The supervision gap part ① – how does your college compare?

The results are in. Keep an eye on our website in the coming days as we expose major disparities in supervision provision between the Cambridge colleges.

by Phelim Brady

This article is 11 years old

Monday April 22 2013, 10:48pm

Updated: Tuesday April 23 2013, 5:54pm

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.

You can find the other releases here:

Engineering, English, Geography, History and History of Art

Law, Maths, Land Economy, Linguistics and Medical and Veterinary Sciences

MML, Music, Natural Sciences, Philosophy and PPS

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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