Supporting College Teaching

Robinson, like all Cambridge Colleges, provides teaching in small groups - supervisions - in addition to the lectures and practical lessons provided by the University. This enables our students to explore the themes and concepts presented in lectures and practical lessons in a much more detailed manner, thus providing them with a far greater understanding of the subject. Robinson offers students a wide range of subjects studied as 3 or 4-year degree courses: Anglo Saxon, Norse & Celtic; Archaeology & Anthropology; Architecture; Chemical Engineering; Classics; Computer Science; Economics; Education; Engineering; English; Geography; History; Land Economy; Law; Mathematics; Medicine; Modern Languages; Music; Natural Sciences (Biological or Physical); Oriental Studies; Philosophy; Social & Political Sciences; Theology and Religious Studies; Veterinary Medicine.

This College teaching can be provided in two ways, either by a College Teaching Officer (CTO), or by a University Teaching Officer (UTO). CTOs do not hold University teaching appointments and are on the College payroll. UTOs do hold University appointments and are only paid by the College for the teaching that they undertake for us in addition to their University duties. However, as a consequence of the University's more general financial constraints, there are fewer new UTO posts in the humanities and social sciences than there are in the sciences and medicine. This is exacerbated because the candidates who secure those few new appointments made by the University in humanities and social sciences are frequently attracted to better endowed colleges than Robinson. Both CTOs and UTOs are Fellows of the College. College teaching is partially funded from the College Fee (supplementary funding received only by the Universities of Cambridge, Durham and Oxford), but for Robinson 2005/6 fee income was £594,000 less than the full cost to the College of educating our students (or approximately £1,833 per undergraduate). Furthermore, the College Fee reduces in real terms each year. It should be noted that although the advent of "top-up" fees in 2006/7 brought directly additional income to the central University, it did not benefit the individual colleges, which bear many of the costs of the supervision system - an essential part of the world-class education that Robinson and Cambridge offers. The balance was therefore made up with income from conferences and student accommodation, residential services and, very importantly, gifts from our friends and alumni.

There are advantages and disadvantages to the College in both teaching options. CTOs are more expensive to the College because they are directly employed; on the other hand in many cases they have more time available to take on additional college work. A CTO often has more time available to become Director of Studies (DoS) for a subject at Robinson than have UTO colleagues, who also have to undertake work in a University Faculty or Department.

The typical cost of employing a CTO over 5 years is as broken down as:

The College Teaching Fund is a fund to which donors may contribute in order to support the appointment and retention of excellent College Teaching Officers in a range of subjects. The need for CTOs in particular subjects changes over time, but some of our current priorities are Economics,Music, Law and English.