Arts

www.cam

.ac.uk

33

COURSES

Structure of our coursesCourses at Cambridge are divided into ‘Parts’lasting one or two years:

• some subjects have a two-year Part I(often divided into Part IA and Part IB) anda one-year Part II

• in others Part I lasts a year and is followedby a two-year Part II

• Engineering and some science subjectsalso have a fourth year that leads to anMEng or MSci degree

Flexibility and choiceWhen you start your course, you may nothave a clear idea of the options you want tofollow. Our curriculum allows for this as youcan delay specialising until after you’veexplored the broad scope of the subject.Once you’ve confirmed which areas you’remost interested in, you have the opportunityto focus your studies accordingly.

Generally speaking, as you progress throughyour course, the number and scope ofoptions you can choose from increases. Thismeans that, beyond any compulsory papers,you can usually tailor your course to yourown specifications.

Your choices may not even be limited to thosewithin your immediate subject field. Somepaper options are available in more than onedegree course where the subject matteroverlaps (for example in History, Classics, andAnglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic).

Cambridge graduates are expected toachieve the same standard and depth in theirfinal year as graduates from more specialisedcourses elsewhere. This is because:

• our students are some of the most able,motivated and hard working

• we provide them with some of the bestteaching and learning facilities

Our courses offer a tough challenge, but oneour students relish. We demand a lot, but wegive a lot too:

• expert teachers and lecturers• excellent library and computing facilities• superb labs• lots of support

Further details about what we offer can befound on p6–9 and p18–21.

Changing courseMost students take successive Parts of thesame degree course. However, it’s possible tochange subject after Part I or Part IA. Mostchanges are within the sciences or within thearts, but switching between broad areas is alsopossible. Therefore, a wide range of subjectcombinations is available.

Popular combinations/changes are notedunder the course descriptions that follow: noteverything is possible but there’s a surprisingdegree of flexibility. You need the agreementof your College that any change is in youreducational interests, and that you have thenecessary background in the subject to whichyou wish to change.

AssessmentOur courses offer a good compromisebetween the continuous assessment favouredby some universities and the emphasis placedon final exams by others.

Each Part of the course is self-contained. Thereare examinations at the end of each Part andthere’s no averaging out for your final degreeresult. In order to achieve an Honours degreeyou must pass examinations at both Part I andPart II.

• Written exams are the main form ofassessment used – typically, you sitbetween four and eight written exams foreach Part.

• In many science subjects, a specifiedamount of practical work is assessed.

• Most courses include a research project ordissertation – these may be in addition toor as a substitute for a written exam.

Courses

One of the most distinctive characteristics of Cambridge coursesis that they cover the subject very broadly in the initial years andthen become more specialised and offer a wide range of optionsin the later years.

Our degree courses are also sometimesreferred to as Triposes. The term ‘Tripos’ goesback to the seventeenth century whenverses would be read out by someone sat ona three-legged stool (or Tripos) at graduationceremonies. These became known as theTripos verses. Eventually ‘Tripos’ was used torefer to courses offered by the University,when the lists of graduating students foreach subject were written on the back of theTripos verses.

The Tripos System

The University’s Institute of ContinuingEducation (ICE) offers a wide range of part-time and short courses. These provide theopportunity for academic progression, orpersonal or career development at any stagein life and many lead to Certificate orDiploma qualifications.

Subjects available include archaeology,history of art, literature, local and familyhistory, genetics, theological studies andmany others. You can take day, evening orresidential courses or summer schools. Youcan study at the Institute’s headquarters,Madingley Hall, as well as other locations inand around Cambridge, or for some coursesyou can study online.

For information please see the Institute ofContinuing Education website at:www.ice.cam.ac.uk.

Part-time and short courses

Ang

lo-Saxon

, Norse, and

Celtic

www.cam

.ac.uk

34

COURSES ARTS

A voyage of discoveryThe history and culture of Anglo-SaxonEngland, the languages and literature of theCeltic-speaking peoples, or the exploits ofthe Vikings – studying a completely newsubject area can be an exciting voyage ofdiscovery, especially when there’s the chanceto explore a range of cultures, or to look athistory, language and literature side by side.Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic allows you todo this.

ASNC, as it’s known, focuses on the history,material culture, languages and literature ofthe peoples of Britain, Ireland and theScandinavian world in the earlier MiddleAges. In order to develop a full appreciationof those societies it’s necessary to get toknow their literature and to learn to readtexts in the original languages. ASNCstudents discover medieval history whilelearning one or more languages and readinggreat works of literature, such as the OldEnglish poem Beowulf, the epic medievalIrish tale Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid ofCooley) and Icelandic sagas.

Cambridge is the only university in the UKwhere you can study this fascinatingcombination of areas and disciplines. Exactlywhich areas you study and to what depth islargely up to you. Once you discover whereyour strengths and interests lie, you haveplenty of options to choose from. In yourfinal year you have the opportunity to carryout some original research in the form of adissertation.

The whole course is based on the idea thatyou develop key skills through directexposure to and close analysis of primarytexts. In this respect, Cambridge has rare andexceptional resources to offer in theUniversity Library, the College libraries, and inthe Fitzwilliam and other museums.

What are we looking for?No previous knowledge of the subject isexpected or required; all of the languages aretaught from scratch and we don’t assumethat our students have studied early medievalhistory or literature at school. However, wedo require passion and commitment, and welook for evidence of your general ability inarts and humanities subjects.

The structure of the courseIn your first year, you select six papers from arange of 10 (please see the course outline,opposite). Your Director of Studies helps youto decide on the combination that suits youbest. You have the flexibility to choose arange of subjects that reflects your interests;there are no compulsory combinations ofsubjects. At the end of the first year, you takea Preliminary Examination in four of thepapers and departmental tests in the othertwo.

In your second year, you may continue tostudy the six subjects that you chose in yourfirst year and take Part I examinations inthem. Alternatively, you may replace up tothree subjects with a dissertation and/or oneor two papers offered by other degreecourses. Our current second-year studentsare able to ‘borrow’ papers on MedievalEnglish literature, Medieval French, Anglo-Saxon Archaeology and ScandinavianArchaeology.

In the third year (Part II), you have theopportunity to study four subjects in greaterdepth and you also write a dissertation on atopic of your choice within the scope of theASNC course. The four subjects are selectedfrom a list of 12 papers offered by theDepartment; these include advancedsubjects in the languages and literatures thatyou study in your first and second years, andhistorical topics that cover specific themes inAnglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Celtic history.The Department also offers Textual Criticism,Germanic Philology and Celtic Philology tothird-year students.

Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celticwww.asnc.cam.ac.uk

UCAS code QQ59 BA/ASNC

Duration Three years

Entry requirements Typical A level offer A*AA Typical IB offer 40–42 points, with 776 or777 at Higher Level For other qualifications, please see p136–40.

Essential: no specific subjectsDesirable: A Level/IB Higher Level languagesand/or humanities subjects

CollegesAvailable at all Colleges.

Applications per place 2010 entry 2

Open day 201129 June. Booking recommended, see theDepartment website for further information.

See also Cambridge Open Days on 7 and 8July (p143).

Map reference B

Further informationTelephone: 01223 335079Email: [email protected]

At a glance

If you’re fascinated by medieval history, literature and languages,and you relish the prospect of doing your own research usingoriginal source materials, this unique course will appeal to you.

Archaeology and Anthropology (p36),English (p48), History (p52), Linguistics (p60),Modern and Medieval Languages (p62)

Other courses to consider

Ang

lo-Saxon

, Norse, and

Celtic

www.cam

.ac.uk

35

COURSES ARTS

The course is split into two Parts, with a two-year Part I and a one-year Part II. Teaching isprovided through lectures, classes, seminarsand supervisions and you can expect between10 and 15 hours of lectures and classes perweek during Part I.

Years 1 and 2Part IIn the first year of Part I, you study the variousdisciplines which form the core of ASNCstudies. You choose six subjects selected froma range of 10, and take an examination in fourof them and departmental tests in the othertwo:

• Historical subjects• Anglo-Saxon History• Scandinavian History• Gaelic History (Scotland, Ireland and the

Isle of Man)• Brittonic History (Wales, Brittany, Cornwall,

the Pictish kingdoms and the North Britons)

• Language and literature subjects• Old English• Old Norse• Medieval Welsh• Medieval Irish• Insular Latin

• Palaeography (the study of manuscripts andhandwriting)

In your second year, you may continue to studyyour chosen subjects and take an examinationin all six of them. Alternatively, you have theoption to replace up to three of your first-yearsubjects with papers ‘borrowed’ from relatedcourses and/or a dissertation. Borrowed paperscover subjects from English, Archaeology, andModern and Medieval Languages.

Year 3Part IIThis is where you develop and use the skillsyou learned in Part I, exploring your chosenfields and applying your newly acquiredknowledge in original and imaginative ways.

You study four subjects selected from a rangeof 17 including, for example:

• The Conversion of Scandinavia• Beowulf• Advanced Medieval Irish Language and

Literature• Germanic Philology

These are designed to give you theopportunity to pursue more detailed study inyour chosen areas. You also write a dissertationof between 9,000 and 12,000 words on aspecific subject of your own choice within thescope of the course.

Course outline

I like the variety of subjects that the course includes: in two yearsit feels like I’ve already studied a broad range of topics, most ofwhich I had never considered before. Another good aspect is thatstudents have a lot of contact time with staff – it makes you feelwell supported.Clare

Students may replace one of their four Part IIASNC papers with a borrowed paper. Therange currently includes Medieval EnglishLiterature, Historical Linguistics, Anglo-SaxonArchaeology, Scandinavian Archaeology anda subject borrowed from the Faculty ofHistory. Alternatively, students may replaceone of their Part II subjects with a Part I paperthat they didn’t offer for the examinations atthe end of their second year.

All in all, the ASNC course offers students awide range of choice and an impressivedegree of flexibility, as well as the chance toengage in interdisciplinary study.

Changing courseA few students choose to transfer to anothercourse after Part I. ASNC combines well, forexample, with Part II of the History or Englishdegree courses.

After ASNCThis unusual and challenging degree enablesyou to develop your powers of argument, torefine your appreciation of literature, and tosharpen your powers of analysis. This meansthat, like any other arts subject, it equips youfor a wide range of careers whereimportance is attached to your intellectualand analytical skills.

Many employers regard the ASNC degree asa promising sign of individuality, and formerAsnacs (as they like to be called) can befound in a wide range of careers. Some goon to take advantage of the specialistopportunities open to them and do researchand teaching in schools and universities, orwork in museums and libraries; while manyothers go into careers including journalism,banking, law, the Civil Service, industry andbusiness.

Archaeology and

Anthrop

olog

ywww.cam

.ac.uk

36

COURSES ARTS

Archaeology and Anthropologywww.archanth.cam.ac.uk

UCAS codeLV64 BA/AA

DurationThree years

Entry requirementsTypical A Level offer A*AA Typical IB offer 40–42 points, with 776 or777 at Higher LevelFor other qualifications, please see p136–40.

Essential: no specific subjects

Colleges Available at all Colleges.


Open days 201114 March. Booking required, see the Facultywebsite for further information and otherdates.


Map reference E, G


At a glance Distinctively differentCommonly called ‘Arch and Anth’, our course isunique in offering both breadth and theopportunity to specialise. While at mostuniversities archaeology and anthropology arestudied either as a single degree or entirelyseparately, our flexible course enables you tocombine a broad introduction and thenpursue advanced study in one of Archaeology,Biological Anthropology or SocialAnthropology from your second year.

The unity and diversity of humankind,evolution and behaviour, technology andadaptation, cultural and social life, social andpolitical change – our course covers all periodsof the human past, combines theory andpractice, and brings together the socialsciences, humanities and natural sciences. You can study specialist interests in humanprehistory, evolution and biology; andcontemporary cultures and societies in thebroad context of the development and variety of human life.

The Faculty and its resources Our facilities are impressive and the scope of our teaching and research is global. OurFaculty has two unique resources which areused extensively in teaching and research. The Haddon Library is one of the leadinginstitutions of its kind, and the Museum ofArchaeology and Anthropology housescollections of world importance. Online linksoffer access to these and other resources. The Faculty has a well-equipped IT lab andpurpose-built laboratories for biological andarchaeological science. Links are maintainedwith related research centres in otheruniversity departments and across the world.

A multidisciplinary courseCambridge is unusual in combining theconstituent disciplines during the first year(Part I). This provides a comprehensiveintroduction and overview of the threesubjects and related techniques, and forms thebedrock of your later specialisation.

In the second year (Part IIA), you choose thediscipline you wish to specialise in (althoughyou may take some papers from the otherdisciplines and other courses). Part IIA providesa detailed foundation in your chosen subject;while the third year (Part IIB) offers specialistoptions linked to areas of current research.

Archaeology (including Ancient Near Eastsubjects) is the study of past human societiesthrough their material remains andenvironment. It deals with the millenniaduring which humans developed theirpatterns of behaviour. It aims to reconstructthe nature and development of particularsocieties and explain the variations that occuramong past societies.

Biological Anthropology examines humandiversity in terms of biological andevolutionary principles and methods. Itexplores the place of humans in nature, thepattern of our evolution, the genetics ofhumans and their significance, and howindividuals and populations interact with theirenvironment today. The subject studiesbehaviour, ecology, genetics and fossils tounderstand humanity.

Social Anthropology uses studies of long-term first-hand fieldwork to understand thediversity of today’s human societies: from thelives of indigenous peoples – their culturesand their relation to nation states and theglobal economy – to the social and cultural lifeof people in the largest cities on the planet.

Teaching and assessmentThe Faculty is one of the largest in the UK withover 30 full-time, permanent teaching staff.You can expect to be taught by leadingexperts in their field and each department is atthe forefront of new developments andoriginal research.

All subjects include lectures and seminars,complemented by College-basedsupervisions. In the first year, most studentshave around eight lectures each week, plusthree supervisions and one seminar eachfortnight. You’re assessed at the end of eachyear, primarily through three-hour writtenexaminations though some subjects mayinclude assessed practical work and/or adissertation of 10,000 words.

Films and fieldworkThe Faculty is well supplied with multimediaequipment, a rare collection of ethnographicfilms and videos, and superb ethnographic,archaeological and biological teachingcollections. Hands-on experience and researchin the field is important too: you undertakepractical and/or dissertation work and acquireexpertise in computing, museum andlaboratory work, and fieldwork.

What makes us human? Is there such a thing as human nature?Why are human societies so different? How do we find out aboutthe past when there was no writing? If questions such as theseabsorb and interest you, so could our Archaeology andAnthropology degree.

Arch and Anth is amazing. I’ve been able to study manydifferent topics in the first yearand learn about humanity in its broadest context. John

Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic (p34), Asianand Middle Eastern Studies (p40), Classics(p42), Geography (p50), History (p52), Historyof Art (p54), Linguistics (p60), NaturalSciences (p84), Politics, Psychology andSociology (p68), Theology and ReligiousStudies (p70)


Archaeology and

Anthrop

olog

ywww.cam

.ac.uk

37

COURSES ARTS

Year 1Part IIn the first year, most students study each ofthe three core subjects; Archaeology, BiologicalAnthropology and Social Anthropology; with afourth paper chosen from one of the following:

• an interdisciplinary paper exploring topicssuch as the evolution of society, languageand culture, sex and gender, and humanecology

• papers shared with the Faculty of Politics, Psychology, Sociology and InternationalStudies, such as Introduction to Politics,Sociology and Social Psychology

• a paper introducing Egyptian andMesopotamian cultures

If you wish to study Ancient Near East andEgypt options, you take either Akkadian orAncient Egyptian Language as well as thepaper Introduction to Egyptian andMesopotamian Cultures and choose two out ofthree core papers in Archaeology, BiologicalAnthropology and Social Anthropology. Youmay study both Akkadian and Egyptianlanguages and take only one core Archaeologyand Anthropology paper.

Years 2 and 3Part IIYou choose to specialise in one of thefollowing: Archaeology (including AncientNear East), Biological Anthropology or SocialAnthropology. The second year provides afoundation, leading to further specialism inyour final year.

ArchaeologyYou take two core papers in each year of PartII on the History and Scope of Archaeologyand the Practice of Archaeology, as well as:

Part IIA• two optional papers from a range of

chronologically and/or geographicallyfocused papers and archaeological science– current options include the Americas,India and Pre-Hellenic Greece

Part IIB• two optional papers (see above)• a dissertation or a third optional paper

Students specialising in Ancient Near Eastwithin Archaeology take the core Practice ofArchaeology paper, and an ancient languagepaper, plus:

Part IIA• two papers from a choice including the

Archaeology or Social History of Egypt orMesopotamia and additional languagepapers

Part IIB• two papers from a choice including the

Archaeology or Social History of Egypt orMesopotamia and additional advancedlanguage papers

• a third paper from this same range or adissertation

Biological Anthropology Part IIAThe second year explores theories andmethods in Biological Anthropology, with anemphasis on how to study humans from abiological perspective. You take five papers;three core papers and the remaining twofrom a choice of 12. Topics covered include:

• Evolution and Function of the Human Brain• Evolutionary Ecology• Human Evolution and Health• Analytical Methods

Part IIBThe third year consists of advanced papersthat look at major issues in the differentbranches of the subject, including:

• Human and Primate Genetics andBehaviour

• Human Evolution• Human Ecology

You take a theory and practice paper andeither a dissertation or project on a topic ofyour choice plus four more options onselected topics, or you take six optionalpapers.

Social Anthropology Part IIAYou take three compulsory papers, plus afourth paper chosen from a range of options:

• Anthropology of Economics and Kinship• Anthropology of Religion and Politics• Anthropological Theory• a choice of optional papers such as

Anthropology of Colonialism and Empire,Anthropology and Law, and Anthropology,Communication and the Arts

Part IIB• You take two core papers on advanced

Social Anthropology: Thought, Belief andEthics; Political Economy and SocialTransformations.

• You select a third compulsory ‘area paper’from a choice of regional options includingAfrica, Europe and Latin America.

• You then have the choice of taking twofurther optional papers (see above), or oneoptional paper and an independentlyresearched dissertation.

Course outline

Our students travel widely: research trips andfieldwork figure in all subjects. Preparation forthird-year dissertations can be done close tohome, but some undergraduates haveresearched their projects as far afield asIndonesia, India, Peru, South Africa andAustralia. Financial support for such travel maybe available from College, Faculty andUniversity funds.

