Griechisch; Sprachen, die hauptsächlich an Privatschulen unterrichtet wurden und daher den Zugang auf Mitglieder der sozialen Oberschicht beschränkte. Seitdem hat sich die Einstellung verändert und der Bewerbungsprozess beruht auf einer reinen Bewertung der Leistung und des Potenzials des Bewerbers. Von Bewerbern für Grundstudien werden sehr gute bis beste Noten erwartet – britische Bewerber benötigen sehr gute Ergebnisse in ihren A-Levels, deutsche Bewerber sehr gute Noten in relevanten Fächern – und dass sie die College Fellows beim Bewerbungsinterview beeindrucken.

Das erste College war Peterhouse, welches 1284 von Hugh de Balsham, Bischof von Ely, gegründet wurde. Das zweitälteste College ist King's Hall, welches 1317 gegründet wurde, obwohl es heute nicht mehr als getrenntes College existiert, da es 1546 von Heinrich VIII. (England) mit Michaelhouse zu Trinity College vereint wurde. Viele andere Colleges wurden im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert gegründet. Das jüngste College ist Robinson College, welches in den späten 1970ern erbaut wurde.

Seit 2006 gehört die Universität Cambridge dem Hochschulverbund International Alliance of Research Universities an.

Colleges

College Gegründet
Christ's (en) 1505
Churchill (en) 1960
Clare (en) 1326
Clare Hall (en) 1965
Corpus Christi (en) 1352
Darwin (en) 1964
Downing (en) 1800
Emmanuel (en) 1584
Fitzwilliam (en) 1966
Girton (en) 1869
Gonville and Caius (en) 1348
Homerton (en) 1976
Hughes Hall (en) 1885
Jesus (en) 1496
King's (en) 1441
Lucy Cavendish (en) 1965
Magdalene (en) 1428
New Hall (en) 1954
Newnham (en) 1871
Pembroke (en) 1347
Peterhouse (en) 1284
Queens' (en) 1448
Robinson (en) 1979
St Catharine's (en) 1473
St Edmund's (en) 1896
St John's (en) 1511
Selwyn (en) 1882
Sidney Sussex (en) 1596
Trinity (en) 1546
Trinity Hall (en) 1350
Wolfson (en) 1965

jedi · #2 (**permalink**) 06.12.2006, 01:45

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge, located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. As reflected in international surveys, it has a reputation as one of the world's most prestigious universities.

Early records indicate that the university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge, probably formed in 1209 by scholars escaping from Oxford after a fight with local townsmen.

The universities of Oxford and Cambridge are sometimes jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In addition to cultural and practical associations as a historic part of English society, the two universities also have a long history of rivalry with each other.

Cambridge is a member of the Russell Group, a network of research-led British universities; the Coimbra Group, an association of leading European universities; the League of European Research Universities; and the International Alliance of Research Universities. It is also considered part of the "Golden Triangle", a geographical concentration of UK university research.

General information

Cambridge is a collegiate university, with its main functions divided between the central departments of the university and 31 colleges. In general, the departments perform research and provide centralised lectures to students, while the colleges are responsible for the domestic arrangements and welfare of undergraduate students, graduate students, some of the postdocs and some University staff. The colleges also provide most of the small group teaching for undergraduates, referred to as supervisions. The thirty-one colleges are technically institutions independent of the university itself and enjoy considerable autonomy. For example, colleges decide which students they are to admit, and appoint their own fellows (senior members). (In Cambridge, “the university” often means the University as opposed to the Colleges.)

The current Chancellor of the university is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The current Vice-Chancellor is Professor Alison Richard. The office of Chancellor, which is held for life, is mainly symbolic, while the Vice-Chancellor (as is usual at British universities) is the real executive chief. The University is governed entirely by its own members, with no outside representation in its governing bodies. Ultimate authority lies with the Regent House, of which all current Cambridge academic staff are members, but most business is carried out by the Council. The Senate consists of all holders of the M.A. degree or higher degrees. It elects the Chancellor; until their abolition in 1950, it elected Members to the House of Commons for Cambridge University, but otherwise has not had a major role since 1926.

Reputation

International rankings of research universities produced in 2006 by The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University both ranked Cambridge as second[2] in the world. The THES also ranked Cambridge first in the international academic reputation peer review, first in science, first in biomedicine, first in the arts & humanities, fourth in social sciences, and sixth in technology (note that all university rankings are subject to controversy about their methodology, and that the THES and Jiao Tong tables are the only international rankings available).

