ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation in college

You can find room and accommodation details here.

If, for any reason, you need to leave college accommodation early during the first three terms, you can leave your contract early by giving one full term’s notice.

For those students who have a four term contract with college and need to break their contract early in the final summer term, this is subject to a four week notice period.

This might not be written in your contract but it is stated on the college website here.

Living out

It is not a requirement to live in college accommodation during your time at Cambridge: you can live in private accommodation, and Graduate students do not have to ask college permission to so so (unlike undergraduates at some colleges).

If you are seeking shared or single accommodation in Cambridge, you can benefit from access to the University Accommodation Service. This is a website where homeowners, sharers and landlords can advertise a variety of housing options (from single occupancy to lodging), and is available only to those studying or working at the University of Cambridge.

To access the University Accommodation Service, click here.

University requirements

  • Technically speaking, there are a series of (rather complicated) requirements research students need to fulfill to be awarded their degree at the end of their course, (although these are in fact a lot more relaxed than they may seem).

    These rules are often referred to by the terms ‘Keeping Term’ and ‘Working Away’.

    The exact rules are the following (taken from the central University website):

    “The University year consists of three terms. Term dates are published here. Research students are expected also to be in attendance and actively working on their research between terms, except during periods of holiday agreed with their supervisor, not normally exceeding 8 weeks in a 12-month period.'

  • Full-time students must spend at least three terms resident in Cambridge in order to be eligible for their degree.

    For a term to be 'kept' a student has to reside in Cambridge for at least 59 nights in Michaelmas and Lent Terms and 52 in Easter Term. These nights must be between 1 October and 19 December (Michaelmas), 5 January and 25 March (or in any leap year on 24 March) (Lent) and 17 April and 25 June (except for any year in which full Easter Term begins before 22 April, in which case the dates are 10 April and 18 June). Although the minimum residence requirement is three terms, full-time students are expected to be in Cambridge throughout their studies unless they have valid academic reasons for working away from Cambridge for any of the remaining terms.

    Full time-students are expected to live within 10 miles of the centre of Cambridge while carrying out research in the University. Students who have good reason to live further away must apply formally for permission to reside outside the University's precincts (via their CamSIS self-service) and all relevant parties must agree that this will not impair their ability to study and to attend the University as required. Students whose research requires them to spend a period of time of more than 2 weeks away from their Faculty or Department must apply formally for permission to work away. There may also be exceptional circumstances in which doctoral students might be permitted to work away for up to 4 weeks.