What are we looking for?There are no specific subject requirements forArchaeology and Anthropology, andapplicants with arts and science backgroundsdo equally well. However, what the coursedoes require is a genuine interest in human

behaviour, biology and culture. Studentsshould also be comfortable reading, thinkingcritically and constructing arguments basedon readings and other evidence.

After Arch and AnthFor nearly a hundred years, our formerArchaeology and Anthropology studentshave gone on to become leading figures intheir discipline, doing ground-breakingresearch that has shaped the subject. Theseinclude Edmund Leach, David Clarke, DorothyGarrod, Louis Leakey, David Pilbeam andMarilyn Strathern. Our graduates also includethe poet Ted Hughes, sculptor AntonyGormley, former Deputy Chair of the

Competition Commission Denise Kingsmill,author Tom Sharpe, actor Thandie Newtonand comedian Hugh Laurie.

The analytical and critical skills, intellectualversatility, multicultural sensitivity andinternational outlook you develop are widelysought after by employers in fields such asthe media, commerce, managementconsultancy, diplomacy, advertising and PR.Other graduates choose careers which builddirectly on their discipline, including researchand teaching; work for NGOs anddevelopment agencies; in museums,conservation, and heritage management; and health.

Architecture

www.cam

.ac.uk

38

COURSES ARTS

A unique environment for studyingarchitectureCambridge is an amazing place to studyarchitecture. The beautiful buildings, courts,interiors and gardens of Cambridge includethe work of great architects from SirChristopher Wren to Sir James Stirling, RalphErskine, Edward Cullinan, Erik Sorensen andSir Michael Hopkins. The teaching is rankedthe highest in the country, and there’s anoutstanding record of graduate achievement.

The Department is organised within theFaculty of Architecture and History of Art. Our Architecture BA emphasises the teachingof architecture as a cultural as well astechnological subject and we have close links with our neighbours in the Departmentof Engineering.

Our course is oriented around design – fromthe large scale of a city or a region to thesmallest detail – and is supported by lectureswhich draw upon the humanities (historyand theory) and sciences (construction,environmental design and structures).

Teaching, travel and technologyOur Department is small and friendly, with avery good staff/student ratio. We have asuperb Faculty library, dedicated computerfacilities and photographic areas.

Architecture at Cambridge is unashamedlyacademic in its approach. Like otherarchitecture schools elsewhere, the core ofthe teaching programme is in practicaldesign, carried out in studios. Projects are setthroughout the year and you’re required toproduce models and drawings tocommunicate your design ideas. TheDepartment provides studio desk spacetogether with workshop and computerfacilities.

Throughout the three years of theundergraduate course, you have two ‘studio’days each week. You’re supervised on yourprojects at least once a week duringindividual studio tutorials and regular criticalreviews in which you’re encouraged toexplore different approaches, and to developyour skills, and, ultimately, your own designphilosophy. Studio work is time-consumingand architecture probably requires morehours per week than any other course at theUniversity.

You also have lectures, which are scheduledfor the three non-studio days, usually, but notalways, in the mornings. In addition, thecourse involves classes, visits to buildingsunder construction or restoration, and ahighly enjoyable trip to Rome in the first year.

Professional qualificationSuccessful completion of the three-yearundergraduate course in Architecture atCambridge carries exemption from Part 1 ofthe Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA)examinations – the first stage in qualifying asan architect. This means that the coursediffers from most others at Cambridge in thatit must be studied as three continuous years.It’s not possible to study another course firstand then switch to Architecture withoutstarting again at the beginning.

The Department offers an option in its MPhilcourse in Environmental Design inArchitecture as well, which has beenvalidated for RIBA Part 2.

Architecturewww.arct.cam.ac.uk

UCAS code K100 BA/Arch

DurationThree years


All applicants are expected to show aportfolio of recent work at interview (see boxbelow).

Desirable: AS Level/IB Standard LevelMathematics or Physics

CollegesAvailable at all Colleges except CorpusChristi, Homerton, Hughes Hall and St Catharine’s.


Open days 2011Attend a College open day or one of theCambridge Open Days on 7 or 8 July (seep143–4).

Map reference L


At a glance

The only course at Cambridge that combines the intellectualchallenge of a Cambridge degree with the opportunity forcreative design.

All applicants are expected to show a portfolio of recent work at interview but this isn’texpected to be work of an architectural nature (eg plans, sections etc).

Admissions Tutors want to see something that illustrates your interests, experience and ability inthe visual and material arts. Normally drawing and painting forms the basis of the portfolio butother media such as sculpture and photography may also be included. It’s usually sufficient forthree-dimensional work to be exhibited in photographs.

A sketchbook with ongoing drawings is extremely helpful and applicants are encouraged totake one to their interview. It may be in any media (pencil, charcoal, crayon etc) and shouldinclude a variety of subject matter. The work can be material prepared for school-leavingexaminations but creative work executed outside formal courses is also welcome.

Portfolio advice

Engineering (p76), History of Art (p54), LandEconomy (p56)


Architecture

www.cam

.ac.uk

39

COURSES ARTS

Qualification for registration as an architectby the Architect’s Registration Board of theUK is dependent on two years’ supervisedoffice experience (at least one of which isfollowing a RIBA Part 2 qualification) andsatisfactory performance in the RIBA Part 3Professional Practice Examination. TheDepartment has introduced a very successfulPart 3 course under the auspices of theUniversity’s Institute of Continuing Education (www.ice.cam.ac.uk).

What are we looking for?We welcome students with a wide variety ofA Level/IB Higher Level subjects – in fact, anenthusiasm for both the arts and the sciencesis desirable. The ability to draw and an interestin the history of art and architecture areimportant, as is a knowledge of mathematicsto at least a good GCSE standard. Please notethat Art tends to provide a better preparationfor our course than subjects such as DT.

Changing courseStudents can opt to move to other courseswithin the University after Part IA. However,this is very rare and most architecturestudents stay for all three years (see aboveregarding professional qualification).

Careers and researchMost of our graduates continue intoprofessional training, but a number enterresearch. We have a long-standing traditionof research excellence, in areas such ashistory and philosophy of architecture,environmentally-responsible design,architecture and the moving image, urbandesign and transport planning, the mitigationof earthquake and flooding risk, and disasterrelief.

The study of Architecture at Cambridge doesn’t only deal withbuildings. From building a tent in the Fens, to studying the GreekAgora in lectures, we’re encouraged to think of people, places,materials, philosophy and history, and only then consider theactual building! The course here has been a life-changingexperience; meeting amazing people, creating incredible thingsand overall enjoying myself!Kathryn

Architecture is divided into Part IA, Part IBand Part II, each lasting a year. Teaching isprovided through studio work, lectures andsupervisions.

For the studio work, projects are setthroughout the year and you’re required toproduce models and drawings tocommunicate your design ideas. Theresulting portfolio accounts for 60 per cent of the overall marks each year.

Lectures cover the rest of the academiccurriculum and are assessed throughcoursework and written examinations. Youattend a lecture a week on each paper aswell as small-group supervisions, for whichyou’re required to complete essays andundertake preparation and reading.

Year 1Part IAStudio work introduces you to the conditionsand possibilities of architecture. Emphasis ison understanding and developing proficiencyin traditional modes of architecturalrepresentation – models, collage,perspectives, elevations, plans and sections.You also master basic CAD skills and usethese in studio presentations.

You take five lecture-based papers in Part IA:

• Introduction to Architectural History• Introduction to Architectural Theory• Fundamental Principles of Construction • Fundamental Principles of Structural

Design • Fundamental Principles of Environmental

Design

There’s a trip to Rome during the Eastervacation which includes visits to and lectureson the famous buildings of the city and itssurroundings.

Year 2Part IBYou have a choice of three options for studiowork, with projects ranging in scale frommapping studies and interior interventions,to a reasonable-sized building. Emphasis ison integrating the technical skills learnt inPart IA and in the ongoing lectures with yourstudio output.

In addition, you take four lecture-basedpapers that build on knowledge acquired inthe first year:

• Studies in History and Theories ofArchitecture, Urbanism and Design

• Principles of Construction• Principles of Structural Design• Principles of Environmental Design

For the first, you submit three essays as wellas sit an end-of-year examination. Theremaining three papers are assessed by awritten exam in each.

Year 3Part IIFor your final year, you have a choice of threestudios. These options vary in approach butall require students to produce a design for abuilding at the end of the year.

There are four lecture-based papers thattogether carry 20 per cent of your overallmarks: Advanced Studies in Historical andTheoretical Aspects of Architecture andUrbanism; Introduction to the Principles ofProfessional Practice; Advanced Studies inConstruction Technology, Structural Analysisand Environmental Design Related to CaseStudies; and Architectural Engineering.

A written dissertation of 7,000 – 9,000 wordson a topic of your choice accounts for theremaining 20 per cent of your marks.

Course outline

Asian and

Middle Eastern Stud

ies

www.cam

.ac.uk

40

COURSES ARTS

Broaden your horizonsAre you interested in the world’s fastestgrowing economy? Have you ever wonderedwhy politics and religion seem to beinseparable in the Middle East? Would youlike to learn more about Japanese film andliterature?

You can learn about all these topics and moreat the Faculty of Asian and Middle EasternStudies; where the areas of study rangegeographically from the Mediterranean tothe Pacific, and in time from the classical erato the present day.

On our course you learn the languages thatgive you access to the source materialessential to understanding the life andcivilisation of the people you’re studying.Learning the modern spoken forms enablesyou to communicate directly with peoplefrom the area, and through studying theclassical languages you gain an even deeperunderstanding of the culture.

Flexibility: our range of optionsOur course is very flexible with numerousoptions and combinations available. You canstudy Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese orPersian. In addition, you can combine Arabic,Hebrew and Persian with each other or withsubjects from other faculties such as amodern European language (provided youhave an A Level/IB Higher Level in theEuropean language) or Egyptology. Chineseand Japanese cannot ordinarily be combined,except with each other in Part II. See theFaculty website for full details of possiblecombinations.

East Asian Studies• Chinese Studies

We aim to provide you with a good fluencyin modern Chinese (Mandarin), knowledgeof literary and classical Chinese, and acritical understanding of the rich variety ofChinese culture.

• Japanese StudiesOur aim is to enable you to master theJapanese language, one of the world’smost challenging; and to gain acomprehensive understanding of Japan, itsrich and diverse culture, and its vital role inworld affairs.

Middle Eastern Studies• Arabic and Persian Studies

The study of the Middle East and Islam isespecially relevant in an era when theIslamic and Western worlds are frequentlyportrayed as irreconcilably opposed, butinextricably bound together by manyissues. Arabic and Persian Studies seeks togive you a deeper understanding of theMiddle East and Islam, its rich heritage andits contribution to world knowledge.

• Hebrew StudiesHebrew has had a life of over 3,000 years,and at Cambridge both classical (Biblical)and modern Hebrew and its literature canbe studied, as well as modern MiddleEastern history and culture, and otherlanguages such as Aramaic.

Individuality: our teaching approachWhat makes our Faculty unique is the way inwhich teaching is conducted. Because of oursize, the Faculty acts like a second Collegeand there are excellent opportunities to meetand mix with students from other courses aswell as from other Colleges. Anotheradvantage of being part of a small faculty isthat teaching mainly takes place in smallgroups. As such, teaching is geared to yourneeds. You’re taught through a mixture oflectures, seminars and classes, andsupervisions, and you can typically expectbetween 10 and 12 hours of teaching eachweek (although this will vary depending onthe papers and languages being studied).

Assessment methods vary from paper topaper but may include written, translation,oral and/or listening examinations, andcoursework. Most students in Part II also writea dissertation of up to 12,000 words, which issubmitted in the fourth year.

Our course structurePart IIn Part I, which normally takes two years, youget a thorough grounding in the language(s)of your choice, while your study of thecultural component is gradually increased.Whether the culture is classical or modern, avariety of paper options may be offered inthe literature, history, religion, politics,economics, anthropology and society of theregion you’ve chosen.

Asian and Middle Eastern Studieswww.ames.cam.ac.uk

The Faculty offered me awonderfully rigorous andstimulating introduction toChinese, precisely the linguisticand historical grounding Ineeded to begin my ownresearch – an astonishinglearning opportunity.Julia

UCAS code TT46 BA/AMES

DurationFour years


Essential: no specific subjects unlesscombining a modern European language, inwhich case an A Level/IB Higher Level in theEuropean language is required Highly desirable: a modern or ancientlanguage, an A Level/IB Higher Levelhumanities/social science subject



Open day 2011 18 March. Booking required, see the Facultywebsite for further information.


Map reference B


At a glance

Are you interested in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Persian orHebrew Studies? You don’t need any prior knowledge of thesechallenging languages to study them at Cambridge but you doneed imagination, perseverance and a sense of adventure.

Archaeology and Anthropology (p36),Classics (p42), History (p52), History of Art(p54), Linguistics (p60), Modern andMedieval Languages (p62), Philosophy (p66),Theology and Religious Studies (p70)


Asian and

Middle Eastern Stud

ies

www.cam

.ac.uk

41

COURSES ARTS

Part IIYou spend your third year abroad, studying orworking in a country where the languageyou’re learning is spoken. In the fourth year,greater specialisation is possible and moststudents write a dissertation on a topic oftheir choice.

Living and learning abroadThe year abroad is a great opportunity toimmerse yourself in the culture you’restudying and to improve your language skills.Many students find this the most rewardingyear of the course.

In some subjects you go to a designateduniversity in the appropriate country andfollow a course of study. In the case of MiddleEastern Studies, you have a choice of whichcountry you go to and, to a certain extent,what you do. In the past, students have

studied in a foreign university, taught, andworked for companies or charities.

What are we looking for?No prior knowledge of any of the languagesis expected from applicants and it’s moreimportant to do some exploratory readingaround the subject(s). Part I is designed toaccommodate beginners, and there are nospecific subject requirements: justintelligence, enthusiasm and stamina.However, if you wish to combine Arabic,Hebrew or Persian with a modern Europeanlanguage, you need to have an A Level/IBHigher Level in the European language.

Changing courseIt’s possible to change course after Part I. Inrecent years, undergraduates havesuccessfully changed to modern languages,Archaeology, Law, and Politics, Psychologyand Sociology.

Versatility: your choice of careersThe range of career options open tograduates is vast. Besides those who go intoresearch, many graduates use their subjectdirectly in subsequent employment.Examples include journalism, business andcommerce, teaching overseas, the CivilService (especially the Foreign Office), NGOs,or international scientific agencies. However,even if you choose not to stay in a relatedfield, employers are often impressed by theinitiative you’ve displayed to tackle a difficultlanguage. Our graduates have also gone intobanking, marketing, law, and one runs asuccessful travel agency specialising in toursof China.

Chinese StudiesYears 1 and 2Part I In Part I, you receive intensive training in oral,aural and written modern standard Chinese,as well as a thorough grounding in readingliterary and classical Chinese, and Chineseand East Asian history from ancient times tothe present day.

Years 3 and 4Part II In Part II, you can choose from specialistpapers which cover topics as varied asreligion and thought in dynastic China,Chinese film, Chinese linguistics, pre-modernand modern Chinese literature, war in themaking of modern China, and theanthropology of contemporary Chinesesociety. In your third year you attend coursesat a top university in China. The fourth yearinvolves writing a dissertation on a topic ofyour choice.

Japanese StudiesYears 1 and 2Part IThe first year is devoted to modern spokenand written Japanese, which you continue tostudy throughout the course; and to aninterdisciplinary introduction to JapaneseStudies, covering topics such as Japanesereligion, film and politics. Classical Japanese isalso available in the second year, along withoptions in history, literature, religion, politicsand society. These papers, and ClassicalJapanese, are available for further study inPart II.

Years 3 and 4Part IIThe third year is spent studying in Japan andduring which time you begin work on yourdissertation. The fourth year involves furtheradvanced language work, a special paper,and the writing of a dissertation on a topic of your choice. Special papers available varyfrom year to year but in the past haveincluded options on Japanese culture, history, society, and politics and internationalrelations. There’s also an option to take apaper in Korean.

Arabic and Persian StudiesYears 1 and 2Part IWe offer both Arabic and Persian (Farsi).Initially you study the modern written andspoken language(s). The classical literarylanguages follow, along with papers that give a broad sense of Middle Eastern history,literature and culture, and of Islam. There arealso papers in Akkadian and Egyptian (fromArchaeology and Anthropology) available.

Years 3 and 4Part IIYou spend your third year in the Middle East,either studying or working. In the fourth year,you continue with advanced languagelearning and choose from various papersoffering in-depth perspectives on topics such as literature and history, as well aswriting a dissertation on a subject of yourchoice.

Hebrew StudiesYears 1 and 2Part IIn Part I, you’re introduced to the Hebrewlanguage and its literature, as well as thecontemporary Middle East and its history andculture. You also have the options of takingpapers in other subjects such as linguisticsand Judaism, and of taking an Akkadian orEgyptian paper from Archaeology andAnthropology.

Years 3 and 4Part IIThe third year is spent in Israel to increaseyour language fluency and understanding,and is when you start work on your final yeardissertation. Once back in Cambridge for yourfourth year, you complete and submit yourdissertation and take an advanced languagepaper. In addition, you choose from a rangeof further special subject and languagepapers, such as Hebrew Literature (Classicaland Modern), Comparative Semitics, Aramaic,Phoenician and Ugaritic. Options in pre-modern and the modern Middle East are alsoavailable.

Course outline

Classics

www.cam

.ac.uk

42

COURSES ARTS

Plato and politics...War and politics, gender and sexuality, parentsand children, the power of language –Classics at Cambridge isn’t just studied as aperiod in the past, but looks at how classicalculture, language and philosophy haveaffected the history of Western civilisationright up to the present day.

Cambridge has long been a major centre forthe study of the classical world. Today ourFaculty is recognised internationally as one ofthe most dynamic of its kind, with anexceptionally distinguished record in teachingand research.

...plaster casts and playsThe purpose-built Faculty building provides afocus for both the formal and informalactivities of this large faculty. Possibly the bestsuch centre in the country, our facilitiesinclude a well-stocked and comfortablelibrary, and an outstanding display of casts ofclassical sculptures and a teaching collectionof ancient pottery in our own Museum ofClassical Archaeology. In addition, you haveaccess to the holdings of the FitzwilliamMuseum, where some classes take place.

Most of our students agree that the Faculty isa very lively one. There’s a thriving studentsociety (The Herodoteans) and the renownedCambridge Greek Play is regularly staged by aprofessional director. Produced in the originallanguage, the play attracts audiences from allover the country.

