by Phelim Brady Follow Phelim Brady on Twitter

This article is 12 years old

Updated:

In Lent term, Varsity's investigation into the Cambridge supervision system revealed significant variation in the provision of student tuition across the university. In some exceptional cases, the data suggested that undergraduates at some colleges could expect to receive 100 per cent more time in supervisions and college classes than their peers studying the same subject at another college. 

Over the coming days Varsity will be publishing the original data behind the investigation, five degree subjects at a time. Reproduced from data from the university's CamCORS system, supplied by colleges following freedom of information requests, the figures show how many hours of supervision and classes the average student received for different subjects in the 2011-2012 academic year. 

The statistics demonstrate how a student's college has the potential to be a determining influence upon how much time they spend with academics during their Cambridge career. But while a number of subjects saw great variations in contact time across the university, the data also shows the Triposes in which students had more consistent numbers of supervisions. It should be noted that in some cases the figures may be problematic because of a number of factors, such as differences in how colleges record their data. See below for full details.

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Archaeology & Anthropology

Supervision hours per student, 2011-2012

Part I

Part IIA: Archaeology

Part IIB: Archaeology

Christ’s College

45.33

  

45

Churchill College

43.67

  

28

Corpus Christi College

34.56

35.5

  

Fitzwilliam College

40

  

24.5

Girton College

46.3

30.5

  

Gonville & Caius College

57.5

  

21.5

Homerton College

37.75

31

20

Jesus College

44.33

12.44

  

King’s College

40.83

33

  

Lucy Cavendish College 

  

15

24.15

Magdalene College

51.5

61.5

20

Newnham College

43.28

35

  

Peterhouse

49.25

    

Robinson College

32.88

30

  

Selwyn College

47.09

    

Sidney Sussex College

57

  

46

St Catharine’s College

53

56.33

  

Trinity College

43.17

25.92

33.75

Trinity Hall

48.5

    
 

Part I & II

    

Downing College*

28.1

    

Supervision hours per student, 2011-2012

Part IIA: Biological Anthropology

Part IIA: Social Anthropology

Part IIB: Biological Anthropology

Part IIB: Social Anthropology

Christ’s College

29

33

26.5

29.5

Churchill College

  

27.25

  

22.43

Corpus Christi College

  

19.38

24.5

24.25

Fitzwilliam College

    

24.5

27.75

Girton College

  

21.38

17.5

29.25

Gonville & Caius College

  

19

  

29.75

Homerton College

22.4

  

22.08

34.24

Jesus College

7.67

8.67

7.17

26.02

King’s College

  

22.88

31

31

Lucy Cavendish College 

12.23

  

17

27

Magdalene College

22.4

21.38

  

39.58

Newnham College

  

30

29.26

49.96

Peterhouse

28

21

24.5

  

Robinson College

25

29

25.5

  

St Catharine’s College

11

59

73

70.7

Selwyn College

      

37.65

Sidney Sussex College

41

18

19

26

Trinity College

  

24

22.25

33.33

Trinity Hall

    

26

  

Chemical Engineering

Supervision hours per student, 2011-2012

Part I

Part IIA

Part IIB

Christ’s College

50.25

38.75

24.04

Churchill College

51

38

29

Corpus Christi College

42

37.5

  

Fitzwilliam College

41.83

37

  

Girton College

50.85

38

30.01

Gonville & Caius College

42.9

52.7

25.4

Homerton College

43.5

41.38

28.5

Jesus College

      

King’s College

14.5

54.77

  

Lucy Cavendish College (Hours & minutes)

45

42.16

32.58

Magdalene College

44.38

48.14

30.46

Newnham College

      

Peterhouse

  

49.6

  

Robinson College

39

49

  

Selwyn College

  

42.1

41.46

Sidney Sussex College

38.5

48.25

  

St Catharine’s College

49

10

  

Trinity College

46.4

43.2

22.5

Trinity Hall

42

48.3

  
 

Part I & II

Downing College

42.3



Classics

Supervision hours per student, 2011-2012

Part IA

Part IB

Part II

Christ’s College

92.9

51.06

20.17

Churchill College

93

85

24

Corpus Christi College

61.5

55.5

42.92

Fitzwilliam College

108

72

18.83

Girton College

  

113.66

22.7

Gonville & Caius College

107

88.5

21.5

Homerton College

76

49.25

19.99

Jesus College

      

King’s College

94.67

83.67

22.5

Lucy Cavendish College 

165.25

96.17

24.79

Magdalene College

62.75

76.58

22.1

Newnham College

85

139

18.5

Peterhouse

34.33

14.5

18.38

Robinson College

59.11

59.12

17.8

Selwyn College

108

72

18.83

Sidney Sussex College

128.25

68

25.63

St Catharine’s College

97.5

93.25

17.75

Trinity College

122

87.25

22.25

Trinity Hall

90.63

96

21.5
 

Part I & II

Downing College

46.4



Computer Science

Supervision hours per student, 2011-2012

Part IA

Part IB

Part II

Christ’s College

85

48.5

  

Churchill College

104.35

74.28

61.58

Corpus Christi College

98

54.5

68.2

Fitzwilliam College

68

50.08

38.5

Girton College

60

63.08

18.28

Gonville & Caius College

68.7

35.14

43.8

Homerton College

82.5

51.35

53.94

Jesus College

106.83

56.33

55.33

King’s College

72.5

60.81

62.25

Lucy Cavendish College 

      

Magdalene College

111.5

74.5

  

Newnham College

61.75

63.5

  

Peterhouse

      

Robinson College

68.05

53.06

38.54

Selwyn College

68

50.08

38.5

Sidney Sussex College

  

60

44

St Catharine’s College

114

67

58

Trinity College

48.15

59.9

42.3

Trinity Hall

85

34

35.25
 

Part I & II

Downing College

58.6



Economics

Supervision hours per student, 2011-2012

Part I

Part IIA

Part IIB

Christ’s College

61.79

48.5

41.6

Churchill College

47.5

42.61

48

Corpus Christi College

58.84

54.17

38.17

Fitzwilliam College

67.5

43.5

45.8

Girton College

69

46.6

44.53

Gonville & Caius College

89.05

55.59

43.5

Homerton College

52.91

35.13

38.46

Jesus College

93

101

73.5

King’s College

49.3

39.83

46.63

Lucy Cavendish College 

77.3

49.3

  

Magdalene College

58.5

53.2

33.8

Newnham College

114.81

41.3

58.8

Peterhouse

62.53

54.03

56.5

Robinson College

66

49.25

40.75

Selwyn College

53

45.95

42.76

Sidney Sussex College

43

46

53

St Catharine’s College

53.5

55.06

48.04

Trinity College

66.35

46.57

45.26

Trinity Hall

59

37

37.2
 

Part I & II

Downing College

48.2


*Instead of providing figures for each part, Downing College has provided a combined average for all parts of each Tripos.

In places the data is incomplete, either because figures were not supplied (when a college does not offer a course, for example) or because the data was anomalous. Some smaller Tripos courses have been excluded from our analysis. Murray Edwards College, Emmanuel College and Queens' College were the only colleges to refuse our request for this data, but a number of colleges are still yet to respond to our requests or to provide us with the data requested. 

When supplying this data, colleges noted that in some cases the figures may be partially inaccurate due to a number of factors, such as differing methods of recording supervision data on the CamCORS system between colleges. A number of colleges said that this was particularly the case for some smaller courses where the cohort of students in question is relatively small. In addition, the figures will have been influenced by actions on the part of students rather than colleges, for instance if undergraduates degraded or failed to attend supervisions which were provided for them, or if they required extra classes.


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