Of the 12th century. The University consists of (состоит из) 24 different colleges including 4 colleges for women. Each college is self-governing (самоуправляется)

The head of the University is the chancelor who is elected for life. The teachers are commonly called «dons» and «tutors». Part of the teaching is by means of lectures organized by the University. Besides lectures teaching is carried out by tutorial system for which Cambridge University is famous all over the world. This is a system of individual tuition (обучения) organized by the colleges.

Each student has a tutor who practically guides him through the whole course of studies. The tutor plans the student's work and once a week the student goes to his tutor to discuss his work with him. The training course lasts 4 years. The academic year is divided into 3 terms. The students study natural and technical sciences, law, history, languages, geography and many other subjects.

After three years of study a student may proceed (получить ученую степень) to a Bachelor's degree, and later to the degrees of Master and Doctor. Students are required to wear gowns (мантия) at lectures, in the University library, in the street in the evening, for dinners in the colleges and for official visits. All the students must pay for their education, examinations, books, laboratories, univer­sity hostel, the use of libraries, etc. Very few students get grants. Not many children from the working class families are able to get higher education, as the cost is high. The cost of education depends on the college and speciality.

A number of great men, well-known scientists and writers stud­ied at Cambridge. Among them are: Erasmus, the great Dutch scholar, Bacon, the philosopher, Milton and Byron, the poets, Cromwell, the soldier, Newton and Darwin, the scientists.