Cambridge put the cat among the pigeons by becoming the first university to announce that it would demand at least one A* at A level when the new grade is introduced in 2010.

It already had clearly the highest entry standards in the UK, with additional tests, such as its own STEP papers, in some subjects.

Until 2001, Cambridge had also enjoyed an unbroken run at the top of The Times League Table, and even now it is practically inseparable from first-placed Oxford.

The university produced the best results in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, the university still tops far more of our subject tables than any of its rivals. Nearly a third of its research was considered world-leading and over 70 per cent was rated in the top two categories.

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Ratings

Traditionally supreme in the sciences, where it is ranked second only to Harvard in the Times Higher Education/QS World University Rankings, Cambridge has also strengthened the arts and social sciences. Cambridge has been in the top three overall every year that the rankings have been published.

At first, Cambridge students did not respond in sufficient numbers for the university to be included in the National Student Survey. But the 2008 results put Cambridge in the top three, with undergraduates in theology and religious studies, history and archaeology particularly satisfied. The tripos system was a forerunner of the currently fashionable modular degree, allowing students to change subjects (within limits) midway through their courses. Students receive a classification for each of the two parts of their degree.

Access

More students now come from state schools than the independent sector – a trend the university is keen to continue – but the proportion of working-class undergraduates remains low, at less than 12 per cent. Summer schools, student visits and, in some colleges, sympathetic selection procedures, are helping to attract more applications from comprehensive schools and further education colleges.

The application system was simplified slightly for the 2009 entry, with candidates no longer required to complete an initial Cambridge form, as well as their UCAS form. However, they are still sent the Supplementary Application Questionnaire, covering the applicant’s academic experience in more detail.

No such thing as Cambridge

A lively alternative prospectus, available from the students’ union, used to say there was no such thing as Cambridge University, just a collection of colleges. Where applications are concerned, this is still true, as it is to some extent socially. Making the right choice of college is crucial, both to maximise the chances of winning a place and to ensure an enjoyable three years if you are successful. Applicants can take pot luck with an open application if they prefer not to opt for a particular college. But, though the statistics show that this route is equally successful, only a minority take it. Most teaching is now university-based, especially in the sciences, and a shift of emphasis towards the centre has been taking place more generally. The trend may accelerate if a £1-billion funding appeal to mark the university’s 800th anniversary, in 2009, is successful. It had passed the £800-million mark in July 2008.

Cambridge boasts numerous successful partnerships with the private sector, several of which benefit undergraduates as well as researchers. The university was also chosen for a Government-sponsored partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to promote entrepreneurship and, more recently, was selected to host one of five Academic Health Science Centres to lead biomedical innovation.

Development

Such is the scale of development that almost £500-million worth of building is either planned or under construction. The university is looking to the outskirts of the city to expand. The West Cambridge site will take a mixture of teaching and research buildings, and there are plans for more on green-belt land further north. In the long term, up to three new colleges could be built, but there will be few extra places for undergraduates in the foreseeable future.

Applying

With around four applicants for each place – fewer still if you choose your subject carefully – the competition for places appears less intense than at the popular civic universities, but the real difference is that nine out of ten entrants have at least three A grades at A level. The pressure does not end there: the amount of high-quality work to be crammed into eight-week terms can prove a strain, although the projected dropout rate of less than 1 per cent is the lowest at any university offering conventional degrees.

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