Being one of the longest established faculties,we also have funds which enable us to makegenerous provision for undergraduate prizesand bursaries, and grants for travel to Greeceand Italy.

TeachingOur Classics course aims to provide a broadly-based study of classical antiquity throughoriginal texts and artefacts and by studyinghistory, culture, archaeology, art, philosophyand linguistics. Assessment is by end of yearexams.

As you progress, you can either specialise in a particular field or retain the breadth withwhich the course starts and develop aninterdisciplinary approach to the study of the classical world.

During Part I, you have an average of 12Faculty lectures a week, together with two ormore language classes (as needed). You alsohave at least two College supervisions a weekin which you discuss your work.

In Part II, you may have Faculty seminars aswell as lectures, while your Collegesupervisions give you the opportunity toresearch essay topics of your choice in depth.

A wide range of optionsPart I – the three-year degreeDuring the first year, you take subjects whichallow you to gain a general idea of the ancientworld and find out which specific aspectsmost appeal to you. You extend yourknowledge of the ancient languages, and areintroduced to the main areas of enquiry.Written texts are a major source of evidencefor classical antiquity, so there’s an emphasison developing accurate reading skills in bothGreek and Latin.

The choice broadens in the second year andyou begin to find your own route of study.You choose from a further selection of papers– perhaps Past and Present in Trajanic Rome,Dramatic Women in Greek Tragedy, or TheLiterature of the Neronian Period – and picktwo of four disciplines to concentrate on.Examinations are taken at the end of the firstand second years.

Part I – the four-year degreeThe four-year course offers a Preliminary Yearfor students who don’t have Latin at A Level/IBHigher Level. If you have A Level/IB HigherLevel Greek but not Latin, you’re advised totake the four-year degree.

The Preliminary Year focuses on Latin and theRoman world, with the aim of making you aconfident reader of Latin and a confidentstudent of Roman culture. You take on orcontinue with Greek in your second year. Yourthird year is identical to the second year of thethree-year degree.

Part IIPart II is the same for students on the three-and four-year courses. You can specialisewithin one discipline (eg Archaeology) orconstruct a wide-ranging course particular toyour individual strengths and interests.

Classicswww.classics.cam.ac.uk

UCAS code Three-year course: Q800 BA/CGLFour-year course: Q801 BA/CGL4

DurationThree or four years

Entry requirementsTypical A Level offer A*AA Typical IB offer 40–42 points, with 776 or777 at Higher Level For other qualifications, please see p136–40.

Three-year courseEssential: A Level/IB Higher Level Latinand/or GreekFour-year courseEssential: no specific subjectsHighly desirable: an A Level/IB Higher LevellanguageUseful: GCSE Latin and/or Greek



Open day 2011Oxford and Cambridge Classics open day inOxford, 17 March. Booking required, see theFaculty website for further information.


Map reference B

Further informationTelephone: 01223 335151 / 335960Email: [email protected]

At a glance

The nature of power, the fear of death, the relations betweenstates and individuals: Classics speaks to us of matters from whichno-one can remain detached.

Archaeology and Anthropology (p36), Asianand Middle Eastern Studies (p40), Education(p46), English (p48), History (p52), History ofArt (p54), Linguistics (p60), Modern andMedieval Languages (p62), Philosophy (p66),Politics, Psychology and Sociology (p68)


Classics

www.cam

.ac.uk

43

COURSES ARTS

After ClassicsA recent independent study of majoremployers confirmed their high opinion ofClassicists as potential employees: they knowhow to work hard, are accurate and efficient,take new tasks in their stride and can mastersituations intelligently. Above all they can talkarticulately and argue coherently.

Some Classics graduates do, naturally, go onto take advantage of the specialistopportunities open to them and do researchand teaching in schools and universities, orwork in archives, libraries and museums. Butmost go into other careers – in law, the media,accounting, the Civil Service, industry andbusiness.

Years 1 and 2Part IA course of enquiry

Preliminary Year (four-year course)You learn to read Latin confidently throughlanguage study and the reading of literatureand texts from the Roman world. You alsostudy Roman culture, submit essays forassessment, and undertake some preparatorywork for taking up ancient Greek at thebeginning of the next year.

Year 1You study up to 12 ‘target texts’ from themost familiar periods of ancient literature bycentral authors such as Homer, Euripides,Plato, Virgil, Ovid and Cicero.

You also study elements of ancient history,archaeology, art, philosophy, philology andlinguistics. Reading and language classesdirected by specialist language teacherscontinue, as required. End of year exams testyour linguistic and literary comprehensionand essay-writing skills.

Year 2You take six papers, including a paper fromeach of the following four compulsorygroups:

• Greek translation• Latin translation• a topic in Greek literature• a topic in Latin literature

The remaining two papers are chosen fromfour on other subjects:

• history• philosophy• archaeology• philology

Further optional papers in prose or versecomposition in both languages are availableif you wish to develop your confidence andcreativity in manipulating language.

Year 3Part IITo specialise or not to specialise?You choose four papers from a wide range ofoptions (five if Part II is taken two years afterPart I), covering:

• the literature and culture of the classicalworld

• cultural studies using Classics as a startingpoint

• papers from another degree course

At the end of the year, you take exams inthese subjects or you can substitute onepaper with a dissertation of your owndevising on any subject within the field ofClassics. Past dissertation subjects haveincluded:

• cross-dressing in antiquity• the phenomenon of Asterix• classical influences on contemporary

American poetry• Homer and Virgil• Greek tragedy and politics• comparative linguistics• the nature and role of pleasure in human

life• art and archaeology in Roman Britain

Course outline

Cambridge has a greatreputation for Classics. Thechance to hear one of theFaculty superstars discussingtheir latest research isunmissable, and a goodsupervision leaves you feelingintellectually stimulated andready to take on the world.Carol

A variety of papers is offered. Optionsavailable change from time to time, but haveincluded, for example, The Roman Novel;Plato; Money, Power and Dependence inRoman Society; Early Hellenic Archaeology;The Body in Classical Art; and The History ofthe Greek and Roman Languages.

Additional options are also available, forinstance papers in interdisciplinary culturalstudies that examine broad questionsconcerning the ancient world. You may also‘borrow’ a paper from another course, such asEnglish, History, History and Philosophy ofScience, and others.

Entrance requirementsWe welcome applicants with a keen interestin studying the classical world through itsown languages. For the four-year degree, nospecific A Level/IB Higher Level subject isessential. Something which shows experienceof language learning would be helpful butregular reading classes and grammar tuitionfrom our language teaching specialists areprovided.

For the three-year degree, most students haveA Level/IB Higher Level Latin and someColleges require this (see website for details).While A Level/IB Higher Level Greek isdesirable, a large proportion of ourundergraduates take part in our IntensiveGreek Programme aimed at those who havestudied little or no Greek.

Changing courseAlthough it’s possible to change course afterPart I, in practice most of our studentsappreciate the breadth of the subjects offeredand the opportunity to define their owncourse of study. Likewise, the broad scope ofpapers available makes Classics Part II anattractive option after Part I of another course(certain combinations of Part II papers may betaken without knowledge of Greek and Latin).

Several other options are available, includingcombining classical Greek or classical Latinwith a modern language (see p62).

Econ

omics

www.cam

.ac.uk

44

COURSES ARTS

How do markets work? What constraints andchoices influence everyday and politicaldecision-making? What’s the role ofgovernment in making economic policy?

Economics has three mainobjectives:

• to explain...Given a wide range of circumstances, howdoes an individual make a rational choicebetween the available alternatives?

• to understand...How can we understand the nature ofsocial institutions, such as firms andmarkets, within which such choices aremade?

• to analyse...How do these individuals and institutionsinteract to generate outcomes for societyas a whole?

Economics at Cambridge focuses on givingyou a sound understanding of the core ofeconomics, pure and applied. However, whilethe specialised nature of this degree enablesyou to concentrate on studying economics inconsiderable depth, the breadth of the aimsoutlined above means that economists needto employ modes of thought and techniquesdrawn from many other disciplines, amongthem history, sociology, mathematics andstatistics, and philosophy.

Therefore, our course aims to develop yourknowledge of the workings of economicsystems along with a sense of the economicdimensions of social and political issues.

By integrating theoretical insights withempirical observation, you apply yourknowledge and understanding to thepractical issues which arise in economic andsocial policy, industrial and financialmanagement, and many other spheres of life.This means that our graduates are extremelywell qualified for a wide range of jobs andfurther courses.

Faculty resources and teachingThe Faculty of Economics at Cambridge isone of the largest in the UK. Past and presentmembers have played a major role in thedevelopment of the subject: Alfred Marshall,John Maynard Keynes and many otherdistinguished economists spent much oftheir working lives as members of the Faculty.The Faculty’s Senior Chair, Professor Sir JamesMirrlees, was awarded a Nobel Prize inEconomics in 1996 for his work on optimaltaxation and the theory of incentives, andanother recent Faculty member, ProfessorAmartya Sen, was awarded the Nobel Prize in1998 for his work on welfare economics andincome distribution. The present Facultycontinues its long-established interest inpublic economics, macroeconomics,competition and regulation econometricsand economic theory. Members of theteaching and research staff are also involvedin a wide range of research projects.

The Faculty remains committed to usingeconomics for the improvement of publicpolicy. Recent Faculty staff have been activeon, among other bodies, the Monetary PolicyCommittee of the Bank of England, theCompetition Commission, the Low PayCommission and the Accounting StandardsBoard, and several Faculty members adviseinternational agencies such as the UnitedNations, World Bank, IMF and OECD.

Other benefits of studying economics atCambridge include the Marshall Library ofEconomics, one of the finest in the country. Itholds a comprehensive collection of books,journals and other papers in economics, aswell as convenient study facilities on thesame site as the lecture rooms. Students alsohave access to an extensive range ofstatistical databases and software.

The student-run Marshall Society is a must forall Cambridge economists: it organises socialevents as well as informal lectures fromdistinguished visiting speakers such as theGovernor of the Bank of England.

Economicswww.econ.cam.ac.uk

UCAS code L100 BA/Econ

DurationThree years


Essential: A Level/IB Higher LevelMathematicsDesirable: A Level/IB Higher Level EconomicsUseful: A Level Business Studies/IB HigherLevel Business and Management, ifEconomics is unavailable

Admissions testSome Colleges require applicants to take theTSA at interview (see p132).

CollegesAvailable at all Colleges except CorpusChristi.



Map reference B


At a glance

Whatever future career path you take, this specialised degreedevelops your understanding of economics and gives you avaluable insight into topical issues.

Geography (p50), History (p52), LandEconomy (p56), Law (p58), ManagementStudies (p95), Mathematics (p78), Philosophy(p66), Politics, Psychology and Sociology(p68)


Econ

omics

www.cam

.ac.uk

45

COURSES ARTS

What are we looking for?We’re looking for students with theintellectual curiosity to investigatecontemporary and historical patterns ofeconomic behaviour, and a wide-ranginginterest in the evolution of the globaleconomy. You should also have goodquantitative skills and an interest in applyingmathematical and statistical tools to theanalysis of economic issues.

Changing courseIt’s possible to combine Economics withanother subject, for example by taking one or two years of Economics and thentransferring to another subject such as Law or Management Studies. You can also studyanother subject such as Mathematics for one year before transferring to Part IIAEconomics. Several students make suchchanges each year.

Career and research opportunitiesAt Cambridge, you develop skills inunderstanding complex arguments, theanalysis of practical issues, knowledge ofeconomic conditions, analysis of data, andeffective communication. Such skills are ofvalue in many careers, but particularly inprofessional, financial and managerialoccupations. They also provide a valuablefoundation for many masters degree courses,both in general economics and in variousspecialised sub-disciplines, if you’re interestedin further study.

A substantial number of our graduates go onto professional training in charteredaccountancy, actuarial work and similar fields.Others are employed by financial institutions,or as professional economists in industry,government and management consultancy.Former undergraduates who are especiallyprominent in public offices are the Governorof the Bank of England, Mervyn King, and theChairman of the Financial Services Authority,Lord Turner.

Economics is divided into Part I, Part IIA andPart IIB, each lasting a year. Teaching isprovided through lectures and supervisionsand you can expect between 10 and 14lectures each week in the first year.

Assessment is through formal, writtenexaminations that take place at the end ofeach year and the compulsory dissertation inPart IIB. Typically, you have one three-hourexam for each paper covered that year. Thereare also projects within the Econometricspapers in all three years of the course.

Year 1Part IPart I provides an introduction to the subject:a common core of knowledge which cansubsequently be extended. There are fivecompulsory papers:

• Microeconomics • Macroeconomics • Quantitative Methods in Economics • Political and Sociological Aspects of

Economics • British Economic History

Through these papers you cover topics suchas supply and demand, the role of prices andmarkets, employment, inflation, the operationof financial institutions and monetary policy.The Quantitative Methods paper provides an

introduction to the use of mathematical andstatistical techniques in economics, and isassessed by a combination of a written examand project work.

Year 2 Part IIA Part IIA consists of three compulsory papers:

• Microeconomics• Macroeconomics• Theory and Practice of Econometrics

You also take one optional paper, chosenfrom:

• Economic Development• Modern Societies• Mathematics for Economists and

Statisticians• Labour

Through these papers you acquire aknowledge and understanding of a range of key topics and analytical techniques inmicroeconomic and macroeconomic theory,develop knowledge of key econometrictechniques, and learn the IT skills needed toundertake a project in applied econometrics.An optional paper in a supporting disciplineenables you to undertake more advancedpapers in Part IIB.

Year 3 Part IIB The final year consists of two compulsorypapers:

• Microeconomic Principles and Problems• Macroeconomic Principles and Problems

In addition, you take two optional papers andwrite a compulsory dissertation of 7,500words.

One of the objectives of the final year is toextend your knowledge of economic theoryand train you to apply this theory to practicalissues and public policy. Therefore, theoptional papers available can vary from yearto year but examples of recent papersinclude:

• Economic Theory and Analysis• Banking, Money and Finance• Public Economics• The Economics of Underdeveloped

Countries• Industry• Theory and Practice of Econometrics• World Depression in the Interwar Years

Course outline

I’d definitely recommendEconomics at Cambridge, asthe teaching’s great and thecourse is extremely broad. Thismeans that in your first yearyou’re given a taste of thedifferent areas of Economics,and as you progress, you’regiven the chance to specialisemore in the areas you enjoy.Ares

Education

www.cam

.ac.uk

46

COURSES ARTS

Social justice, the arts, the learning mind,education and gender, language and literacy,new technologies, values, policy and practicein classrooms across the world – Education atCambridge offers you fresh perspectives onthe key role of education in differentsocieties; past, present and future.

The Education course is unusual in that itallows you to combine the academic studyof education with another subject. Therefore,in effect, it’s a combined honours degree:you take specialised papers offered by theFaculty of Education, that cover the study ofeducation – history, philosophy, psychologyand sociology – as well as global issues ineducation, while also taking papers from therelevant faculty for your accompanyingsubject.

Structure of the degreeLike other degrees at Cambridge, Educationis divided into two Parts. Part I occupies thefirst two years, with examinations at the endof that period, and Part II the final year. As apreparation for the second year all studentssit a Preliminary Examination at the end oftheir first year.

Content and optionsA balance between education and yourspecialist subject is maintained in each Partof the degree. However, there’s also a greatdeal of choice available within the course. InPart I, you take two papers in education andtwo papers in your specialist subject in eachyear. In Year 2, you also take a fifth paper,which can be in either education or yoursubject specialism.

In Part II, you take three education papers,one of which is a dissertation based on yourown research. For your other two papers, youcan choose either to specialise completely ineducation or continue to take papers in yourspecialist subject. In both Parts I and II there’sa wide range of papers to choose fromwithin each subject specialism, some offeredby other faculties and some by the Faculty ofEducation.

Teaching and resources During the degree course you encounter awide range of different teaching and learningstyles. In Education, you attend four to sixhours of formal lectures or small-groupseminars and workshops, and one or twohours of supervision per week. Dependingon your specialist subject, you also attend asimilar number of lectures, seminars andsupervisions for your specialist subject. Insome cases this may include practicals inlaboratories or drama studios or fieldwork aswell.

The Faculty of Education has excellentfacilities, including a library service offeringone of the best education collections in theUK. The teaching staff includes specialists inthe foundation disciplines of education aswell as specialists in areas such as genderand international education – issues whichcut across discipline boundaries. Throughoutyour studies, you benefit from being part of aworld-class university where researchconstantly enhances the quality of taughtcourses.

Educationwww.educ.cam.ac.uk/undergradstudy/

UCAS code See box below

DurationThree years


Essential: A Level/IB Higher Level in thesubject you want to study with Education

CollegesThe following Colleges admit for allEducation courses: Christ’s, Churchill, Clare,Downing, Fitzwilliam, Gonville and Caius,Homerton, Hughes Hall, Jesus, LucyCavendish, Magdalene, Murray Edwards, St Edmund’s, St John’s, Selwyn and Wolfson.

The following Colleges admit for only someEducation courses (see College pages):Emmanuel, Queens’, Robinson and TrinityHall.

Not available at the following Colleges:Corpus Christi, Girton, King’s, Newnham,Pembroke, Peterhouse, St Catharine’s, SidneySussex and Trinity.


Open day 20118 July. Booking required, see the Facultywebsite for further information.


Map reference N


At a glance

An exciting degree which allows you to combine the diversity ofeducational issues, in policy, global contexts, and in creativeteaching and learning, with the study of a particular subject.

Education with Biological Sciences UCAS code X3C9 BA/EBS

Education with Classics UCAS code X3Q8 BA/EC

Education with English UCAS code X3Q3 BA/EE

Education with English and Drama UCAS code X3W4 BA/EED

Education with Geography UCAS code X3L7 BA/EG

Education with History UCAS code X3V1 BA/EH

Education with Modern and Medieval Languages (French, German or Spanish) UCAS code X3R8 BA/EMML

Education with Music UCAS code X3W3 BA/EM

Education with Physical Sciences UCAS code X3F0 BA/EPS

Education with Religious Studies UCAS code X3V6 BA/ERS

UCAS codes

Classics (p42), English (p48), Geography(p50), History (p52), Modern and MedievalLanguages (p62), Music (p64), NaturalSciences (p84), Philosophy (p66), Politics,Psychology and Sociology (p68), Theologyand Religious Studies (p70)


Education

www.cam

.ac.uk

47

COURSES ARTS

What if I want to go into teaching?The undergraduate course provides anexcellent basis for those intending to teach.The Faculty offers a ‘plus 1 year’ route toQualified Teacher Status for primary orsecondary teaching. On successfulcompletion of the degree course, studentswho wish to teach normally proceed to theFaculty’s outstanding PGCE course.

