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.
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"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 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. Eight colleges restrict entry by sex, or by age of undergraduates, or admit only 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
Key: U–undergraduates, P–postgraduates, Abb-Official abbreviation used in the Reporter.
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.
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.
Former colleges
The above list does not include several former colleges that no longer exist. These include: