The University of Cambridge is composed of 31 colleges in addition to the academic departments and administration of the central university. Until the mid-19th century, both Cambridge and Oxford comprised a group of colleges with a small central university administration, rather than universities in the common sense. Cambridge's colleges are communities of students, academics and staff – an environment in which generations and academic disciplines are able to mix, with both students and fellows experiencing "the breadth and excellence of a top University at an intimate level".

Cambridge colleges provide most of the accommodation for undergraduates and postgraduates at the university. At the undergraduate level they have responsibility for admitting students to the university, providing pastoral support, and organising elements of their tuition, though lectures and examinations are organised by the faculties and departments of the central university. All degrees are awarded by the university itself, not the colleges, and all students study for the same course regardless of which college they attend. For postgraduate students, research is conducted centrally in the faculties, departments and other university-affiliated research centres, though the colleges provide a central social and intellectual hub for students.

Colleges provide a range of facilities and services to their members in addition to accommodation, including: catering, library facilities, extracurricular societies, and sporting teams. Much of sporting life at Cambridge is centred around college teams and inter-collegiate competition in Cuppers. Student activity is typically organised through separate common rooms for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Another important element of collegiate life is formal hall, which range in frequency from weekly to every night of the week during Full Term.

Colleges also provide funding, accommodation, or both, for some of the academic posts in the university, with the majority of Cambridge academics being a fellow of a college in addition to their faculty/departmental role. Fellows may therefore hold college positions in addition to their academic posts at the university: these include roles such as Tutor (responsible for pastoral support), Director of Studies (responsible for academic oversight of students taking a particular subject), Dean (responsible for discipline among college members), Senior Tutor (responsible for the college's overall academic provision), or Head of college ('Head of House').

Colleges are self-governed charities in their own right, with their own endowments and possessions.

"Old" and "new" colleges

The University of Cambridge has 31 colleges, founded between the 13th and 20th centuries. No colleges were founded between 1596 (Sidney Sussex College) and 1800 (Downing College), which allows the colleges to be distinguished into two groups according to foundation date:

• the 16 "old" colleges, founded between 1284 and 1596, and
• the 15 "new" colleges, founded between 1800 and 1977.

The oldest college is Peterhouse, founded in 1284, and the newest is Robinson, founded in 1977. Homerton, which was first founded in the eighteenth century as a dissenting academy (and later teacher training college), attained full college status in 2010.

Restrictions on entry

All 16 of the "old" colleges and 7 of the 15 "new" ones admit both male and female students as both undergraduates and postgraduates, without any age restrictions. Eight colleges restrict entry by sex, or by age of undergraduates, or admit only postgraduates:

• King's originally admitted only boys from Eton College until 1865.
• Murray Edwards and Newnham admit only women. Lucy Cavendish admitted only women until 2021;
• Lucy Cavendish admitted only mature students (i.e., aged 21 or older until 2020) and postgraduates until 2021;
• Clare Hall and Darwin admit only postgraduates;
• Hughes Hall, St Edmund's and Wolfson admit only mature students and postgraduates.

No colleges are all-male, although most originally were. Darwin, founded in 1964, was the first mixed college, while in 1972 Churchill, Clare and King's colleges were the first previously all-male colleges to admit women, whilst King's formerly only accepted students from Eton College. The last all-male college to become mixed was Magdalene, in 1988. In 1973 Hughes Hall became the first all-female college to admit men, and Girton first admitted men in 1979.

Newnham also places restrictions on the admission of staff members, allowing only women to become fellows of the college. Murray Edwards does not place this restriction on fellows.

Architectural influence

The Cambridge and Oxford colleges have served as an architectural inspiration for Collegiate Gothic architecture, used by a number of American universities including Princeton University, Cornell University, University of Chicago, and Washington University in St. Louis since the late nineteenth century.