What are we looking for?We’re looking for students who are fascinatedby the philosophy, psychology and politics ofeducation, whether or not they wish to goon to teach. Our students are concernedabout the role of education and social justicein both national and international contexts.Education graduates continue to engagewith, and contribute to social and politicaldiscourses in society through teaching, andworking in development and policyorganisations.

Changing coursePart II of Education is also available toundergraduates who have successfullycompleted Part I of another course. It’snormally taken as a two-year course.

Career and research opportunities The Education course quips students to entera wide range of careers relating to education,including policy-making in both local andnational government, arts and museumeducation, journalism, and educationalactivities within the community (includingdrama and music). The emphasis throughoutthe course on understanding contemporaryissues in society means that the degree canlead to careers in a range of other areas aswell, such as international organisations,charities and the media. The Faculty ofEducation also offers the opportunity forfurther academic study at postgraduate levelon full or part-time masters courses, or byentry to the PhD programme.

Education is split into two Parts, with a two-year Part I and a one-year Part II. You’reassessed at the end of each year and thiscould be in a variety of ways. It may bethrough submitted work such as essays ordissertations, by practical work (eg dramaproductions, musical performances andcomposition, laboratory or fieldworknotebooks) and/or by written examination.How you’re assessed depends on the subjectstudied and the papers you choose but youcan normally expect about 75 per cent ofassessment to be by written exam.

Year 1Prelim to Part IIn your first year, you take four papers; two inyour specialist subject (usually taught by therelevant department) and two in education:

• Introduction to the Disciplines ofEducation – focusing on the philosophy,psychology, sociology and history ofeducation, through themes such aschildhood and adolescence, or equalityand diversity

• Language, Communication and Literacy –focusing on the social, psychological andmaterial context within which spokenlanguage and literacy are developed inchildhood

The education papers are taught by theFaculty of Education. Although the primaryemphasis is oriented towards education, thisis conceived in a broad context, taking fullaccount of the complex interaction betweenschool, home and wider community cultures,including those in parts of the developingworld.

Year 2Part IIn Year 2, you take a total of five papers. Twospecialist subject papers from a wide rangeof options within each subject, twoeducation papers and either a furtherspecialist subject paper or a further educationpaper.

In the two compulsory education papers youcontinue to study the philosophy, psychology,sociology and history of education. If youwish to take your fifth paper in educationyou study the Modernity, Globalisation andEducation paper; examining the roots ofmodernity in the Western Enlightenment,considering its transformations andconsequences, its impact on globaldevelopment and the challenges created foreducation.

Year 3Part IIPart II is very flexible and gives you choicefrom a wide range of options. In your finalyear you take five papers.

• All students take the Research andInvestigation in Education paper, whichincludes your undertaking an individualenquiry-based study of an educationalissue leading to the submission of a 10,000word dissertation. The project may involvework in schools depending on the topicchosen.

• You must also take a minimum of twofurther education papers, at least one ofwhich must be an Advanced Discipline ineducation (in either philosophy,psychology, sociology or history ofeducation). The other compulsoryeducation paper can be either a secondAdvanced Discipline or a Special Paper ineducation. Special Papers on offer varyfrom year to year but those currentlyavailable include: Children and Literature;Educational Inclusion and Diversity; andCreativity and Thinking.

• Your fourth and fifth papers may be takenfrom any of the education papers (bothAdvanced Disciplines and Special Papers)or may be taken in your specialist subject.

Course outline

The Faculty of Education offers the one-yearPGCE course, with some 275 studentstraining each year to teach as subjectspecialists in secondary schools and 160students training to teach in the primarysector. Information on the PGCE and how toapply is available from the Faculty website.www.educ.cam.ac.uk/pgce/

Postgraduate Certificate inEducation (PGCE)

Education is truly an incrediblecourse which never fails tosurprise! The Education Facultyis also one of the leaders in thefield, where the study ofacademic education is a keypriority.Nav

You have a passion for literature. We have a challenging coursethat will inspire your reading, and develop your critical andimaginative abilities.

English

www.cam

.ac.uk

48

COURSES ARTS

English at CambridgeOver the centuries, many writers have studiedin Cambridge: Spenser, Marlowe, Milton,Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Tennyson,Forster, Plath, Hughes, Byatt and Zadie Smith.When the study of English becameestablished in universities a century ago, theCambridge course was considered daringlyinnovative: in valuing literature (and not onlylanguage) as an object of study, in studyingworks right up to the present day, incomparing English with European literature,and in the ‘close reading’ or analysis of unseenpassages (which we call ‘practical criticism’).

All these approaches still shape our teachingand research, as do ongoing debates – forexample, recently about poetic theory,postcolonial writing or ‘material’ texts. We haveno set approach beyond instilling in ourstudents the valuable skills of critical thinking,scholarly rigour and good writing.

The course offers a dynamic balance betweena strong grounding in the core of Englishliterature and the chance to specialise orbranch out from that core into the literature ofother parts of the world, such as the USA orsouth Asia, other art forms, the Englishlanguage and related intellectual traditions.

The courseThe first two years introduce the full range ofEnglish literature from the Middle Ages to thepresent day, with papers that encourage youto try a little of everything. There are few settexts, so that while you must study widely, youcan also focus on topics of interest. Othercomponents develop your skills in practicalcriticism and in the English language or inliterature in a foreign language, each of whichputs English literature into a wider perspective.

The third year has another paper in practicalcriticism, and the ambitious Tragedy paper,which ranges from ancient Greek drama tocontemporary writing. Beyond these twointellectually freewheeling papers, you choosevarious options. Some allow you to specialise,for example on writing under Henry VIII or themodern short story; some introduce othertraditions, for instance American orpostcolonial writing; or other art forms, such asShakespeare in performance or visual culture.Finally, you research and write one or twodissertations on any literary topic you choose,bringing your knowledge and skills to fruition.

Teaching and resourcesYou’re taught by some of the most eminentcritics, scholars and teachers through lectures,seminars, and small-group supervisions andclasses. You typically attend up to10 hours oflectures or seminars, and have two to six hoursof small-group teaching each week. Younormally write a short essay for eachsupervision, which you then discuss with yoursupervisor as a way into the topic more widely.The Cambridge supervision is a distinct formof teaching; intensive, explorative and led byyou.

English students have access to the UniversityLibrary – one of the world’s largest – and thelight-filled Faculty library, which housesaround 80,000 books, as well as computerfacilities, courses and welcoming features suchas ‘tea at three’. The library is at the heart of ourmodern Faculty building, which also includeslecture rooms, a drama studio and a lovelygarden.

AssessmentThere are no formal examinations until the endof the second year, meaning that you candevelop your reading, thinking and writingmore fully than on a modular course. As wellas exams, there’s a compulsory dissertationand you can replace three more of the writtenexams with coursework. Prizes are awarded forthe best work. Although the course isn’tfocused on creative writing, it’s possible tosubmit an original composition of your own,which would then be assessed.

Beyond the courseEnglish students take part in all the sporting,musical, cultural, religious, political and simplysociable activities of student life. As you’dexpect, many pursue creative writing anddrama. The Judith E Wilson Fund supports thedrama studio and our writers in residence,who give workshops. Across the University,there are poetry readings – whether of thedistinctive ‘Cambridge School’ inspired by J HPrynne or otherwise – arts magazines, studentjournalism and prestigious competitions. Manystudents dabble in the performing arts,whether adapting the medieval play Mankind,directing Shakespeare for European tours, orperforming comedy for the Footlights.

Englishwww.english.cam.ac.uk

UCAS code Q300 BA/E

DurationThree years


Essential: A Level/IB Higher Level EnglishLiterature or English Language and Literature




Map reference B


At a glance

Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic (p34), Classics(p42), Education (p46), History (p52),Linguistics (p60), Modern and MedievalLanguages (p62), Theology and ReligiousStudies (p70)


English

www.cam

.ac.uk

49

COURSES ARTS

What we’re looking forEnglish students need an intellectual curiositywhich makes them glad to try new things –say, Wordsworth’s Prelude or South Africanfiction – and to question in depth. Atinterviews, we look for independent readingbeyond the syllabus, and for independentcritical thinking: being able to describeprecisely what you’ve read; asking questionssearchingly about it, and why it matters;considering connections between what youknow already and what you’re only justdiscovering; and supporting your ideas withcareful evidence.

Applicants must have studied EnglishLiterature or combined English Language andLiterature (if English Literature isn’t offered) toA Level/IB Higher Level or equivalent. For theirother subjects, many applicants have studiedlanguages and humanities, which can beuseful for the course. However, students whohave studied the sciences and other subjectsalso do well.

And after English?All English students acquire knowledge whichenriches their lives forever. Many draw directlyon their subject in careers in arts managementor information management, or go intoacademia or teaching, where they share withfuture students the skills of critical thinking,close reading and good communication.

Those same skills are valued by employers inmany other professions too, such as law, theCivil Service, management, industry,accountancy and social work. And,unsurprisingly, many graduates go on to work in the media, theatre, and film – such as Jeremy Paxman, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry and Sam Mendes – or becomepoets, novelists and playwrights.

Years 1 and 2Part IA broad range, a solid groundingYou take two compulsory papers:

• English Literature 1300–1550 • Shakespeare

And you choose five from the following (withmost students taking the first four and oneother):

• English Literature 1500–1700 • English Literature 1688–1847 • English Literature 1830–Present • Practical Criticism and Critical Practice• European Languages and Literatures • English Language for Literature • Early Medieval Literature 1066–1350

It’s also possible to replace one or two ofthese optional papers with coursework (onepiece of 4,500 – 6,000 words, and one of5,000 words) and to ‘borrow’ papers from theAnglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic course.

Year 3Part IIDeeper questions, new areasYou take two compulsory papers:

• Practical Criticism • Tragedy

You also write a compulsory dissertation (of6,000 – 7,500 words) and either submit asecond dissertation (of 6,000 – 7,500 words)and take one optional paper, or choose twooptional papers. The optional papers changeregularly but in recent years have included:

• Dreams and Visions 1066–1500• Literature, Culture and Crisis 1631–1637• Lyric Poetry• Modernism and the Short Story• Moralists: Philosophy from Plato to Today• American Literature • Postcolonial Literature• History and Theory of Literary Criticism • Literature and Visual Culture • Contemporary Writing in English

It’s also possible to ‘borrow’ papers from theAnglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic; Classics; orModern and Medieval Languages courses.

Course outline

Different lecturers cater for a wide range of interests and subjects.There really is something for everyone, and a healthy emphasison pursuing your own interests that’s intellectually liberating.Camilla

Geography

www.cam

.ac.uk

50

COURSES ARTS

A wider worldGlobalisation, global warming, environmentaleconomics, conservation and ecology,resource use and abuse, hurricanes, coastalgeomorphology and sea-level rise, volcanoes,the future of Africa and other developingareas, AIDS and the geography of health,glacial and hydrological processes, social andeconomic inequalities, cultural differences.These are just some of the topics whichconcern geography today.

All societies rely on their relationships witheach other and on the physical environment.Increasingly these are fragile interdependencespresenting intellectual and practicalchallenges of the highest priority; they’recentral to the problems of modern geography.If these issues interest you, come toCambridge and study Geography. Our coursetackles these issues from a broad base, butalso allows you to specialise. This means yourdegree can be science-based or arts-based, orboth. As with all Cambridge degrees, yougraduate with a BA (the University doesn’taward BSc degrees).

Diversity, then specialism In the first year, students study two corepapers designed to provide a broadintroduction to key themes and issues in bothhuman and physical geography. Topics includeglobalisation and the historical geography ofthe modern world; Fordism and welfare;ecological, economic and political perspectiveson resources; atmospheric, marine, coastal andhydrological processes; and environmentalchange.

In Part IB, you can begin to specialise.Theoretical issues are addressed by means of a‘take home’ examination paper. Training inpractical techniques is provided and assessedby project reports, including one derived froma residential field trip.

In Part II, you can either specialise further ormaintain a balance across the subject as awhole. You also complete a dissertation, whichcan be in any specialist area of the discipline.

Teaching and resources On average, you have seven to eight lectureseach week (with associated reading). Younormally have three supervisions a fortnight,at which a small group meets with a lectureror researcher to discuss a topic. These usuallyinvolve reading and essay-writing butsupervision work isn’t formally assessed.

Cambridge’s Geography course encouragesresearch into original literature, and isn’t basedon textbooks. In the first and second years youalso have laboratory or practical classes, andfield classes in which you gather informationfrom practical exercises. Recent examplesinclude survey design and interview methods,examining relationships between soils andvegetation, and water quality analysis. TheDepartment’s intranet provides onlineresources and teaching materials.

There are currently 38 academic staff, about a dozen support staff and more than 100graduate students.

Our facilities include one of the largestgeography libraries in the UK containingaround 17,000 books, journals and periodicals.The Scott Polar Research Institute is an integralpart of the Department and there areextensive computing resources, where youreceive formal teaching in geographicalinformation technology includinggeographical information systems and remote sensing.

FieldworkFieldwork is an important part of our course.There are a number of one-day excursions and field trips that contribute to practical workin Years 1 and 2. A compulsory field class inPart IB leads to a piece of assessed practicalwork. Recent locations include Switzerland,Berlin, Morocco, Portugal and Mallorca. Pleasenote that students are required to contributeto the cost of these field trips although somefinancial help is available.

Geographywww.geog.cam.ac.uk

I chose to study Geographybecause it’s such a broad anddiverse subject that spansboth the arts and thesciences. I think the breadthof the Cambridge course andthe open-endedness of it arereally important. Also, it reallycovers relevant and interestingtopics that are crucial tounderstanding the world atthe moment.Ruth

UCAS code L700 BA/G

DurationThree years



CollegesAvailable at all Colleges except Pembrokeand Peterhouse.



Map reference E


At a glance

People and places, cultures and religions, society and nature,landscapes and processes, environmental systems: Geography hasit all in a changing world.

Archaeology and Anthropology (p36),Economics (p44), Education (p46),Engineering (p76), Land Economy (p56),Natural Sciences (p84), Politics, Psychologyand Sociology (p68)


Geography

www.cam

.ac.uk

51

COURSES ARTS

Your Part II dissertation requires basic researchin the summer vacation at the end of yoursecond year. This allows you to apply whatyou’ve learnt and to study in detail somethingthat really interests you. Dissertation subjectsand locations vary widely: some studentstravel abroad, while others stay in the BritishIsles. It’s possible to obtain some financialsupport for your fieldwork.

Addicted to travel?Outside the course, many geographersorganise their own overseas expeditions, oftenwith the Cambridge University ExpeditionsSociety. A number of departmental travelawards are available and some Colleges alsooffer travel awards to their students.

What are we looking for?It doesn’t matter which subjects you’ve studiedpreviously; Geography is broad enough toencompass those whose primary interests arein the humanities, the social sciences, thenatural or the environmental sciences, or anycombination of these.

It isn’t even essential to have studiedGeography at A Level/IB Higher Level(although in practice nearly all our studentshave done so). Economics, English Literature,History and Sociology are helpful forcontemporary human or historical geography;while Biology, Chemistry, Geology,Mathematics and Physics are useful supportingsubjects for physical geography. However,there’s no distinction between ‘human’ and‘physical’ geographers in terms of their A Level/IB Higher Level subjects. A foreignlanguage is also of help in this internationaldiscipline.

A wide span of careersOur graduates enter many different careers,including industry and commerce, planning,teaching, finance, social work, environmentalmanagement and conservation, the media,politics, and the Civil Service. While Geographyisn’t directly a ‘vocational’ degree, CambridgeGeography graduates are trained to deal withmultivariate problems, are skilled in informationretrieval, data management and computing,and are used to working on their own initiative,and as such are highly employable in a varietyof professions.

Year 1Part IAYou study the following two papers, whichare assessed at the end of the year by writtenexaminations (one three-hour examinationfor each paper):

• Human Geography • Physical Geography

You also take the Geographical Skills andMethods paper that covers numericalmethods; survey and interview techniques;documentary and archival data; spatial data;and field, laboratory and desk-based skills.

Year 2 Part IB In Part IB, all students take a core papercovering geographical ideas and themesrelating to global change. This paper isassessed through both coursework and anend of year examination. In addition, studentsselect three papers from a choice of six,which are also assessed by a combination ofcoursework and examination. Each year threepapers based on human geography topicsand three relating to physical andenvironmental geography will be available.The lists below give examples of the papersthat may be offered at Part IB:

Human geography • Cities• Understanding the Economy –

Contemporary Geographies of Capitalism• Development• Geography and Public Policy• Culture and Society

Physical and environmental geography• Processes in the Climate System• Glacial Processes, Landforms and Sediment• Environmental Hazards• Biogeography• Rivers and Coasts

Building on the Part IA Skills and Methodspaper, you also undertake project workinvolving a range of field, laboratory andcomputer skills and techniques.

All second-year students participate in a one-week residential field class. Held during theEaster or summer vacations, the field class isessential for your final year dissertationresearch, both in terms of inspiring you inyour choice of topics and in teaching specificfield research skills. A piece of submittedwork on the field class forms part of yoursecond-year assessment.

Year 3 Part II You select four papers, from a choice of 12,which are assessed by either three-hourwritten examination or by a combination oftwo-hour written examination and courseworkproject. Papers on offer vary each year butthose available in 2010–11 include:

• Europe and Beyond: Politics, Societies andEconomies

• Political Geography: Geographies of Post-Colonialism

• The Social Engagement with Nature • The Human Geography of the Arctic

Regions • Contemporary India: The Politics of Society,

Environment and Development • Geographies of Discipline and Social

Regulation in the Nineteenth Century• Biosedimentary Coastal Systems • Biogeography • Glacial Environments • Volcanology

You’re also required to write a dissertation of10,000 words on a topic of your choice. Duringthe summer vacation between your secondand third years you need to start work on yourdissertation. The topic must be defined by thesecond term of your second year and theproposal is assessed as part of second-yearcoursework.

Course outline

History

www.cam

.ac.uk

52

COURSES ARTS

Across centuries and continentsCambridge has one of the largest and besthistory faculties in the world and the coursewe offer reflects this quality and breadth ofinterest. We offer a huge range of optionsthat span two millennia and circle the globe.Our course also reflects the rich diversity ofmodern historical writing, with cultural andsocial history figuring as prominently aspolitics and economic development. In fact,you have the opportunity to investigatepractically any period or aspect of history that interests you.

At the same time, our course is highlyfocused in its objectives. It equips you with a broad range of historical knowledge andunderstanding, and teaches you to criticallyevaluate primary and secondary material, aswell as to define your own questions and setyour own goals. Studying history providesyou with a multifaceted insight into humanexperience and helps you to make sense of a complex, globalising world.

What are we offering? Cambridge prides itself on being a teachinguniversity and none of its professors, readersor lecturers is considered as being ‘tooexalted to teach’. So the Faculty’s majorresource is our international body of experts,numbering over 100, which has achievedoutstanding teaching ratings in surveys bythe UK national press.

Our other great strength is the Seeley Library,one of the largest history libraries in theworld. Nearby is the University Library, whichis unique among copyright libraries in storingmost of its volumes on open shelves,available to undergraduates. In short, findingthe right book is rarely a problem.

There are other benefits to studying here.Undergraduate historians are encouraged totake up or improve foreign languages, andhave access to both the University LanguageCentre and specialist language teaching. Andmany Colleges have travel grants for studentswho wish to study the history of anothercountry or who are doing research for theirdissertation.

Breadth and depthOur course gives you opportunities to look atthe past through many disciplinary lenses –including political, economic, social, culturaland intellectual – and you explore howhistory has learnt from other disciplines likeanthropology, literature and archaeology.Paper options are shared with other courses,such as Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic;Classics; and Modern and MedievalLanguages.

The basic difference between Parts I and II isthat Part I concentrates on breadth ofhistorical understanding and Part II on depth.Throughout the course there’s ample scopefor you to pursue your personal interests andexperiment with different historicalapproaches. Specialist papers allow you towork with a variety of source materials suchas music, art, cartoons, and coins.

Most History undergraduates sit a PreliminaryExamination towards the end of their firstyear. This doesn’t count towards your finaldegree but aims to give you an informalsense of your achievement to that point. At the end of Part I, you sit five three-hourwritten papers. One-year Part II students alsotake five papers (unless they write adissertation). The Part I Themes and Sourceslong essay and a Part II long essay anddissertation ensure that you have theopportunity to be assessed on work doneoutside the examination room.

Specialist teaching and informalinteractionTeaching is spread between the Faculty andthe Colleges. The Faculty devises the options,sets the examinations and provides lecturesand classes to cover course content. Onaverage, you attend eight to 10 lectures eachweek. The Colleges arrange your weekly one-hour supervisions which give you theopportunity to debate with senior historians.Typically, you write an essay for an expertsupervisor, who then discusses it with youeither individually or in a small group. Thisworld-famous system of teaching ensuresthat you get plenty of guidance, support andfeedback.

Historywww.hist.cam.ac.uk

UCAS codeV100 BA/H

DurationThree years


Highly desirable: A Level/IB Higher LevelHistory




Map reference B


At a glance

From republican Rome to contemporary India, from Plato andAristotle to Bush and Blair: it’s your choice.

Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic (p34),Archaeology and Anthropology (p36), Asianand Middle Eastern Studies (p40), Classics(p42), Education (p46), History of Art (p54),Law (p58), Philosophy (p66), Politics,Psychology and Sociology (p68), Theologyand Religious Studies (p70)


History

www.cam

.ac.uk

53

COURSES ARTS

When appropriate, there are Faculty lecturesand College classes on general historicalissues and you have opportunities forinformal interaction with frontline historiansat College history society meetings and in theFaculty.

What are we looking for? There’s no such thing as an ‘identikit historian’and so there’s no simple answer to thisquestion.

While History may be required by someColleges, you don’t need any particularsubjects at A Level/IB Higher Level. A foreignlanguage is certainly useful but notnecessary. You should enjoy makinganalytical judgements, be able to thinklaterally, discriminate critically, enjoy reading,and have a burning curiosity about the past.

Changing courseThe flexibility of the History course, and thefact that some Part II options are shared withfaculties such as Modern and MedievalLanguages and Classics, means that fewstudents wish to transfer out after Part I. Lawand History of Art are favourites among thosewho do transfer. About 10 people each yeartake a two-year Part II in History, usually aftera one-year Part I in a subject such asEconomics.

Career and research opportunitiesAny historian with a good degree fromCambridge has acquired a range of skillsattractive to employers: the ability to workindependently, to evaluate the significance ofevidence, to discriminate, and to presentarguments clearly and persuasively.

In the past, our graduates have had nodifficulty in securing rewarding jobs in a widevariety of occupations – for example, one ofour graduates is a television news reporter,and another is a child psychologist. Othergraduates go on to careers in business andfinance, in law and public administration, injournalism and broadcasting, in teaching at anumber of levels, and in research of variouskinds.

Studying History at Cambridgeis a unique, challenging andultimately rewardingexperience. The opportunity tocover such a wide geographicaland historical scope, combinedwith the distinctive weeklysupervision system ensuresthat you receive the very besthistorical teaching in a one-to-one setting with an expert inthat particular field. You’reencouraged and supported inyour attempt to follow yourown interests.Andrew

Years 1 and 2 Part I A wide range of optionsPart I lasts two years (six terms), andcomprises six papers. The first five are chosenfrom 23 papers on offer, and you study oneeach term for the first five terms.

• You take at least one paper on a period ofBritish political history and at least onepaper on a period of British economic andsocial history.

• For the other three papers it’s possible tostudy any period of European history fromthe Greeks to the present, periods of worldhistory, the history of the USA, and/or thehistory of political thought. If you wish,you can specialise, for example in ancientand medieval papers, or almost entirely inthe twentieth century.

For the compulsory sixth paper, Themes andSources, you submit a 5,000 word essay.

There’s a wide choice of topics, typicallyinvestigating a major theme in comparativehistory (such as gender, democracy,revolutions or music). The essay is writtenover a period of some months, and involvesindividual research and faculty classes.

Year 3 Part II An even wider range of options!Students who have taken History Part I thentake a one-year Part II. (The two-year Part II isfor those who have taken a one-year Part I inanother subject.)

You take five papers, three of which arecompulsory:

• Historical Argument and Practice – ageneral paper that reflects on the broadissues of historical argument and practicearising out of work throughout the degreecourse

• a Special Subject – constituting twopapers (assessed by a long essay and awritten examination) and giving theopportunity for advanced in-depth studyof an important historical process orproblem

For your remaining papers, you can choosetwo from the following:

• History of Political Thought to c1700• History of Political Thought from c1700 to

c1890• Political Philosophy and the History of

Political Thought Since c1890• a Specified Subject paper from a selection

on topics or comparable themes in history

If you wish, you can substitute one of theoptional papers with a dissertation of 7,000–15,000 words.

Course outline

History of A

rtwww.cam

.ac.uk

54

COURSES ARTS

Why History of Art?If you’re really motivated to study works ofart, and to understand them in their historicaland social contexts, this course will be ofparticular interest to you.

The DepartmentThe Department of History of Art is located ina row of historic buildings in TrumpingtonStreet, near the Fitzwilliam Museum. Mostlectures and seminars, and manysupervisions, take place in the Department.Its facilities include the comprehensiveFaculty library, a rich collection of booksespecially relevant to the teaching of theDepartment.

Though the Department has always beencomparatively small, its teaching covers awide spectrum of art and architecture, fromthe medieval to modern periods. Itsinternational standing is high and it has anestablished link with Columbia University inNew York. Particular attention is paid to thefirst-hand study of works of art and youreceive an exceptional level of attention andsupport throughout your degree. Academicstandards are also very high, so in return forthe level of attention you receive, you’reexpected to undertake a demanding but fairworkload and to show corresponding levelsof motivation and commitment.

A treasury of resourcesCambridge’s resources are outstanding andwe take full advantage of them – there’s nosubstitute for looking at the real objects. TheFitzwilliam Museum is probably the finestuniversity museum in the world, while Kettle’sYard and the Colleges have importantcollections of modern and medieval art. Weuse them all in our teaching: we study thestained glass and architecture of King’sCollege Chapel, illuminated manuscripts inthe Colleges, and sculptures by Henry Moore,to name but a few topics.

The Fitzwilliam Museum, founded in 1816 byRichard, Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion, hasbecome one of the finest art collections inthe world, ranging from Ancient Egyptian tomodern times. The curatorial staff contributeto the teaching of the Department throughlectures and classes held at the Museum, andits collections are an important focus of studythroughout the course. The FitzwilliamMuseum also houses a reference library of

great benefit to students. The Hamilton KerrInstitute at Whittlesford, just outsideCambridge, is the Fitzwilliam Museum’spicture conservation department and visits tothe Institute are made regularly from theDepartment.

At Cambridge, buying expensive art booksalso isn’t a problem: you have access to theUniversity Library, which has world-classholdings; the Department’s library, whichcovers all student needs; the FitzwilliamMuseum’s library; and your College library.

TeachingOur course aims to foster a wide and deepunderstanding of art and architecture, and tohelp you develop visual literacy andawareness, as well as a range of critical andanalytical skills. First-year students typicallyhave three hours of lectures and three hoursof seminars each week. Weekly supervisionsgive you the unique opportunity to putforward your point of view, and to receivefeedback on your work from a specialist.They’re also important in providingopportunities for group discussion andencounters with works of art throughoutCambridge’s museums and Colleges.

Lectures centre on the analysis of images andcover all topics taught, with many given byvisiting experts from outside Cambridge.Some practical training in photographic andgraphic skills is provided in Part I of the courseand the University and Colleges offer a widerange of artistic activities. Students find thatthe more effort they put into all aspects of thecourse, the greater their enjoyment andsatisfaction.

During vacations we encourage you to travelabroad, and College financial support isusually available; we also organise studyoutings.

The ideal applicant?There’s no single ideal applicant, nor are therespecial requirements for this course. A LevelHistory of Art or equivalent is useful but by nomeans essential. We’re looking for studentswith general intellectual interests, someknowledge – and love – of the history of artand, if possible, a reading ability in one or twoforeign languages. Intelligence, motivationand visual sensitivity are essential.

History of Artwww.hoart.cam.ac.uk

UCAS code V350 BA/HA

DurationThree years


Essential: no specific subjectsUseful: a modern language, A Level Historyof Art or equivalent.

CollegesAvailable at all Colleges except Girton and St Catharine’s.



Map reference L


At a glance

Fine collections of works of art, well-stocked libraries and thespectacular architectural environment all on your doorstep meanstudying History of Art at Cambridge is particularly rewarding.

Architecture (p38), Asian and Middle EasternStudies (p40), Classics (p42), History (p52),Philosophy (p66), Theology and ReligiousStudies (p70)


History of A

rtwww.cam

.ac.uk

55

COURSES ARTS

PreparationYou should visit as many museums andexhibitions as you can, taking descriptivenotes of what you see. Visit buildings such aschurches or country houses. Don’t be afraidto sketch, even if you have no artistic talent –it’s an excellent way of remembering images.When a work of art or architecture excitesyou, try to analyse why it has this effect.

Recommended readingIf you’re thinking of applying to study Historyof Art, you may like to read the followingbooks:

• E H Gombrich, The Story of Art• H Honour and J Fleming, A World History of Art

• D Watkin, A History of Western Architecture

Some familiarity with classical mythology andthe Bible is invaluable for the study of themeaning of works of art and a preparatoryreading list is available from the Department.

Changing courseThe course is divided into three one-yearParts: Part I, Part IIA and Part IIB, and students

may join from other Cambridge courses afterPart I in another subject. It’s possible to studyone or two years of History of Art, eitherbefore or after another subject such asTheology and Religious Studies, English,Classics or Philosophy.

After CambridgeAlthough the course isn’t intended to bepurely vocational, our graduates are well-equipped for employment in museums andart galleries, agencies for the care andconservation of monuments and heritagemanagement, fine art dealing, publishing,advertising and the visual media, as well asfor university and school teaching.

Some of our former undergraduates whohave achieved prominence include AntonyGormley, winner of the 1994 Turner Prize; DrPhilip Rylands, Director of the PeggyGuggenheim Museum in Venice; Dr CharlesSaumarez-Smith, Chief Executive of the RoyalAcademy in London; Sir Nicholas Serota,Director of the Tate Gallery, Sir Hugh Roberts,formerly Director of the Royal Collection andSurveyor of The Queen’s Works of Art, andJames Stourton, Chairman of Sotheby’s UK.

Year 1Part IPart I provides you with a broad introductionto the history of art, and to the making andmeaning of art objects, with special emphasison the collections of the Fitzwilliam Museum.These run from the art of Ancient Egypt tomodern times, and include major examples ofMedieval, Renaissance and post-Renaissanceart as well as non-Western items.

During the year you take five compulsorypapers and complete a short dissertation:

• The Objects of Art History – a survey of artand architecture that introduces the historyof art from antiquity to the modern era

• The Making of Art – two papers coveringissues of manufacture, technique and style inpainting and sculpture, in the context oftheir historical development

• The Meaning of Architecture and Art – twopapers concerned with how works ofarchitecture and art are interpreted in light ofcultural traditions

• the short dissertation is 5,000 words on awork of art or architecture in or aroundCambridge

Year 2Part IIAPart II deepens your knowledge andunderstanding by focusing in greater depthon specific issues.

In Part IIA, you take one compulsory paperalong with two pairs of papers on SpecialSubjects:

• Approaches to the History of Art – thecompulsory paper covers the history of thediscipline and its critical methodologiesfrom antiquity to the present day

• Special Subjects – chosen from a range ofup to nine, each pair deals with a particularperson, subject or period. These currentlyinclude Anglo-Saxon and Byzantine Art,French Gothic Architecture, The Work ofAlbrecht Dürer, Italian Renaissance andBaroque Painting and Sculpture, DutchPainting, British Neo-Classical Architecture,Russian Painting, Surrealism, and Post-1945Modernism

Year 3Part IIBIn Part IIB, you take one compulsory paper,two further pairs of Special Subjects papersand submit a dissertation:

• The Display of Art – the compulsory paperexplores the ways in which art is collected,displayed and experienced in society

• Special Subjects – the options available areas those in Part IIA, but you take twosubjects that you haven’t studied before

• the dissertation is 7,000 – 9,000 words on atopic of your choice, as agreed with yourDirector of Studies

Course outline

The chance to study myfavourite subject in an intimatesetting with some of the field’sleading scholars couldn’t bemissed. Since coming toCambridge, the History of ArtDepartment has offeredengaging lectures, a beautifullibrary and ‘hands on’experience with some of ourcountry’s most beautifulpaintings, sculptures andbuildings. It’ll be a shame tohave to graduate!Bobby

Land

Econo

my

www.cam

.ac.uk

56

COURSES ARTS

A challenging combinationIf you’re looking for a degree that will giveyou the intellectual challenge of a Cambridgeundergraduate course and a qualificationthat opens up many career opportunities, thisis it. Law, economics, and their relationship tothe built and natural environment are at theheart of this course, but the principles ofbusiness regulation, the financial aspects ofreal estate and matters of internationaldevelopment are other areas of focus.

The course has a distinctive multidisciplinarynature and is very relevant to our world in thetwenty-first century where the environment,law and economics and the control of scarceresources affect our daily lives and those ofpeople around the world.

We’re a relatively small department (around50 teaching and research staff, and 150undergraduates) with a mix of UK andinternational students from all backgrounds.Our lecturers are specialists in their own fieldsand include lawyers, economists,environmentalists, and experts in business,finance and quantitative methods.

Many of our staff are involved in researchprojects of national and internationalconcern. This interesting and unusualcombination of staff, students, subjects andresearch interests makes the Department anattractive and challenging environment inwhich to study.

Teaching and resourcesTeaching in the Department is a mix oflectures, seminars, project work, fieldtrips andsupervisions. In a typical week, you canexpect 10–15 hours of lectures and twoseminars. Our students are encouraged toquestion and participate in order to achievegenuine two-way communication. We havededicated lecture and seminar roomsequipped for both traditional and interactivelectures, and an extensive library.

There’s an extensive range of computingfacilities, including an intranet system whichstores much teaching, careers and otheruseful information. Access is limited tomembers of the Department.

FlexibilityThe first year (Part IA) provides the frameworkfor later specialisation. Assessment is bywritten examination and through courseworkand projects, including computer tasks andoral presentations.

In the second year (Part IB), you can continuestudying a broad range of law, environmentand economics or choose to specialise moreclosely in one of the three disciplines. Youselect five options and assessment is throughwritten examinations and coursework.

The third year (Part II) continues the work ofthe second year, with further opportunity forbreadth or depth. You choose four optionsfrom a wide range of topics and write adissertation of 10,000 words on any aspect ofthe Department’s work. Dissertation topicshave covered all the research interests ofDepartmental staff (including many with aninternational focus) and this is theopportunity to specialise in a topic thatinterests you.

Students have written on land reform inZimbabwe and Slovakia, internationalregulations on marine pollution, conservationin rural Cambridgeshire, electronic transfers ofland, housing policies and brown-field sites,analysis of crofters’ rights in Scotland,valuation of anchor tenants in retaildevelopments, and a legal examination of thePalestinian right of self-determination. Thechoice is very broad and supervision istypically provided on a one-to-one basis.

Professional trainingThis degree differs from similar courses atother universities because it’s not whollyvocational: there’s an emphasis on highintellectual and academic content, whichappeals greatly to employers.

However, the degree is accredited by the RoyalInstitution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) andallows graduates to progress directly to theAssessment of Professional Competence tobecome a full member of the RICS. It also givespartial exemption from the academicrequirements of the Bar Council and LawSociety.

Land EconomyEnvironment, Law, Economicswww.landecon.cam.ac.uk

Land Economy offers you the opportunity to study some of thekey issues of our time – and has excellent career opportunitiesas well.

UCAS code KL41 BA/LE

DurationThree years




CollegesAvailable at all Colleges except Churchill,Corpus Christi, Emmanuel, King’s andPeterhouse.


Open day 20118 July. Booking required, see the Departmentwebsite for further information.


Map reference F


At a glance

Economics (p44), Geography (p50), Law(p58), Management Studies (p95), NaturalSciences (p84), Politics, Psychology andSociology (p68)


Land

Econo

my

www.cam

.ac.uk

57

COURSES ARTS

What we’re looking forThe interdisciplinary nature of the courseattracts students with different interests andwide-ranging backgrounds. There’s hardly asubject at A Level/IB Higher Level that hasn’tbeen studied by one of our students. You canhave a background in the arts or sciences (ora mixture) and no specific subjects arerequired: for instance, no previous knowledgeof law and economics is necessary.

An exceptional employment recordThe Department has one of the strongestrecords for graduate employment across theUniversity; undoubtedly a reflection of itsstrong applied base and emphasis on thedevelopment of critical employment skills.Employers recognise that our course equipsgraduates with both a deep understanding ofhighly relevant subjects and the necessaryskills to exploit these professionally. We’revery aware of the financial demands made ofstudents and regularly review the courseoptions to ensure that our graduates are wellprepared for the employment market. Ourgraduates go on to become lawyers,

economists, civil servants or to work fornational and international agencies. Many gointo financial, business or managementcareers, and others enter public service withlocal or national organisations. The courseopens many doors because of its content andrigour.

Other graduates proceed to further educationand research. Some continue into theDepartment’s one-year MPhil graduateprogramme, whilst others move on to otheruniversities.

I chose Land Economy as Ididn’t want to limit myself toeither Law or Economics, andthis gave me the chance tocombine them with my interestin property and environment.Land Economy is relevant tobusiness, politics and lots ofother areas so opens up allkinds of fantastic job prospects,which is pretty important aswell! As a multidisciplinarycourse there are lots of optionsavailable and I can tailor it to myown strengths and interests. TheDepartment’s really friendly andit’s easy to get to know staff andother students.Elaine

Year 1 Part IAIn Part IA, you acquire a thorough groundingin the core disciplines of law and economicsand are introduced to the multidisciplinarynature of the degree through fourcompulsory papers:

• Economics • The Public Sector: Institutional and Legal

Frameworks• Quantitative Methods for Land Economy • Land Economy, Development and

Sustainability

During your first year you develop a soundnumerical base, computer literacy, and skillsin oral presentation and report preparation.

Year 2 Part IBYou take five papers, including at least onepaper from a choice of two on law. You selectyour other four papers from a choice of six.Current options include:

• Environmental Economics • Finance and Investment• The Built Environment• Land and Urban Economics• Law of Real Property

Year 3 Part IIYou’re required to take four papers andsubmit a dissertation.

The four papers are chosen from a widerange of options, which currently includes:

• Law and Economics• Landlord and Tenant Law• Planning Policy and Practice• Land, Food and Ecosystem Services• Land Policy and Development Economics• Advanced Techniques in Finance and

Investment for Real Estate

You also write a 10,000 word dissertation onany aspect of the Department’s work of yourchoosing.

Course outline

Law

www.cam

.ac.uk

58

COURSES ARTS

More challenging. More rewardingQuestions of analysis and interpretation,logical reasoning, ethical judgement, politicalliberty and social control: Law at Cambridgegives you the opportunity both to see law inits historical and social contexts and toexamine its general principles andtechniques.

Although the greater part of our course isconcerned with English law, you have theopportunity to study other legal systems,including civil (Roman) law, the law of theEuropean Union, and international law. If thetheoretical and sociological aspects of lawappeal to you, you can study subjects such asjurisprudence or parts of criminology.

Law at CambridgeLaw has been studied at Cambridge since thethirteenth century. There are now around 700undergraduate and 250 graduate students,and over 75 teaching staff whose expertiseextends across nearly every aspect of Englishlaw and its history, as well as European Unionlaw, international law, civil law, legalphilosophy and criminology.

The Faculty is home to a number of researchcentres: for instance, the Centre forInternational Law, and Cambridge is theprincipal centre in Britain for the study ofcriminology. In addition, the Facultyaccommodates a number of specialistcentres in Intellectual Property, Taxation,European Law, Public Law, and Corporate and Commercial Law.

The Faculty’s exciting and innovativebuilding, with its lecture theatres, seminarrooms and a moot court, is the focus of muchof Faculty life. It also houses the Squire LawLibrary, which has over 150,000 volumes andexcellent computing facilities with access toextensive online resources, making it one ofthe UK’s largest and most comprehensiveuniversity law libraries.

As well as academic studies, you have anoverwhelming choice of law-related pursuits.The Faculty hosts a range of activitiesincluding formal meetings, informalgatherings, and moots (debates abouthypothetical legal cases). The University LawSociety organises social events, lectures fromguest speakers, and mooting competitions.Barristers’ and solicitors’ evenings arearranged so that you can meet members ofthe legal profession informally. There are alsovarious student-run societies such as the ProBono Society, the Cambridge University AsiaLaw and Business Association, the CambridgeStudent Law Review, and the associationsconnected to the different Inns of Court.

Teaching and assessmentFor each subject, you attend lectures givenby teaching members of the Faculty. Thetypical number of lecture hours for eachpaper is 40 per year, mostly timetabled forthe first two terms of each year, whichequates to about eight hours of lectures aweek. You normally also have a fortnightlyCollege supervision in each subject.

Each paper is assessed by a writtenexamination at the end of the year. In thethird year, you have the option of substitutingone paper for a dissertation.

Vocational training A Law degree is not, in itself, a qualificationfor practice but ‘qualifying law graduates’(those who’ve passed the seven ‘foundation’subjects in their degree course) may aftergraduation proceed directly to the vocationaltraining courses preparing them for the finalprofessional examinations for barristers andsolicitors. The seven foundation subjects are:Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Law of Tort,Law of Contract, Land Law, Law of Trusts(Equity), and Law of the European Union.

Those wishing to practise law also take theFreshfields Legal IT Research Skills Coursewhich gives a grounding in the use of IT inthe Law, and includes valuable research andstudy skills required by the legal professions.The Freshfields Room in the Law Facultybuilding is equipped for IT teaching.

Lawwww.law.cam.ac.uk

Our course is designed to provide you with the challenge of anintellectual discipline in a subject of universal human interest.

UCAS code M100 BA/Law

DurationThree years



Admissions testMost Colleges require applicants to take theCambridge Law Test at interview (see p132).



Open day 20116 July. Booking required, see the Facultywebsite for further information.


Map reference B


At a glance

Economics (p44), History (p52), LandEconomy (p56), Management Studies (p95),Philosophy (p66), Politics, Psychology andSociology (p68)


Law

www.cam

.ac.uk

59

COURSES ARTS

Graduates from other subjects and thosewith non-qualifying law degrees wishing toenter the legal profession must first pass theCommon Professional Examination or itsequivalent before proceeding to thevocational stage.

A year in EuropeThe Cambridge Law Faculty has exchangeschemes with the Universities of Poitiers(France), Utrecht (Netherlands), Regensburg(Germany) and the Universidad Autonoma deMadrid (Spain). A limited number ofundergraduates can spend a year abroad intheir third year studying the law of one ofthese European countries. Entry to anexchange scheme depends on your Part IAresults, and your proficiency in the languagerequired (or, for Utrecht, willingness to learnDutch).

What you’ll needIt doesn’t matter whether you have abackground in the arts, sciences, or a mix ofthe two. What you need is a genuine interestin law and sufficient motivation to study thistough intellectual discipline.

Admissions test Most Colleges require applicants to take theCambridge Law Test. Designed to assess yourpotential for the study of law, it’s used as anadditional piece of information foradmissions decisions alongside yourschool/college examination results, the otherinformation provided in your application,and, where applicable, your performance atinterview. For more information see p132.

Visit us to find out moreWe welcome students from the widestpossible range of educational backgroundsand are particularly keen to support thosewhose school has little or no previousexperience of applying to Cambridge. For thisreason, in addition to the summer open day,a three-day conference is held in Cambridgeeach March, for sixth-formers who’re thinkingof studying law at Cambridge. See the Facultywebsite for more details.

Changing courseIf you wish to combine law with anothersubject it’s best to discuss this with yourpreferred College before submitting yourapplication. Students who wish to combinelaw with another subject usually study lawafter that subject rather than before. It’sdesirable to study law for two years whereverpossible, since it’s not possible to pass allseven ‘foundation’ subjects at Cambridge inless than two years. If your first subject has atwo-year Part I, you need to consider theimplications – especially the financialimplications – of four years as anundergraduate.

After CambridgeOur graduates are prominent in both branchesof the legal profession, in the judiciary and inacademic life. They have gone on to becomejudges of the International Court of Justiceand of the European Court of Justice, as well asmembers of the Appellate Committee of theHouse of Lords and of the Court of Appeal.

Most undergraduates studying Law atCambridge do so because they intend topractise law as barristers or solicitors, but

After CambridgeOur graduates are prominent in both branchesof the legal profession, in the judiciary and inacademic life. They have gone on to becomejudges of the International Court of Justiceand of the European Court of Justice, as well asmembers of the Appellate Committee of theHouse of Lords and of the Court of Appeal.

Most undergraduates studying Law atCambridge do so because they intend topractise law as barristers or solicitors, butothers seek careers in administration,management or finance and find employmentwithin the legal departments of the CivilService, local government, industrial andcommercial firms, banks, and internationalorganisations. Some even go on to becomepublic figures such as politicians and actors.

Year 1Part IAIn the first year, all students take the samefour papers:

• Criminal Law • Constitutional Law • Civil Law • Law of Tort

Year 2Part IBIn your second year, you choose five papersfrom a wide range of options. Most studentstake Contract Law and Land Law. Otheroptions are:

• Family Law • International Law • Administrative Law • Criminal Procedure and Evidence • Legal History • Civil Law II• Criminology, Sentencing and the Penal

System• European Union Law

Year 3Part IIIn the third year, you select and study fivepapers from an even more extensive range.

Most students take Equity and EuropeanUnion Law but you can develop yourinterests in, for instance:

• commercial law• public law subjects• labour law• more theoretical aspects of law, such as

jurisprudence

You can take certain half-papers as well. Inrecent years, subjects available haveincluded:

• Law and Legal Change in the Tudor Period• Landlord and Tenant Law• European Human Rights Law• Medical Law • Media Law

You can also participate in a seminar course,submitting a dissertation in place of onepaper. Seminar courses vary each year but inthe past have included Family in Society,Women and the Law, Ethics and CriminalLaw, Public Law, and International Law.

Course outline

Studying Law at Cambridgeoffers one of the mostinteresting, thought-provoking,and life-changing experiencesyou could possibly have atuniversity.Philip

Ling

uistics

www.cam

.ac.uk

60

COURSES ARTS

Language and linguisticsLanguage is central to human nature, andlinguistics is the systematic study of humanlanguage. On the face of it there’s hugevariation among the world’s languages, andlinguists not only describe the diversecharacteristics of individual languages but alsoseek to discover the deeper properties whichall languages share. These common propertiesmay give us an insight into the structure ofthe human mind.

What to expect from linguisticsPart of the appeal of studying linguistics isthat it draws on methods and knowledgefrom an unusually wide range of subjects. Forinstance, the study of meaning draws on workby philosophers, whereas the part of ourcourse concentrating on the sounds of speechtakes place in our phonetics laboratory. Herecomputers are used to display and analyse thespeech signal using methods from physicsand engineering. This variety is what makeslinguistics fascinating: one day you might beporing over a medieval text for evidence ofhow the grammar of a language has changed,and the next, learning about how the larynxcreates sound energy for speech.

The DepartmentAt Cambridge we have internationallyacknowledged expertise across a wide rangeof language-related disciplines, and studyingLinguistics gives you a truly interdisciplinaryeducation. The Department of Linguistics hereis relatively unusual, in the British context, inthat it has developed within the Faculty ofModern and Medieval Languages, which isconcerned with European languages. Thismeans our course, and our research, benefitgreatly from input by colleagues specialisingin the linguistics of particular languages.

The structure of the courseLinguistics is divided into a one-year Part I anda two-year Part II, which is subdivided intoParts IIA and IIB. Teaching is by a mixture oflectures and supervisions, with a typical weekinvolving four hours of lectures and two hoursof supervisions. There are additional practicalclasses for some areas such as phonetics.

The first year (Part I), where you take fourpapers, provides a foundation across a widerange of linguistics taught within theDepartment. The second and third years (PartII) allow you to specialise in the areas whichparticularly interest you. There’s a wide choiceof topics to choose from, taught by theDepartment of Linguistics as well as otherfaculties and departments. For example, otherdepartments in the Faculty of Modern andMedieval Languages teach the linguistics ofparticular languages.

Part IIB also includes an element of individualresearch as you write a dissertation on a topicof your choice.

What we’re looking forThe main requirement for studying Linguisticsis a lively curiosity about the nature oflanguage. It may be that you’ve been struckby a language that puts its verbs in a differentposition in the sentence, or wondered whylanguages change (making Chaucer hard tounderstand, for instance), or been puzzledthat automatic speech recognition softwaregets a perfectly clear word wrong, or realisedthat an utterance such as ‘it’s cold in here’ maymean more than the words (eg ‘please closethe window!’), or been excited to learn thatlanguages as diverse as Welsh and Hindi havea common ancestor. If you’ve found yourselfasking ‘why?’ or ‘how?’ in relation to language,then Linguistics is for you.

Because Linguistics is interdisciplinary wedon’t require specific A Level/IB Higher Levelsubjects, and welcome applicants whoseprofile is science-oriented as well as arts-centred. However, some formal study oflanguage, either through learning languagesor through English Language A Level/IBHigher Level, does serve as a goodpreparation.

Linguisticswww.mml.cam.ac.uk/ling/

UCAS code Q100 BA/L

DurationThree years


Essential: no specific subjectsUseful: a foreign language, A Level/IB HigherLevel English Language

CollegesAvailable at all Colleges except St Catharine’s.


Open day 201118 March. Booking required, see theDepartment website for further information.


Map reference B


At a glance

Are you curious about our most crucially human attribute,language? Does a subject that straddles the divide between artsand sciences appeal to you?

Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic (p34),Archaeology and Anthropology (p36), Asianand Middle Eastern Studies (p40), Classics(p42), English (p48), Modern and MedievalLanguages (p62), Philosophy (p66)


Ling

uistics

www.cam

.ac.uk

61

COURSES ARTS

Linguistics is divided into a one-year Part Iand a two-year Part II. Part I provides afoundation across a wide range of linguisticstaught within the Department of Linguistics,while Part II allows you to specialise in theareas which particularly interest you. Apartfrom the final-year dissertation, assessment isby written examination, and there arepractical exams in phonetics.

Year 1Part IIn Part I, you take the following four papers:

• Sounds and Words• Structures and Meanings• Language, Brain and Society• History and Varieties of English

Year 2Part IIAIn Part IIA, you take four papers chosen froma wide range of options dealing withdifferent linguistic levels and perspectives,including the following:

• Phonetics• Phonology and Morphology• Syntax• Semantics and Pragmatics• Historical Linguistics• History of Ideas on Language

There are around a dozen further papers tochoose from, dealing with the linguistics ofparticular languages or language families, or(in one case) experimental psychology.

Year 3Part IIBIn Part IIB, you take:

• Linguistic Theory – a compulsory generaltheory paper

• two further papers from the remaining PartIIA options

During the year, you also write a dissertationof 8,000 – 10,000 words on a topic of yourchoice.

Course outline Studying Linguistics atCambridge has given me theopportunity to explore thefull scope of a disciplinewhich is still developing inso many exciting directions,and then focus on the areaswhich I really enjoy. I’vealways been supported andencouraged by therenowned teaching staff,who challenge me to thinkin original ways and broadenmy perspective at everyopportunity.Amelia

Changing coursePart II of Linguistics is also available to someundergraduates who have successfullycompleted Part I of another course. It may betaken either as a two-year course or as a one-year course for those who have taken a two-year Part I. Alternatively, it’s possible to chooselinguistics options within the Modern andMedieval Languages course.

After your degreeLinguistics graduates, like other arts graduates,find employment in a wide range ofprofessions. The fact that linguistics provides abroad interdisciplinary training; developingthe ability to analyse quantitative data,construct abstract (grammatical) models, andtest alternative hypotheses; means that

Linguistics graduates emerge withtransferable skills that are greatly sought afterby employers.

Linguistics provides a particularly goodpreparation for vocational training too, infields such as speech therapy, teaching(especially of languages), speech andlanguage technology (developing andimproving computer-based applications suchas speech recognition and translationsoftware), law, translation, interpreting, andeven forensic linguistics (in cases whereauthorship or voice identity may be at issue).Familiarity with the range and essence ofhuman languages is also a huge advantage incareers where rapid learning of unfamiliarlanguages may be involved, such as theDiplomatic Service.

Mod

ern and Medieval Langu

ages

www.cam

.ac.uk

62

COURSES ARTS

Why choose Modern and MedievalLanguages (MML)? There are several good reasons. You study twoforeign languages, one of which you can learnfrom scratch. You become fluent in both andhave the chance to gain in-depth knowledgeabout the culture, history, cinema, literature,art, politics, philosophy, values and ideas ofother countries. You can learn about linguistics(the nature of language in general) and havethe opportunity to spend a year abroad.

From the start, you can choose which areas(and languages!) you want to focus on,tailoring the course to your interests.

You develop multiple skills. You’re aiming toacquire virtually the same grammaticalaccuracy, expressive range, and fluency as anative speaker. You learn how to translate fromand into the language, and write creativelyand accurately in the language. You becomeable to rapidly pick up other ‘varieties’ of yourlanguages (for example, specialist businessuses), and to learn new languages more easily.

Why choose Cambridge?We offer a good range of languages, includingan exceptionally wide range of cultural andlinguistic options, taught to a high level. Wealso give you the great opportunity to beginone language that you haven’t previouslystudied.

You benefit from our excellent teachers andresources, including the well-stocked Facultylibrary and state-of-the art Language Centre;fully equipped with satellite television, audio,video and other equipment. In addition, oursubstantial Computer Assisted LanguageLearning (CALL) facilities are used for bothprivate study and teaching programmes(www.mml.cam.ac.uk/call/).

And the course?The MML course lasts four years, with yourthird year spent abroad. In your first year, youstudy two languages, at least one at post-ALevel/IB Higher Level standard. You can startany language from scratch, with the exceptionof French where A Level/IB Higher Levelstandard is required. As you progress, you canstart specialising in one language, and in yourfinal year, you can choose options in onelanguage only. However, most students keepup both languages throughout their degree.

Teaching is made up of lectures, seminars,language classes (many of which are in thetarget language), intensive oral work in smallgroups, and supervisions. For yoursupervisions, you prepare written work whichyou then discuss and explore the subjectfurther. In your first year, you can generallyexpect around 12–14 hours of teaching timeeach week.