According to UCAS, Cambridge and Oxford are the most academically selective universities in the United Kingdom — there is a special national admissions process which sets Oxbridge apart from other UK universities.

The university has often topped league tables ranking British universities — for instance, Cambridge was ranked first in the Sunday Times league table every year between 1997 and 2006. In the most recent UK government Research Assessment Exercise in 2001, Cambridge was ranked first in the country. In 2005, it was reported that Cambridge produces more PhDs per year than any other UK university (over 30% more than second placed Oxford). In 2006, a Thomson Scientific study showed that Cambridge has the highest research paper output of any UK university, and is also the top research producer (as assessed by total paper citation count) in 10 out of 21 major UK research fields analyzed. Another study published the same year by Evidence showed that Cambridge won a larger proportion (6.6%) of total UK research grants and contracts than any other university (coming first in three out of four broad discipline fields).

Historically, the university has produced a significant proportion of Britain’s prominent scientists, writers and politicians. Affiliates of Cambridge University have won a total of 81 Nobel Prizes, more than any other university in the world and more than any country in the world except the United Kingdom and the United States. Seventy of these awardees also attended Cambridge as undergraduate or graduate students.

In addition to a long distinguished tradition in the humanities and the arts, the University of Cambridge is especially known for producing prominent scientists and mathematicians. This distinguished list includes Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, William Harvey, Paul Dirac, J. J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, James Clerk Maxwell, Francis Crick, Alan Turing, Stephen Hawking, and Fred Sanger.

The university is also closely linked with the development of the high-tech business cluster in and around Cambridge, which forms the area known as Silicon Fen or sometimes the “Cambridge Phenomenon”. In 2004, it was reported that Silicon Fen was the second largest venture capital market in the world, after Silicon Valley. Estimates reported in February 2006 suggest that there were about 250 active startup companies directly linked with the university, worth around US$6 billion.

Endowment

Cambridge’s financial endowment (including the colleges), was estimated at £4.1 billion in late 2006 (it was estimated at £3.1 billion in late 2005). The endowment is arguably the largest in Europe. Oxford (including its colleges) is possibly ranked second, having reported an endowment valued at £3.9bn in mid-2006[12] (in 2005, estimates for Oxford ranged from £2.4bn to £2.9bn), and the Central European University in Budapest third with an estimated €400 million in 2005. The share of Cambridge’s endowment directly tied to the university itself is over £1.2 billion, as reported in late 2006[14]. However, investment income represents only a small percentage of Cambridge's income - the university still relies on funding by the UK government for roughly a third of its income (research grants accounting for another third). If ranked on a US university table using figures reported in 2005, Cambridge would rank sixth or seventh (depending on whether one includes the University of Texas System — which incorporates nine full scale universities and six health institutions), or 4th in the Ivy League.

In 2005, the Cambridge 800th Anniversary Campaign was launched, aimed at raising £1 billion by 2012 — the first US-style university fundraising campaign in Europe. £300 million of funds had already been secured in the pre-launch period.

History

Early history

Roger of Wendover wrote that Cambridge University could trace its origins to a crime committed in 1209. Although not always a reliable source, the detail given in his contemporaneous writings lends them credence. Two Oxford scholars were convicted of the murder or manslaughter of a woman and were hanged by the town authorities with the assent of the King. In protest at the hanging, the University of Oxford went into voluntary suspension, and scholars migrated to a number of other locations, including the pre-existing school at Cambridge (Cambridge had been recorded as a “school” rather than University when John Grim held the office of Master there in 1201). These post-graduate researchers from Oxford started Cambridge’s life as a University in 1209. Cambridge’s status as a University is further confirmed by a decree in 1233 from Pope Gregory IX which awarded the ius non trahi extra (a form of legal protection) to the chancellor and universitas of scholars at Cambridge. After Cambridge was recognised by papal bull as a studium generale by Pope Nicholas IV in 1290, it became common for researchers from other European medieval universities to come and visit Cambridge to study or to give lecture courses.

The Colleges

Cambridge’s colleges were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself. The colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called Hostels. The hostels were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garrett Hostel Lane.

Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse in 1284, Cambridge’s first college. Many colleges were founded during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but colleges continued to be established throughout the centuries to modern times, although there was a gap of 204 years between the founding of Sidney Sussex in 1596 and Downing in 1800. The most recent college established is Robinson, built in the late 1970s.

