Recommendations to alleviate a “culture of overwork” passed Cambridge University’s governing body earlier this week, committing the University to review its teaching practices to better student wellbeing.

The Undergraduate Review of Teaching, which passed University Council on Monday (28/04), was the culmination of an 18 month project to provide structural changes to Cambridge courses. This includes provisions to review tripos rankings – the practice of telling students where they placed in annual exams – and abolish Saturday lectures.

Most recommendations from the review will be carried out during the next academic year. However, phasing out Saturday lectures “may require longer,” likely being implemented by the 2027-28 academic year.

The review also provides provisions for greater structure to courses, including guaranteed “buffer times” away from teaching, banning supervisions outside an 8am-8pm window, and a commitment to rationalise content and choice for students.

The recommendations are based on a stated goal to ensure that “the pressures for overwork are curtailed and no longer seen as endemic to Cambridge life,” in the long term. This comes after a report from the University’s General Board and Colleges’ Committee acknowledged that Cambridge courses had a “culture of overwork” last year.

Following the review passing University Council, provisions for an alternative system of tripos rankings will be assessed by the General Board Education Committee – the body responsible for University Educational policy – to be implemented in Michaelmas term 2025.

Proposed alternatives to tripos rankings include the provision to restrict their visibility, such as students having to ask their Director of Studies to find out their rank. These provisions would address problems of “perfectionism” and “competitive culture” according to the review.

Reviewing rankings has proved controversial, with some academics claiming that removing the tradition could damage Cambridge’s claim to academic excellence.

Douglas Hedley, Professor of the Philosophy of Religion and Clare College fellow told The Times: “The ‘mental health’ justification is a mask for a pernicious and dangerous agenda. It will cause more distress for students if their degrees are delegitimised by such egalitarian dogmatism!”.

These concerns were shared by David Abulafia, Emeritus Professor of History and fellow at Gonville and Caius College, who stated: “If competitiveness is seen as dangerous, one might as well bid goodbye to universities such as Cambridge, which should be seeking to identify outstanding excellence and to prepare people for life in a highly competitive world.”

However, senior University officials have defended the review’s planned changes, with pro-vice-chancellor Bhaskar Vira telling Varsity that the changes would “help manage workload and reduce often self-imposed competitive pressure, while maintaining the high standards for which Cambridge is recognised”.

This was echoed by Cambridge Students’ Union (SU) undergraduate president Sarah Anderson and access, education, & participation officer Katie Clarke, who said that they “look forward to the outcomes of the Board’s review of academic rankings”. They added: “The current system places students in constant comparison with their peers, often overshadowing what are, nonetheless, brilliant results. This culture not only diminishes recognition of success but can also lead high-performing students to experience unsustainable pressure to maintain top results year after year.”

Cambridge is the only UK University to use a class ranking system for all subjects. The University of Oxford also tells some students their placement within a cohort, but many subjects only notify students if they have placed highly in their cohort.