The course is divided into successive Parts – IA,IB and II – with an Honours examination at theend of each. You may replace one of the Part IBexamination papers with a portfolio of thebest essays that you’ve done over the year forthat paper. During your year abroad, youprepare a dissertation, translation project orlinguistics project, which contributes to yourPart II assessment. You may also offer a seconddissertation instead of one of the Part II writtenexamination papers.

A year in...Your time abroad can be spent in one of threeways. You can attend a foreign university,become an English-speaking assistant in aschool abroad, or seek voluntary or paid workoverseas. For example, our students havespent their third year:

• working with a law firm in Buenos Aires• studying art history in Rome• volunteering with the International Baby

Food Action Network in Brazil• conducting an orchestra in St Petersburg

You can tailor your year to suit your interestsand ambitions, the only formal requirementsbeing that you must spend at least eightmonths of it abroad, and you must be in dailycontact with the foreign language you’restudying. If you wish, you can spend the yearin more than one country, so long as youspend at least three months in each country.

We also hope you use some of your vacationsto visit the countries whose languages you’relearning. You can apply for travel grants toenable you to take language courses abroad.

Modern and Medieval LanguagesFrench, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanishwww.mml.cam.ac.uk

UCAS code R800 BA/MML

DurationFour years


Essential: A Level/IB Higher Level in at leastone modern language to be studied atCambridge



Open day 201118 March. Booking required, see the Facultywebsite for further information.


Map reference B


At a glance

You can study two out of:

• French• German• Italian• Portuguese• Russian• Spanish

Alternatively, you can combine any of theabove with either Classical Latin (if you’retaking it at A Level/IB Higher Level) orClassical Greek.

If you wish to combine one of the modernEuropean languages above with Arabic,Hebrew or Persian, you can do so by applyingfor the Asian and Middle Eastern Studiesdegree course (see p40).

Languages available

Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic (p34), Asianand Middle Eastern Studies (p40), Classics(p42), Education (p46), Linguistics (p60),Management Studies (p95)


This degree opens up countless career opportunities, isstimulating, mind-broadening, enjoyable, sociable, diverse,flexible, wide-ranging, and uses state-of-the-art technology.

Mod

ern and Medieval Langu

ages

www.cam

.ac.uk

63

COURSES ARTS

What are we looking for?As one of our students, you will have shownthe following qualities in your application:

• an aptitude for languages – evidence thatyou’re good at learning a foreign language

• an aptitude for studying some of the otherthings that are taught on our course –culture, history, literature, linguistics, film,philosophical ideas

• motivation – evidence that you enjoystretching yourself to learn new thingswhich weren’t part of your school syllabus

It’s your choiceThe MML course is one of the most flexible atCambridge with regard to different subjectcombinations possible. In addition, in yourfinal year you can take up to two optionsfrom certain other courses (eg English,History). You can even take one or two yearsof MML and follow this with a Part II inanother course, provided you meet anysubject requirements and your Collegeapproves.

And after?Communication skills, knowledge oflanguages, an understanding of foreigncultures, analytical ability, and research skillsare much in demand in a great many fields,and are precisely the qualities that our coursepromotes. Employers – even those who aren’tprimarily interested in languages – areespecially impressed by the experience andskills our graduates have gained from theiryear abroad.

The most popular choices of professionamongst our recent graduates includejournalism, the arts, marketing, banking, law,accountancy, teaching, and the DiplomaticService. Most graduates continue to use theirlanguages within their work. Some don’t, butthe many skills that their degree has giventhem are still the decisive factor in securingjobs. For a small number of graduates, thedegree is more directly vocational: theybecome professional linguists (translators orinterpreters), usually after further specialisedtraining.

Year 1Part IADeveloping your language skillsYou study two languages at Part IA, with theoptions you take partly determined by yourknowledge of your chosen languages onentry. The main emphasis is on developingyour language skills, taught by a range ofmethods including faculty classes of up to 15students and supervisions in groups of two orthree. You also have an introduction to one ormore of the following topics for yourlanguages:

• literature• linguistics• history• thought

Year 2Part IBAcquiring native or near-native fluencyIn your second year, you take five papers intotal. You continue intensive language studywith the aim of acquiring native or near-native fluency in both languages and choose

from a wide range of papers covering topicssuch as:

• literature• history• culture• linguistics• film• thought• art• an introduction to a language and culture

you haven’t studied before

Years 3 and 4Part IISpecialisation and options

Year 3In the third year, you spend at least eightmonths abroad, during which time youprepare a project that counts as one sixth ofyour final mark. This can be a dissertation, atranslation project, or a linguistics project.

Just before the fourth year starts, you take anoral examination back in Cambridge.

Year 4You’re free to specialise in one language, tocombine options from two or morelanguages, to take comparative optionswhich span several cultures and languages,or to sample papers from other courses. Youtackle advanced language work (in one ortwo languages), and focus on three optionschosen from a wide range (culture, literature,linguistics, thought, history, film, and so on).

You also have a choice from comparativepaper options, enabling you to combine thestudy of both of your languages. Examplesinclude the European Film paper, and one onThe Body, studying attitudes towards thehuman body. Three other comparativeoptions involve linguistics and philology: The Romance Languages, The SlavonicLanguages, and The Hispanic Languages.Many students replace one of their writtenpapers with a dissertation (currently 8,000 –10,000 words).

Course outline

In addition to your two main languages, youcan also study more languages from scratchas part of your degree. Options includeCatalan, Dutch, Modern Greek, MedievalOccitan, Portuguese, Ukranian, and Neo-Latin (the Latin used throughout Europec1350–1700).

Another possibility (open to any member ofthe University) is to obtain a further languagequalification in addition to your degreecourse by taking a one-year course at theUniversity’s Language Centre (see p9).Courses are available in basic Mandarin andRussian; in basic and intermediate Germanand Italian; and in basic, intermediate andadvanced French and Spanish.

Diploma and certificate courses may beavailable through the Faculty. For moreinformation, please see the Faculty websiteat: www.mml.cam.ac.uk/courses/DipCert.html.

Would you like to study more thantwo languages?

The course opens so many doors; you aren’t restricted to any onearea of work, plus it gives you the freedom to travel and live indifferent countries.Natasha

Music

www.cam

.ac.uk

64

COURSES ARTS

Why study Music at Cambridge?The University of Cambridge consistently topsthe league tables for quality of teaching andresearch. We accept the best students andchallenge you to achieve more than you everthought you could, so it’s not surprising thatover recent decades many of the mostsignificant figures in British music have studiedor taught at Cambridge: composers such asAlexander Goehr, Judith Weir and Thomas Adès;performers like Joanna MacGregor and ThomasTrotter; and conductors including John EliotGardiner and Christopher Hogwood.

Making musicOne of the most outstanding features ofCambridge is the richness and diversity of itsmusic-making at all levels. In addition to ourprofessional concert series, we host a numberof resident ensembles: the Endellion StringQuartet, Britten Sinfonia and Academy ofAncient Music not only perform regularly butalso offer master classes and compositionworkshops for students. Instrumental music isalso well served: the Cambridge UniversityMusical Society works with conductors of thecalibre of Sir Roger Norrington and composerssuch as Sir Peter Maxwell Davies; while theCambridge University Chamber Orchestra alsoperforms regularly with well-known guestconductors.

Most of all, it’s the wealth of student-ledmusic-making that makes Cambridge sospecial. There are more than 70 Universitymusic groups and societies to join, includingchamber music groups, opera, musicaltheatre, jazz and world music societies, not tomention the various College societies. Inshort, there are performing opportunities foreveryone and in the unlikely event that thetype of music you want to play isn’t alreadyhappening at Cambridge, you can always setup a group yourself!

Facilities and resources The modern Faculty building not only provides a location for lectures, seminars andresearch activities but also houses aprofessional concert hall (seating 500); thePendlebury Music Library, with its extensivecollections of music, books, periodicals andrecordings; and the Centre for Music andScience with a purpose-built studio and musiccomputing laboratories. The Faculty also hoststhe AHRC Research Centre for MusicalPerformance as Creative Practice (CMPCP), anorganisation which brings together academic

study and practical music-making. Thesefacilities and resources are complemented bythe libraries, practice rooms and computersuites available in Colleges, as well as by theUniversity Library.

The Faculty recently set up a Baroqueensemble and student players are able toborrow period instruments and receivecoaching. Those with interests in new musiccan join the Faculty-sponsored New MusicEnsemble and students can make use of theFaculty’s Javanese Gamelan. Some funds maybe available from the Colleges for instrumentalor vocal lessons.

The Cambridge courseOur undergraduate programme is designedto introduce you not just to a broad range ofmusic, but to a wide variety of ways ofthinking about and understanding music.

The first year (Part IA) provides a foundationfor the later stages, giving you a solidgrounding in the techniques and history ofthe Western musical tradition. As youprogress through the programme, you haveincreasing freedom to specialise in differentkinds of music or approaches to it, rangingfrom medieval music to the blues, and fromadvanced analysis to the science of music.

Though the programme has a strongacademic component, you can takeperformance and composition as major parts of it, and there are many opportunitiesto work on your own extended projectsunder staff direction in any of these areas.

Assessment takes place at the end of eachyear through written examinations; thesubmission of portfolios, essays anddissertations; and through recitals.

What we’re looking forSuccessful applicants normally have at least agrade A in A Level/7 in IB Higher Level Music(in some cases, ABRSM Grade 8 Theory can beoffered as a substitute). We also expect you tohave some familiarity with the Westernclassical repertoire, and to have experience ofwriting about music. A well-developed ear,basic keyboard skills, and some proficiency inharmony and counterpoint are desirable,though very few successful applicants haveequal ability in all these areas. If you have apassion for music and an interest in studyingit academically then we would encourageyou to apply.

Musicwww.mus.cam.ac.uk

UCAS code W300 BA/M

DurationThree years


Essential: A Level/IB Higher Level Music(ABRSM Grade 8 Theory can be offered as asubstitute in some cases)

Colleges Available at all Colleges.



Map reference B

Further information Telephone: 01223 768927Email: [email protected]

At a glance

Archaeology and Anthropology (p36),Education (p46), History (p52), History of Art(p54), Philosophy (p66), Politics, Psychologyand Sociology (p68)


The Music course at Cambridge combines intellectual stimulationand the progressive development of musical skills withtremendous opportunities for making music.

Music

www.cam

.ac.uk

65

COURSES ARTS

Changing courseWhile most students studying Music takeboth Parts of the course, undergraduateswho’ve successfully completed one Part ofanother course and are suitably qualified cantransfer to Music at the beginning of Part IB.

Beyond CambridgeMusic graduates are extremely attractive toemployers and can follow a career in almostany field. Many of our students do aspire toenter the music profession in one guise oranother though; recent graduates includeTom Poster, who performed twice in the 2009Proms; and Robin Ticciati, now the PrincipalConductor of the Scottish ChamberOrchestra. Other recent graduates havepursued successful careers in publishing andthe media, academia, arts administration,banking, law, public service and the charitysector.

As well as studying one of thebest music courses in thecountry, there are so manyextra-curricular opportunitieshere whatever your interests. Iknow I’ve had opportunities forconducting, singing and actingthat I just wouldn’t have hadelsewhere.Emma

Course outline

Teaching is through lectures, seminars andsupervisions, and in your first year you cantypically expect to have six lectures and twosupervisions each week. Lectures andseminars are organised by and take place inthe Faculty; supervisions are arranged byColleges.

Year 1Part IAThe first year (Part IA) consists of three majorcomponents which continue into the secondyear:

• historical and critical studies – two and ahalf papers covering issues involved inunderstanding music and its relationship tosociety and culture, including the mainhistorical developments of Western musicfrom the medieval period to now and aselection of historical or present day casestudies. You’re also introduced to areas suchas ethnomusicology or music and sciencewhich you may not have previouslyencountered

• techniques of tonal music – two papersgiving you a thorough technical groundingin music of the Western tonal tradition;through arrangement, acquisition of basicharmonic skills at the keyboard, aural work,and writing music in a range of historicalstyles. We see this as a foundation for moreadvanced work in all musical fields

• music analysis – one paper which gives youan understanding of what makes musicwork through hands-on familiarity with arange of musical styles. This creates a bridgebetween your work in historical and criticalstudies and in tonal techniques

For your final half paper, you have the choiceof giving a 15 minute recital, submitting anoriginal composition or writing an extendedessay.

Year 2Part IBIn the second year (Part IB), you take a furtherpaper in each of the core areas from the firstyear (historical and critical studies, techniquesof tonal music, and music analysis). This takesup half of your time.

For the remaining half, you choose threepapers from a range on different topics.Subjects available change from year to yearbut will normally include:

• advanced historical topics• advanced analysis• jazz and popular music• ethnomusicology• scientific approaches to music• performance studies• composition• a dissertation of between 5,000 and 7,000

words

Year 3Part IIThe third year (Part II) gives you even morechoice. There are no compulsory papers: you can design your own course of studyfrom a wide selection of options on offerwhich reflect not just your own interests butalso the skills and knowledge needed for your chosen career path. The following havebeen among the options available in recentyears:

• American Jazz• Beethoven: the Late String Quartets• Choral Studies• Exploring Music Psychology• Film Music• Fugue• Introduction to Music and Science• Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis• Nationalism and Music in the Middle East• Performance Practice 1600–1830• Shostakovich and his World• The Cantatas of J S Bach• The Mighty Handful• Unfinished Works

If you wish, you can spend most of this yearworking with individual staff members onyour own projects, whether as an advancedperformer, composer, historian, analyst,ethnomusicologist, or music scientist. In thisway, while our course gives you the solidunderstanding of the subject which a musicdegree should guarantee, it also offers youthe flexibility you need to prepare for life afterCambridge.

Philosophy

www.cam

.ac.uk

66

COURSES ARTS

Why Philosophy?Do you enjoy constructing and demolishingarguments on the pros and cons of generalissues? Do you relish puzzle-solving? Do youlike subjects such as mathematics whichemphasise rigorous thought? If so,philosophy might be the right subject foryou.

Philosophy aims to consider extremelygeneral and ‘ultimate’ problems, such as thenature of reality, the purpose of humanexistence, and the basis of knowledge. It alsoscrutinises the methods that are used toanswer such questions.

Examples of philosophical issues are: what isart? Do communities of people needgovernments? Is it rational to sacrifice yourown interests to promote the welfare ofothers? Is reincarnation a logical possibility?Why do we think that there’s a physical worldindependent of us or that there are mindsother than our own? Do human beings haveminds in addition to bodies? Is there anobjective standard for what’s right and good?Could there be alternative systems of logic ormathematics?

Why Cambridge?Three Cambridge scholars, Bertrand Russell, GE Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein,transformed the discipline of philosophyduring the first half of the twentieth centuryand made Cambridge the most importantcentre for philosophy in the English-speakingworld. Along with Frank Ramsey and others,they developed the analytic style ofphilosophy, now prominent throughoutmuch of the world. Today, Cambridgeremains one of the best places to get agrounding in analytic philosophy.

In addition, the Cambridge course is one ofthe few in which it’s possible to concentrateentirely on philosophy without taking anyother subject (although you can diversifywithin the subject if you wish).

How?The Philosophy course is divided into threeParts (IA, IB, and Part II) and is designed toaccommodate the fact that many studentsare taking the subject for the first time.

Much of the teaching is done in lectures andthere are classes for some subjects (such asfirst-year Logic). You have weekly Collegesupervisions, for each of which you’re givenrecommended reading on a topic and askedto write an essay about it. You then discussthe essay and the topic with your supervisor.Although it varies throughout the year, youtypically have between six and 12 lectureseach week, along with between one andthree supervisions or small classes.

Throughout the three years the emphasis ison analytic philosophy. You’re encouraged toread the works of modern analyticalphilosophers and to think directly aboutphilosophical topics. However, our courseisn’t confined to the study of analyticalphilosophers and the problems which havefascinated them. The history of philosophyfrom Plato to Wittgenstein is taught at variouslevels and the course includes papers onmedieval and modern philosophers outsidethe analytical tradition. You can also studysuch subjects as aesthetics and politicalphilosophy.

Particularly in the first year, we want to ensurethat you acquire the reasoning skills whichenable you to tackle problems of aphilosophical character and to thinkintelligently about abstract questionsgenerally, not just gather information aboutwho said what. For this reason, we encourageour students to approach topics in their ownway and we organise regular discussiongroups for first- and second-year students.

Our objective in Part II is to provide you withan understanding of various contemporarydebates and to familiarise you with currentphilosophical concepts. Lectures involveexploring current and new positions ondebates, and you participate in seminardiscussions on advanced subjects.

Philosophywww.phil.cam.ac.uk

At Cambridge, you’ll have debates with cutting-edgephilosophers – here, argument and dialogue are considered thebest way to get to grips with the questions involved.

UCAS code V500 BA/Ph

DurationThree years


Essential: no specific subjectsUseful: an arts/science mix

CollegesAvailable at all Colleges except MurrayEdwards.



Map reference B


At a glance

Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (p40),Classics (p42), Education (p46), History of Art(p54), Law (p58), Mathematics (p78), Music(p64), Natural Sciences (p84), Politics,Psychology and Sociology (p68), Theologyand Religious Studies (p70)


Philosophy

www.cam

.ac.uk

67

COURSES ARTS

The Philosophy Faculty has close links withrelated faculties and departments such asClassics, History, and History and Philosophyof Science, so you can take advantage of awide range of specialised lectures andseminars. You’ll also have access to manyexcellent libraries.

AssessmentMost papers are assessed by a writtenexamination, each lasting three hours.However, in Parts IB and II you can submittwo extended essays instead of sitting one ofthe subject examinations. Part II offers theadditional alternative of submitting adissertation on a subject of your choice.

Recommended readingIf you’re thinking of applying to studyPhilosophy and haven’t already done so, westrongly advise you to read some books onthe subject to get a realistic idea of what it’slike. For example:

• S Blackburn, Think• R Descartes, Meditations• D Hume, Enquiries• J S Mill, Utilitarianism• B Russell, Problems of Philosophy

For more suggestions consult our website.

Changing courseIt’s possible to combine philosophy withanother subject by changing to or fromanother course. You can either study anothersubject for one or two years (such asMathematics, Classics or Economics) andthen switch to Philosophy, or change toanother subject (such as Economics, History,or Psychology) after Part IA or Part IBPhilosophy.

Although the system is fairly flexible, not allcombinations are feasible. If you’reconsidering such changes, please consultyour College about your plans.