List of colleges

College (with arms and scarf colours)	Founded	Head of House	Undergraduates	Postgraduates	Total	Endowment (2023)	Net assets (2023)	Assets per student (2019)	Abbreviation (and short form)	Notes
Christ's Scarf colours: brown, with two equally-spaced narrow white stripes	1505	Lord McDonald of Salford Master since 2022	433	256	689	£122M	£244M	£287k	CHR	Re-foundation of Gods­house (est. 1439)
Churchill Scarf colours: black, with two equally-spaced narrow stripes of brown edged with pink	1960 (1966)	Dame Athene Donald Master since 2014	499	346	845	£37M	£196M	£215k	CHU
Clare Scarf colours: black, with two equally-spaced narrow yellow stripes	1326 (1336)	Loretta Minghella Master since 2021	519	289	808	£65M	£336M	£350k	CL	Formerly University Hall, then Clare Hall.
Clare Hall Scarf colours: black, with two equally-spaced narrow stripes of red edged with yellow	1966 (1984)	C. Alan Short President since 2020	0	249	249	£21M	£42M	£140k	CLH	Post­graduate-only.
Corpus Christi Scarf colours: cherry pink, with two equally-spaced narrow white stripes	1352	Christopher Kelly Master since 2018	294	259	553	£100M	£239M	£419k	CC (Corpus)	Formerly St Benet's College.
Darwin Scarf colours: blue, with two equally-spaced narrow sets of three adjacent red, Cambridge blue and yellow stripes, with the red stripes closest to the edge of the scarf, and the yellow stripes closest to the centre	1964 (1976)	Mike Rands Master since 2018	0	755	755	£25M	£82M	£99k	DAR	Post­graduate-only.
Downing Scarf colours: black, with three narrow magenta stripes	1800	Graham Virgo Master since 2023	463	382	845	£44M	£224M	£233k	DOW
Emmanuel Scarf colours: navy, with two equally-spaced narrow rose pink stripes	1584	Doug Chalmers Master since 2021	512	206	718	£34M	£351M	£394k	EM (Emma)
Fitzwilliam Scarf colours: maroon, with two equally-spaced narrow grey stripes	1869 (1966)	Baroness Morgan of Huyton Master since 2019	486	413	899	£77M	£155M	£151k	F (Fitz)
Girton Scarf colours: green, with two equally-spaced narrow stripes of red edged with white	1869 (1924) (1948)	Elisabeth Kendall Mistress since 2022	516	292	808	£73M	£173M	£190k	G	Formerly female-only; mixed from 1976.
Gonville and Caius Scarf colours: four equal stripes alternating black and Cambridge blue	1348 (1557)	Pippa Rogerson Master since 2018	602	247	849	£255M	£383M	£398k	CAI (Caius)	Caius, pro­nounced "keys". Formerly Gonville Hall.
Homerton Scarf colours: navy, with two equally-spaced narrow white stripes	1768 (1976) (2010)	Lord Woolley of Woodford Principal since 2021	615	577	1192	£119M	£215M	£190k	HO	Originally mixed, then became women-only on move to Cambridge; returned to mixed from 1976.
Hughes Hall Scarf colours: light blue with three equally-spaced narrow stripes, the outer stripes of Cambridge blue and wider, the central stripe of white and narrower	1885 (1949) (2006)	Sir Laurie Bristow President since 2022	150	711	861	£8M	£57M	£53k	HH	Mature-only.
Jesus Scarf colours: three equal stripes of red and black, with red in the middle on one side of the scarf, and black in the middle on the other	1496	Sonita Alleyne Master since 2019	513	411	924	£236M	£375M	£373k	JE
King's Scarf colours: royal purple, with two equally-spaced narrow white stripes	1441	Gillian Tett Provost since 2023	442	284	726	£108M	£431M	£519k	K
Lucy Cavendish Scarf colours: eight alternating stripes of black and blue of varying width, with wide black and narrow blue stripes transitioning towards narrow black and wide blue stripes across the face of the scarf	1965 (1997)	Dame Madeleine Atkins President since 2018	385	544	929	£14M	£50M	£102k	LC (Lucy Cav)	Formerly mature-only, and female-only; all-age from 2020, mixed from 2021.
Magdalene Scarf colours: navy, with two equally-spaced narrow lavender stripes	1428 (1542)	Sir Christopher Greenwood Master since 2020	382	190	572	£74M	£202M	£312k	M	Magdalene, pro­nounced "maudlin". Formerly Bucking­ham College.
Murray Edwards Scarf colours: three equally-spaced narrow stripes separating two black areas towards the edge and two blue areas in the middle, the outer stripes of yellow and the central stripe of red	1954 (1972) (2011)	Dorothy Byrne President since 2021	376	189	565	£54M	£118M	£186k	MUR (Medwards)	Female students-only, mixed fellowship. Formerly New Hall.
Newnham Scarf colours: grey, with a central broad band of navy, itself divided in two by a narrow gold stripe	1871 (1917) (1957)	Alison Rose Principal since 2019	416	290	706	£74M	£259M	£310k	N	Female-only.
Pembroke Scarf colours: dark blue, with two equally-spaced narrow Cambridge blue stripes	1347	Lord Smith of Finsbury Master since 2015	475	285	760	£94M	£302M	£341k	PEM	Formerly Pembroke Hall.
Peterhouse Scarf colours: four equal stripes alternating white and blue	1284	Andy Parker Master since 2023	292	178	470	£17M	£350M	£698k	PET
Queens' Scarf colours: dark green, with two equally-spaced narrow white stripes	1448 (1465)	Mohamed A. El‑Erian President since 2020	521	500	1021	£120M	£154M	£156k	Q
Robinson Scarf colours: from one edge of the scarf to the other, the first third grey, then three equal stripes of blue, gold and grey, and then the final third blue	1977 (1984)	Sir Richard Heaton Warden since 2021	412	252	664	£30M	£117M	£140k	R
St Catharine's Scarf colours: burgundy, with narrow pearl pink stripes	1473	Sir Mark Welland Master since 2016	481	287	768	£74M	£175M	£190k	CTH (Catz)	Formerly Catharine Hall.
St Edmund's Scarf colours: blue, with two equally-spaced narrow stripes of Cambridge blue edged with white	1896 (1965) (1998)	Catherine Arnold Master since 2019	121	452	573	£19M	£44M	£71k	ED (Eddie's)	Mature-only.
St John's Scarf colours: navy, with two equally-spaced narrow stripes of Cambridge blue edged with red	1511	Heather Hancock Master since 2020	658	319	977	£674M	£974M	£854k	JN
Selwyn Scarf colours: maroon, with three narrow gold stripes through the middle, the central stripe slightly narrower than others	1882 (1883) (1958)	Roger Mosey Master since 2013	419	249	668	£55M	£134M	£182 k	SE
Sidney Sussex Scarf colours: two equal halves of dark-red and navy	1596	Martin Burton Master since 2023	380	247	627	£31M	£140M	£210k	SID (Sidney)
Trinity Scarf colours: navy, with three equally-spaced narrow stripes, the outer stripes of yellow and slightly narrower, the central stripe of red and slightly wider	1546	Dame Sally Davies Master since 2019	722	332	1054	£2,020M	£2,192M	£1,454k	T	Founded by merger of King's Hall (est. 1317) and Michael­house (est. 1324).
Trinity Hall Scarf colours: black, with two equally-spaced narrow white stripes	1350	Mary Hockaday Master since 2022	376	226	602	£89M	£389M	£532k	TH (Tit Hall)
Wolfson Scarf colours: red, with two equally-spaced narrow golden stripes edged with white	1965 (1977)	Jane Clarke President since 2017	180	832	1012	£32M	£81M	£66k	W	Mature-only. Formerly University College.
Totals:			12,354	10,893	23,247	£4,582M	£9,184M	£319k

