Prince William’s first day at Cambridge

First photos of the Duke of Cambridge as he returns to student life

Wills arrives on his first day back at universitykeith heppell

by Chloe Clifford-Astbury

This article is 12 years old

Tuesday January 7 2014, 2:50pm

Prince William has been photographed at St. John’s College as he arrived for the first day of a tailored ten-week agricultural course.

The Prince toured St John’s, where some of his studies will take place, in the company of the Vice-Chancellor Prof Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, the Master of St John’s College Prof Christopher Dobson, and Polly Courtice, a representative from the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership.

The course is designed to prepare him for his inheritance of the Duchy of Cornwall estate, and will involve tuition from academics belonging to the land economy, geography, and plant sciences departments.

Prince William visited St John's Collegekeith heppell

The Duke will have twenty hours of teaching a week, along with field trips and assigned reading.

While Cambridge has been abuzz with excitement at the news of Prince William’s arrival, some have objected to his enrolment at a university that normally enforces stringent selection procedures when it comes to A-level results. The Duke’s grades, ABC, have provoked claims that he is receiving special treatment.

However, Cambridge academics have stated that organising this sort of tailored course for professionals who are willing to foot the bill is fairly common. A spokesman for the university stressed that this is not an undergraduate degree, and that the executive education programme has different admissions criteria and provides its students with a different qualification.

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