After PhilosophyThinking philosophically requires rigour,precision and creativity; qualities that can beapplied to any other problem. Although aPhilosophy degree isn’t an essentialqualification for any particular career, theanalytical and critical skills developedthrough its study prepare our graduates for avariety of professions, including business,computing, journalism, administration andlaw.

I was drawn to philosophybecause of the depth of thequestions it tries to answer, butalso because of the breadth oftopics within the course. TheCambridge Faculty has a highlyprestigious reputation, and Ifeel extremely lucky to follow inthe footsteps of Russell, Mooreand Wittgenstein.Mat

Year 1Part IAPart IA gives you an introduction tophilosophy through the study of four corecompulsory papers (the second and thirdyears focus on areas that particularly interestyou):

• Metaphysics and Philosophy of Mind• Ethics• Logic (it isn’t necessary to have taken

Mathematics at A Level/IB Higher Level forthis)

• several set texts, such as Plato’s Meno,Hume’s Dialogues Concerning NaturalReligion, and J S Mill’s On Liberty and TheSubjection of Women

Year 2Part IBPart IB is about exploring the philosophicalaspects of a range of issues, both practicaland theoretical.

There are two compulsory papers:

• Metaphysics and Epistemology• Logic

You then choose two further subjects from arange including papers such as:

• Ethics• Philosophy of Science• Political Philosophy• Greek and Roman Philosophy or Medieval

and Modern Philosophy• Experimental Psychology (this paper is from

the Natural Sciences course and involvespractical work)

Year 3Part IIIn Part II, there are no compulsory papers andyou choose four from an extensive range ofsubjects. These include most of thosementioned above, studied at a moreadvanced level, as well as several paperscovering new areas. Papers currently availableinclude:

• Mathematical Logic• Philosophical Logic• European Philosophy from Kant• Aesthetics

In addition, there may be a Special Subjectwhich changes from time to time (for 2011,the Special Subject is Wittgenstein).

It’s also possible to take one or two papersfrom another course, such as Classics orTheology and Religious Studies.

Course outline

Politics, Psycholog

y and Sociolog

ywww.cam

.ac.uk

68

COURSES ARTS

A passionate detachmentThe Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS)course explores many of the questions abouthuman beings that excite great passions,enabling you to consider them in a coherentand detached manner, drawing on the greattraditions of social science. It encourages youto think for yourself about these questions andto understand why others answer themdifferently.

What’s different about PPS atCambridge? PPS is distinctive among social sciencesdegrees due to the range of subjects andchoices available within the course. In fewother institutions are politics and internationalstudies, social and developmental psychology(in contrast to experimental psychology), andsociology taught together under the sameroof.

Part IIn the first year (Part I), you’re introduced totwo of the three core disciplines (ie politics,psychology, and sociology) and take twooptional papers. The optional papers includethe opportunity to take a third paper from thecore disciplines, or papers in Archaeology andAnthropology, Computer Science, Economics,Education, and International Studies.Assessment is primarily through a three-hourwritten examination for each paper, althoughsome of the optional papers include otherforms of assessment.

Part IIIn Part II, you specialise in one of the followingpathways: Politics and International Studies;Psychology; or Sociology. There’s also theoption to take a combination of bothPsychology and Sociology subjects.

In Politics and International Studies, youtake papers in comparative politics,international politics and the history of politicalthought. The nature of politics and theimportance of ideas, institutions and processesin shaping political developments are exploredusing philosophical and historical arguments,contemporary political analysis and theories ofinternational relations. The third year allows forincreasing specialisation, offering a range ofpapers in the politics of specific regions of theworld, as well as some papers from otherdisciplines. Assessment includes long essaysand a 10,000 word dissertation as well asconventional exams.

The Psychology pathway offers the chance toconcentrate on social and developmentalpsychology. In addition to research methods,you explore the development of socialbehaviour, psychopathology, biological andcognitive psychology, gender, familyrelationships and influences, personality, andsocial behaviour in both small and large groups.The programme is fully accredited by the BritishPsychological Society, so students who selectthis option graduate with the ‘graduaterecognition’ needed to pursue a career inpsychology (eg clinical, forensic, educational, oracademic psychology). Psychology studentscomplete independent research projects inboth the second and third years.

In Sociology, you can combine social theoryand the empirical analysis of particularsocieties and institutions. You can explore thesocial organisation, cultures and economies ofdifferent societies and the theories that haveshaped our understanding of them. In thethird year, you can take interdisciplinary papersas well as papers from other disciplines. In PartIIA, you can choose to carry out your ownsociological research project; and in Part IIB,you can opt for a 10,000 word dissertation.

Whatever your background, we teach you tothink independently and critically, and todistinguish good arguments from bad ones.You have the chance to undertake researchprojects as well as write essays and adissertation on the questions that interest youmost.

PPS attracts, on average, more undergraduatesfrom abroad (especially from Europe andSoutheast Asia), from ethnic minorities, andfrom state schools than other arts courses;making our undergraduate community one ofthe most interesting and diverse in Cambridge.

TeachingThe course is taught by the Faculty of Politics,Psychology, Sociology and InternationalStudies (PPSIS), which organises a series oflectures ranging from between one and fourhours a week for each paper. For some papers,there are also classes and seminars, while thepapers on cognitive and biological psychology,methods of inquiry, and statistics includepractical demonstrations and exercises. Youalso have one or two supervisions a week todiscuss your work. This teaching is focused onyou and on developing your reasoning andideas.

Politics, Psychology and Sociologywww.ppsis.cam.ac.uk

I chose PPS because it’s aunique mix of subjects that Ireally felt would teach me moreabout the world in general andour role in it – and it’s totallyfulfilled expectations!Lucy

UCAS code L0C8 BA/PPS

DurationThree years




CollegesAvailable at all Colleges except Peterhouse.



Map reference G


At a glance

How do human beings live together? What accounts for thedifferences among them? Who gets what, when and how? Towhat extent do our inherited dispositions as opposed to ourexperiences make us who we are? This degree tackles deepquestions like these from several different perspectives.

Archaeology and Anthropology (p36), Asianand Middle Eastern Studies (p40), Classics(p42), Education (p46), Geography (p50),History (p52), Land Economy (p56), Law(p58), Management Studies (p95), NaturalSciences (p84), Philosophy (p66), Theologyand Religious Studies (p70)


Politics, Psycholog

y and Sociolog

ywww.cam

.ac.uk

69

COURSES ARTS

Within the Faculty we have a well-stockedlibrary with computers and we organiseoccasions for you to meet other students andstaff outside lectures. Some of our studentswriting dissertations use the summer vacationto pursue research abroad, sometimesfinanced by travel grants from their Colleges.

What are we looking for?There is no ‘typical’ PPS student. We don’trequire any particular subjects at A Level/ IB Higher Level. However, you should beintellectually curious, and should enjoyreading and considering questions about theway human beings live from differentperspectives.

Changing courseYou can transfer onto PPS from other subjectsat the end of the first or second year.Conversely, after completing Part I or Part IIA of PPS, you can transfer to another course,such as Law, Archaeology and Anthropology,Management Studies or History.

Careers and research opportunities PPS combines the opportunity to develop theskills and knowledge needed to enter aprofessional career (eg in psychology) with abroad education that can lead to careers in themedia, management, the Civil Service,academia, diplomacy, national andinternational non-governmental organisations,and much else.

The course offers an unusually diverse range ofcareer openings. Graduates of the Psychologypathway are eligible for admission toprofessional courses in clinical, educational,forensic, or applied psychology throughgraduate membership of the BritishPsychological Society. In recent years, up to athird of our graduates have begun careers infinance, law and business, includingconsultancy, and many of our students pursuefurther study and research, frequently abroad.

Year 1Part IA broad introduction• In Part I, you take a paper in two of the three

core disciplines of politics, psychology andsociology. You look at questions aboutgender, social inequality, the media, thestate, democracy, war and peace, childdevelopment, groups and crowds, ethnicminorities, and kinship.

• Your third and fourth papers can be chosento give greater breadth, or be in a moreclosely-related field, such as communicationand language for those interested inpsychology, or in international relations forthose interested in politics.

Year 2Part IIAConcentration on one discipline orcombined disciplinesFor Part IIA, you choose one of four pathwaysto focus on.

• In Politics and International Studies, youtake one paper in the history of politicalthought, one paper in comparative politics,and one in world politics. Each paper offersconsiderable choice within it.

• In Psychology, you take one paper in socialpsychology, one in either experimental orbiological and cognitive psychology (both ofwhich involve laboratory experiments), andanother in research methods and statistics,which includes a research project you designwith the help of a supervisor.

• In Sociology, you take a paper dealing withnew developments in social theory; either a

paper on elementary research methods(which includes a personal research project)or two long essays on subjects of yourchoice; and a third paper on eitherglobalization or on comparative andinternational politics.

• In Psychology and Sociology, you takepapers in social psychology, researchmethods and statistics, and choose betweenthe two Part IIA papers in sociology (a paperon contemporary social theory or a paper onglobalization).

Year 3Part IIBYour particular interestsIn the third year (Part IIB), you have a widerange of options. You study either one or twopapers from the pathway you took in Part IIAand pick the remaining papers from aselection offered in other subjects and from arange of interdisciplinary papers. Not alloptions listed are offered every year, but you’realways able to pursue your particular interestsin a dissertation.

• In Politics and International Studies, youchoose three papers from a range on topicsthat usually include the history of politicalthought; modern political philosophy;theories of international relations; the politicsof particular regions of the world (such asEurope, China and Southeast Asia, andJapan); international political economy; andthe politics of international security anddevelopment. Alternatively, you can choosetwo of these papers and write a dissertationon a subject of your choice. You also take an

unseen essay paper in which you displayyour understanding of politics after threeyears of study.

• In Psychology, you take a paper indevelopmental psychology andpsychopathology, write a dissertation, andcan choose other papers on current researchinterests in social psychology, psychologyand social issues, or the social and biologicalbases of gender. You may also take onepaper in Sociology or Politics or aninterdisciplinary paper (eg on the family).

• In Sociology, you can choose from paperson media and culture, modern Britain,education, politics and religion, and healthand illness. In addition, you can choose up tothree papers from a selection in Politics, ortake a paper in Psychology. You can alsowrite a dissertation on a subject of yourchoice.

• In Psychology and Sociology, you choosefrom the papers in Sociology and Psychologyor the interdisciplinary papers, and you maytake two papers from a selection in Politics.Depending on the papers chosen, you canalso get ‘graduate recognition’ from theBritish Psychological Society if you choosethis pathway.

• The interdisciplinary papers available(which can vary each year) currently includeGender, Kinship, and Care; The Family; TheSocial and Political Economy of Capitalism;Criminology, Sentencing, and the PenalSystem; Advanced Research Methods;Society, Politics and Culture in Latin America;The History and Politics of South Asia; andThe Anthropology of Colonialism andEmpire.

Course outline

All information about the PPS course outlineis correct as of December 2010. Prospectivestudents should be aware that in 2012–13there may be some changes to the course.

Please note

Theology and

Religious Studies

www.cam

.ac.uk

70

COURSES ARTS

A relentless pursuitFrom the most recent developments inmedical ethics to the sacred scriptures ofmajor religious traditions, the Theology andReligious Studies course is intended foranyone interested in asking basic questionsabout human existence and in assessingobjectively the kinds of answers that havebeen proposed at different times and indifferent cultures. It’s about exploringquestions of meaning, truth and practice inrelation to the religions of the world.

Civilisations have been shaped by thereligions around which they’re built and eventoday between three and four billion of theworld’s population are directly involved in themajor religions. Therefore, the fostering ofreligious understanding has immenseimplications for individual, national andinternational peace and well-being.

Whether your focus is an individual search formeaning, or on fundamental issues of warand peace, freedom and bondage, good andevil, this degree is about the relentless pursuitof a deeper, truer understanding.

It involves the study of the sacred scriptures;the history of particular periods of humancivilisation; the writings of great thinkers likeAugustine, Aquinas and Luther, Hegel andMarx, Durkheim and Freud; and reflection onthe latest scientific theories.

It gives you the chance to explore the ways inwhich the human race has expressed itsreligious convictions, and the impact they’vehad, along with questions about the natureand existence of God, and the human searchfor meaning.

Ancient and modern resourcesTheology has been studied here since themid-thirteenth century but there’s nothingold-fashioned about our course. The award-winning, purpose-built Faculty building is asign of the strength and liveliness of thesubject in Cambridge. It’s fully equipped withlecture and seminar rooms, a multimedialibrary, and state-of-the-art audiovisualfacilities. Other resources include themanuscripts held in the University Library,including the Codex Bezae (one of the mostimportant early versions of the Gospel) andthe Genizah collection (one of the world’smost significant sources for medievalJudaism).

Our Divinity Faculty is amongst the largestand best-staffed centres of theological studyin the UK, with over 20 full-time professorsand lecturers. The international teaching staffincludes members of several faiths and ofnone. In addition, we draw on the expertiseof other faculties, especially History, and Asianand Middle Eastern Studies. As such, you’retaught about a wide range of cultures (fromancient Israel and India to modern Britain) by experts in many different fields:archaeologists, historians, philosophers and theologians.

An evolving courseAlthough strong in the core elements ofChristian theology (ie biblical studies andchurch history), the course allows you eitherto concentrate on Christianity or to follow abroader route, including the comparativestudy of a range of religious traditions as wellas theoretical and philosophical issues. Topicsmight include, for example, the religioustraditions of India, the early church, aspects ofJudaism, and religion and science.

Theology and Religious Studieswww.divinity.cam.ac.uk

Religion has been, and still is, central to world history, society andhuman life. It’s a major force in making the world we live in whatit is.

UCAS code V600 BA/TRS

DurationThree years


Essential: no specific subjectsUseful: AS/IB Standard Level or above in oneor more of English, Religious Studies, History,modern languages

CollegesAvailable at all Colleges except Churchill.


Open days 201116 March, 17 March. Booking required, seethe Faculty website for further information.

See also Cambridge Open Days on 7 and 8July (143).

Map reference B


At a glance

Archaeology and Anthropology (p36), Asianand Middle Eastern Studies (p40), Education(p46), English (p48), History (p52), History ofArt (p54), Philosophy (p66), Politics,Psychology and Sociology (p68)


Many predict that the twenty-first century will be as dominated byquestions of faith as the twentieth century was by questions ofideology, which is why it’s such a privilege to be studying under thosewho engage so deeply with so wide a range of theological issues.Though I hope to specialise in the Christian philosophical tradition,the presence of so many talented professionals in biblical and patristicstudies, church history and systematic theology makes it remarkablyeasy to keep tuned in to developments in these fields.James

Theology and

Religious Studies

www.cam

.ac.uk

71

COURSES ARTS

Entrance requirementsThe course has no specific subjectrequirements; it’s not necessary to have takenReligious Studies previously. It caters for awide variety of interests – biblical, historical,philosophical and comparative, as well as amixture of any or all of these. You don’t haveto be religious to study for this degree: ourundergraduates belong to all religioustraditions and none.

Part I is designed to be a flexible introductionto theological and religious study andprovides both for those who have somebackground in the subject (perhaps at A Level) and for those who have not. Subjectssuch as Religious Studies, History, English andmodern languages can be helpful, but so canany subjects that encourage clear, logicalthinking and careful analysis of evidence.Students with a completely sciencebackground study Theology and ReligiousStudies and do very well.

Changing courseAs well as the full three-year course, it’spossible to study one or two years ofTheology and Religious Studies, either beforeor after one or two years of another subject,such as English; Philosophy; Classics; History;Politics, Psychology and Sociology; Law; Asianand Middle Eastern Studies; History of Art;Natural Sciences; and Medicine.

CareersThe wide range of skills you learn, fromlanguages and literary criticism to philosophyand history, makes Theology and ReligiousStudies one of the best arts degrees.

Consequently, our graduates move into awide range of careers. Some do go on toteaching or religious ministry, but most getjobs in publishing, the media, business andmanagement, social services, the CivilService, personnel work, advertising andmany other spheres. Our graduates includethe present Archbishop of Canterbury, aprofessor of politics, a television presenter, aneditor of a glossy magazine and an MP.

You can expect up to 10 hours of classes andlectures each week (including six for non-language papers, one for a core paper andthree for languages), as well as a weeklysupervision.

Assessment is mainly by three-hour writtenexaminations, but some papers are assessedon the basis of two coursework essays.

Year 1 Part I You take five papers designed to give you abroad introduction to the basic concepts,knowledge and skills required in the mainareas of study. There are two compulsorysubjects:

• one scriptural language – Hebrew, NewTestament Greek, Qur’anic Arabic orSanskrit

• a paper on either the Old Testament or theNew Testament (but you can take the otherin place of one of the choices below)

Plus three other papers from a choice of five:

• Christianity and the Transformation ofCulture – considering key periods andissues in the history of Christianity and itsinteraction with non-Christian cultures

• Who is Jesus Christ? – introducing some ofthe major themes of Christian theologythrough a focus on Jesus Christ

• Understanding Contemporary Religion –offering an introduction to the sociologicalstudy of religion

• World Religions in Comparative Perspective– looking at the history, beliefs andpractices of the main religions of the worldand the problems of comparing them

• Philosophy of Religion and Ethics –debating questions such as the nature ofmetaphysics, arguments for the existenceof God, and the objectivity of morals

Year 2 Part IIA This builds on the knowledge and skills youacquire in Part I. A wide choice of options isavailable, enabling you to develop a coursesuited to your own interests. You can choosea total of four papers out of 17.

You may wish to continue to study any of thefour scriptural languages at a higher level, oryou can drop the study of languages at thisstage. The other papers can be freely chosenfrom subject areas studied in the Faculty. Forexample:

• biblical studies• church history• philosophy of religion• psychology and religion• religious themes in literature• the study of religion• world religions

You can also choose to take the Part IA Logicpaper from the Philosophy course.

Year 3 Part IIB In your final year, you choose four from awide range of papers, which includesadvanced papers in the Part IIA subject areasas well as Special Subjects andinterdisciplinary papers, such as:

• Judaism and Hellenism• Topics in Christian Ethics• Self and Salvation in Indian and Western

Thought• Sacrifice

You can choose to write a dissertation of10,000 words in your third year instead of onepaper.

Course outline

The Faculty offers a one-year AdvancedDiploma for those who haven’t studiedTheology and Religious Studies atundergraduate level, but already have adegree in another subject. Contact theFaculty Office for more information.

Diploma

Arts

Documents

Transcript of Arts