Ten minutes stroll through the centre of Cambridge, over the wide green grounds of Fenners cricket ground and far from the tourist bustle, is Hughes Hall, the oldest grad college in town. It’s a small place alright, but a lot bigger than it looks at first sight. Modern buildings give way to attractive, concealed gardens and 1900s red-brick architecture, creating a Tardis effect that’s easy to get lost in. It may not be a vital stop on the tourist trail, but it’s focused and friendly. Students are pretty proud of their college and, whereas the porters and staff at other colleges occasionally have to restrain themselves from punching snap-happy Americans, the good-natured chaps at Hughes are more likely to invite passers-by in for coffee and cake. Although it’s traditionally a graduate haunt, it's started taking in undergrads each year. But everyone – in both age and outlook – is mature.
| Sex ratio (M:F): 61:39 |
Founded: 1885 |
| Full-time u’grads: 101 |
Part-time: 0 |
| Postgrads: 352 |
Mature: 100% |
| State:private school: 42:58 |
Disabled: n/a |
| Academic ranking: 26 |
International: 26% |
Small but friendly bar, bedecked with oars, with pool and table football; fortnightly themed bops, karaoke, quizzes, pool, big screen sport/politics. Active music and drama societies; several recitals per term; newly reinvented May Ball. Titchy library (3,540 books, 46 study spaces and a reading room), but in the process of being enlarged; 298 computers, network access in rooms (£25 termly connection fee), computer in every student room on the main site. Apolitical but strongly representational MCR; coffee room with newspapers and cinema screen (for weekend showings); cosy, hotel-style lounge with balcony and excellent view of cricket on Fenners ground; yearbook. Strongly sporty, with particularly mighty rowers, cricketers and rugby players. All first years and finalists can live in (£70–£84 p/w); some flats for couples; high-standard rooms (especially in new Fenners Building) with well kitted-out kitchens; swipe cards; entry phones; seven rooms for the mobility-impaired; guidebook for those living out. Students eat in functional dining hall; great food; Saturday brunches; weekly formal meals. Limited car parking for those who need it (medics and PGCEs); oversubscribed bike racks. Welfare, ethics and complaints officers; nearby doctor’s surgery; cheap rape alarms; CCTV.
FAMOUS ALUMNI
Alison Utterly (kids’ writer).