The University of Cambridge (usually abbreviated as Cantab. for post-nominals), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the world's most prestigious universities.
Early records indicate that the university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge, probably formed in 1209 by scholars escaping from Oxford after a fight with local townsmen.
The universities of Oxford and Cambridge are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In addition to cultural and practical associations as a historic part of English society, the two universities also have a long history of rivalry with each other.

Colleges
The University of Cambridge currently has 31 colleges, of which three admit only women (New Hall, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish). The remaining 28 are mixed, Magdalene being the last all-male college to admit women in 1988.
Two colleges admit only postgraduates (Clare Hall and Darwin), and four more admit mainly mature students or graduate students (Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish, St Edmund’s and Wolfson).

The other 25 colleges admit mainly undergraduate students, but also postgraduates following courses of study or research. Although various colleges are traditionally strong in a particular subject, for example Churchill has a formalised bias towards the sciences and engineering, the colleges all admit students from just about the whole range of subjects, although some colleges do not take students for a handful of subjects such as architecture or history of art. It is noteworthy that costs to students (accommodation and food prices) vary considerably from college to college.
This may be of increasing significance to potential applicants as Government grants decline in the next few years.

There are several historical colleges which no longer exist, such as King’s Hall (founded in 1317) and Michaelhouse which were combined together by King Henry VIII to establish Trinity in 1546, and Gonville Hall which was founded in 1348 and then re-founded in 1557 as Gonville & Caius.

There are also several theological colleges in Cambridge, (for example Westminster College and Ridley Hall Theological College) that are loosely affiliated with the university through the Cambridge Theological Federation