The Colleges
In addition to being admitted to the Faculty of Education every student must also be accepted for admission to a College.
For graduates, the main role of a College is to look after their general welfare, including the provision of accommodation (for full time students), meals and other social amenities. College facilities vary, but typically include a bar, student common rooms (known as Combination Rooms), library, laundry and computing facilities. Sports facilities, such as rowing, rugby, football, cricket, athletics, squash, tennis and badminton, are usually available at little or no cost. You will be assigned a College graduate tutor, whose role is to help you with any problems outside the responsibility of your academic supervisor, such as personal, welfare or finance issues. Graduate tutors have particular experience in dealing with the concerns of home and overseas graduate students.
As a member of a College each student will become part of a community which may have up to 250 graduate students engaged in study and research in a wide range of disciplines. They provide one another with the opportunity for informal discussion and learning. Details of all the colleges can be found at: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/gsprospectus/colleges/
The three colleges which have historically had the strongest links with the Faculty of Education are Homerton, Hughes Hall and Wolfson. However, this situation is changing as other colleges have started to appoint Education colleagues to their Fellowships; several members of the Faculty's lecturing staff, for example, are Fellows at Lucy Cavendish and St. Edmund's. A considerable number of other colleges have also made appointments in recent years. The following colleges now have at least one member of the Faculty's lecturing staff on their Fellowships: Churchill, Clare Hall, Darwin, Jesus, Newnham and St. John's.
For the MPhil and PhD it is the Board of Graduate Studies who arranges college places for students. There is further information available on their website. Basically, they ask you to express two preferences; if, however, neither of your first two choices offers you a place, other colleges will be asked to consider your application. Everyone who is offered a place by the Faculty of Education will be given a place at a college. If you have queries relating to colleges, please contact BGS.
On the MEd, the Faculty arranges college places for students. MEd applicants will be given information about the Colleges which accept part-time students and, if offered a place, will be asked to make a choice of three in order of preference. The Faculty will approach the Colleges on the student's behalf but cannot guarantee acceptance.