The University of Cambridge, located around 60 miles north of London, traces its history back to 1209. Around 19,000 students attend the university and more than 35 percent of them study at the graduate level. There are six schools: arts and humanities; biological sciences; clinical medicine; humanities and social sciences; physical sciences; and technology. Dozens of academic departments and other divisions constitute these schools. The academic calendar at Cambridge is divided into three terms – Michaelmas (fall), Lent (winter) and Easter (spring). English is the language of instruction at the university.

Cambridge contains 31 residential colleges, which are responsible for admitting undergraduate and graduate students; three colleges – Lucy Cavendish College, Murray Edwards College and Newnham College – are women-only. Some small-group instruction for undergraduates also takes place at the colleges. Most undergraduate students at the University of Cambridge are guaranteed college housing for at least three years. Many new graduate students can also utilize college housing. Around 20 percent of the student body is from outside of the European Union; tuition costs are higher for non-EU students and vary depending on the field of study. Cambridge has more than 100 libraries, including college and department libraries. The university has around 140 centers and institutes that contribute to different areas of research, such as the Centre of African Studies; the Cambridge Centre for Economic and Public Policy; and the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics. In a recent year, the university received around $415 million in research grants and contracts.

University of Cambridge is ranked #9 in Best Global Universities. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.