University and colleges consolidated information

Institutions(s)	Founded	Head	Undergraduates	Postgraduates	Total	Endowment (2023)	Net Assets (2023)	Assets per student (2019)
University of Cambridge	c. 1209	Deborah Prentice Vice-Chancellor since 2023	12,354	10,893	23,247	£2,469M	£7,168M	£221k
Colleges	1284–1977	(See list)	" "	" "	" "	£4,665M	£9,184M	£319k
Totals:			12,354	10,893	23,247	£7,134M	£16,352M	£541k

There are also several theological colleges in the city of Cambridge (for example Ridley Hall, Wesley House, Westcott House and Westminster College) that are affiliated with the university through the Cambridge Theological Federation. These colleges, while not officially part of the University of Cambridge, operate programmes that are either validated by or are taught on behalf either of the university or of Anglia Ruskin or Durham Universities.

Heads of colleges

Most colleges are led by a Master, even when the Master is female. However, there are some exceptions, listed below. Girton College has always had a Mistress, even though male candidates have been able to run for the office since 1976.

• Mistress: Girton College
• President: Clare Hall, Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish College, Murray Edwards College, Queens' College, Wolfson College
• Principal: Homerton College, Newnham College
• Provost: King's College
• Warden: Robinson College

Also see List of current heads of University of Cambridge colleges.

Former colleges

The above list does not include several former colleges that no longer exist. These include:

• Ayerst Hostel, founded in 1884 by William Ayerst but closed in 1896. Buildings used by St Edmund's House from 1896 and later St Edmund's College in 1996.
• Buckingham College, founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hall, refounded as Magdalene in 1542.
• Bull College, an unofficial college for US GIs returning from World War II, existing in Michaelmas 1945 and Lent 1946.
• Cavendish College, founded in 1873, an attempt to allow poorer students to sit the Tripos examinations, whose buildings were bought by Homerton in 1895.
• "Clare Hall" was the name of Clare College between 1338 and 1856. Clare College founded a new college named Clare Hall in 1966.
• Gonville Hall, founded in 1348, and re-founded in 1557 as Gonville and Caius College.
• God's House, founded in 1437, and re-founded in 1505 as Christ's College.
• King's Hall, founded in 1317, and combined with Michaelhouse to form Trinity College in 1546.
• Michaelhouse, founded in 1324, and combined with King's Hall to form Trinity College in 1546.
• New Hall, founded in 1954, and re-founded in 2008 as Murray Edwards College
• Physwick Hostel — a predecessor of Gonville and Caius College
• University College, founded in 1965, and re-founded in 1972 as Wolfson College
• University Hall, founded in 1326, refounded as Clare Hall in 1338, renamed as Clare College in 1856.

See also

• Colleges of Durham University
• Colleges of the University of Oxford
• Colleges of the University of York
• List of current heads of University of Cambridge colleges
• List of fictional Cambridge colleges
• List of Oxbridge sister colleges