In medieval times, colleges were founded so that their students would pray for the souls of the founders. For that reason they were often associated with chapels or abbeys. A change in the colleges’ focus occurred in 1536 with the dissolution of the monasteries. King Henry VIII ordered the university to disband its Faculty of Canon Law and to stop teaching “scholastic philosophy”. In response, colleges changed their curricula away from canon law and towards the classics, the Bible, and mathematics.

Mathematics

From the time of Isaac Newton in the later 17th century until the mid-19th century, the university maintained a strong emphasis on mathematics. Study of this subject was compulsory for graduation, and students were required to take an exam for the Bachelor of Arts degree, the main first degree at Cambridge in both arts and science subjects. This exam is known as a Tripos. Students awarded first-class honours after completing the mathematics Tripos were named wranglers. The Cambridge Mathematical Tripos was competitive and helped produce some of the most famous names in British science, including James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, and Lord Rayleigh. However, some famous students, such as G. H. Hardy, disliked the system, feeling that people were too interested in accumulating marks in exams and not interested in the subject itself.

Although diversified in its research and teaching interests, Cambridge today maintains its strength in mathematics. The Isaac Newton Institute, part of the university, is widely regarded as the UK’s national research institute for mathematics and theoretical physics. Cambridge alumni have won eight Fields Medals and one Abel Prize for mathematics. The University also runs a special Certificate of Advanced Studies in Mathematics course.

Women’s education

Originally all students were male. The first colleges for women were Girton College (founded by Emily Davies) in 1869 and Newnham College in 1872. The first women students were examined in 1882 but attempts to make women full members of the university did not succeed until 1947. Although Cambridge did not give degrees to women until this date women were in fact allowed to study courses, sit examinations, and have their results recorded from the nineteenth century onwards. In the twentieth century women could be given a “titular degree”; although they were not denied recognised qualifications, without a full degree they were excluded from the governing of the university. Since students must belong to a college, and since established colleges remained closed to women, women found admissions restricted to colleges established only for women. All of the men’s colleges began to admit women between 1960 and 1988. One women’s college, Girton, also began to admit men, but the other women’s colleges did not follow suit. In the academic year 2004-5, the university’s student gender ratio, including post-graduates, was male 52%: female 48% (Source: Cambridge University Reporter).

Research and teaching

Cambridge University has research departments and teaching faculties in most academic disciplines. Cambridge tends to have a slight bias towards scientific subjects, but it also has a number of strong humanities and social science faculties. Academic staff (and often graduate students for the larger subjects) teach the undergraduates in both lectures and personal supervisions in which a ratio of one teacher to between one and three students is usually maintained. This pedagogical system is often cited as being unique to the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford (where “supervisions” are known as “tutorials”) — similar practices can be found elsewhere, though not on the Oxbridge scale.

All research and lectures are conducted by University Departments. The colleges are in charge of giving or arranging most supervisions, student accommodation, and funding most extra-curricula activities. During the 1990s Cambridge added a substantial number of new specialist research laboratories on several University sites around the city, and major expansion continues on a number of sites.

Colleges

The University of Cambridge currently has 31 colleges, of which three admit only women (New Hall, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish). The remaining 28 are mixed, Magdalene being the last all-male college to admit women in 1988. Two colleges admit only postgraduates (Clare Hall and Darwin), and four more admit mainly mature students or graduate students (Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish, St Edmund’s and Wolfson). The other 25 colleges admit mainly undergraduate students, but also postgraduates following courses of study or research. Although various colleges are traditionally strong in a particular subject, for example Churchill has a formalized bias towards the sciences and engineering, the colleges all admit students from just about the whole range of subjects, although some colleges do not take students for a handful of subjects such as architecture or history of art. It is noteworthy that costs to students (accommodation and food prices) vary considerably from college to college. This may be of increasing significance to potential applicants as Government grants decline in the next few years.

There are several historical colleges which no longer exist, such as King’s Hall (founded in 1317) and Michaelhouse which were combined together by King Henry VIII to establish Trinity in 1546. Also, Gonville Hall was founded in 1348 and then re-founded in 1557 as Gonville & Caius.

There are also several theological colleges in Cambridge, (for example Westminster College and Ridley Hall Theological College) that are loosely affiliated with the university through the Cambridge Theological Federation.

See also the list of Fictional Cambridge Colleges

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