Colleges of the University of Cambridge

Arms of the University of Cambridge

This is a list of the colleges within the University of Cambridge. These colleges provide most of the accommodation for undergraduates and graduates at the University, and at the undergraduate level they have responsibility for admitting students to the University and organising their tuition. They also provide funding, accommodation, or both, for some of the senior research posts in the University. They are self-governed charities in their own right, with their own endowments and possessions. 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.

"Old" and "new" colleges

The University of Cambridge has 31 colleges, 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, and the newest is Robinson, founded in 1977. 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. Seven colleges restrict entry by sex, or by age of undergraduates, or admit only postgraduates:

• Murray Edwards, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish admit only women;
  • of these, Lucy Cavendish admits only women who are either mature students, i.e. aged 21 or older, or postgraduates;
• Clare Hall and Darwin admit only postgraduates;
• Hughes Hall, St Edmund’s and Wolfson admit only mature students or postgraduates.

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. The last all-male college to become mixed was Magdalene, in 1988. In 1973 Hughes Hall became the first all-female college to admit men, and Girton admitted men in 1976.

Lucy Cavendish also places restrictions on the admission of staff members, allowing only females to become fellows of the college. The same is true of Newnham, but not Murray Edwards.

Colleges

See also: Oxbridge scarf colours

Key: U–undergraduates, P–postgraduates, Abb-Official abbreviation used in the Reporter.

Scarf colours	College	Founded	U	P	Male %	Female %	Total	Net Assets (Mostly 2014)	Assets per student	Website	Abb	Notes
	Christ's	1505	450	91	58	42	541	£149,700,000	£276,710		CHR
	Churchill	1960	476	228	71	29	704	£143,795,000	£204,254		CHU
	Clare	1326	473	182	52	48	655	£138,494,000	£211,441		CL
	Clare Hall	1966	0	155	47	53	155	£14,219,450	£91,738		CLH	Graduate students only.
	Corpus Christi	1352	250	209	60	40	459	£209,187,829	£455,747		CC
	Darwin	1964	0	674	54	46	674	£47,629,759	£70,677		DAR	Graduate students only.
	Downing	1800	440	183	66	34	623	£149,404,000	£239,814		DOW
	Emmanuel	1584	510	123	51	49	633	£187,978,472	£296,964		EM
	Fitzwilliam	1869 (1966)	502	186	63	37	688	£79,124,000	£115,006		F
	Girton	1869	531	146	53	47	677	£123,338,000	£182,183		G	Formerly women's only; became mixed in 1976
	Gonville and Caius	1348	546	173	60	40	719	£185,343,378	£257,779		CAI
	Homerton	1768 (1976)	593	588	37	63	1181	£138,417,093	£117,203		HO
	Hughes Hall	1885 (1949)	60	500	61	39	419				HH	Mature undergrad, and grad students only. Became mixed in 1973.
	Jesus	1496	503	201	57	43	704	£276,509,040	£392,769		JE
	King's	1441	394	187	57	43	581	£179,656,000	£309,219		K
	Lucy Cavendish	1965	110	110	0	100	220	£23,825,000	£108,295		LC	Mature female undergrad, and female grad students only.
	Magdalene	1428	366	127	54	46	493	£98,702,257	£200,207		M
	Murray Edwards	1954	387	55	0	100	442	£74,812,930	£169,260		MUR	Female only. Formerly New Hall.
	Newnham	1871	412	112	0	100	524	£156,451,793	£298,572		N	Female students only.
	Pembroke	1347	442	155	53	47	597	£135,332,773	£226,688		PEM
	Peterhouse	1284	266	88	57	43	354	£271,052,000	£765,684		PET
	Queens'	1448	535	297	57	43	832	£90,204,100	£108,418		Q
	Robinson	1977	422	73	60	40	495	£82,112,000	£165,883		R
	St Catharine's	1473	462	159	52	48	621	£97,395,000	£156,836		CTH
	St Edmund's	1896	126	205	69	31	331	£12,718,047	£38,423		ED	Mature undergrad, and grad students only.
	St John's	1511	588	243	59	41	831	£661,101,000	£795,549		JN
	Selwyn	1882	388	130	70	30	518	£94,953,363	£183,308		SE
	Sidney Sussex	1596	371	135	63	37	506	£110,295,436	£217,975		SID
	Trinity College	1546	671	359	63	37	1030	£1,028,272,000	£998,322		T
	Trinity Hall	1350	384	196	54	46	580	£223,677,179	£385,650		TH
	Wolfson	1965	119	385	64	36	504	£33,171,000	£65,815		W	Mature undergrad, and grad students only.
		Totals	11,824	6,002			17,826	5,216,861,899

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.

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. 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

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 1986.
• Buckingham College, founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hall, refounded as Magdalene in 1542.
• Bull College, a college for US GIs, existing from 1945 to 1946.
• Cavendish College, founded in 1873, a failed attempt to allow poorer students to sit the Tripos examinations, whose buildings were bought by Homerton in 1895.
• "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.
• God's House, founded in 1437, and re-founded in 1505 as Christ's College.
• King's Hall, founded in 1317, and combined with Michaelhouse to form Trinity College in 1546.
• Michaelhouse, founded in 1324, and combined with King's Hall to form Trinity College in 1546.
• 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

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