12+ hour, 46+ min ago (773+ words) Leaked recordings of a University Council meeting, obtained by Varsity and The Sunday Times, show the VC fearful of Trump-style recriminations if Reform were to win power Sunday November 30 2025, 5:33pm Senior university leaders have been holding secret talks with Reform UK figures to prepare for a "Trump-style" overhaul of the sector if the party wins power, Cambridge"s vice-chancellor has told colleagues. According to a leaked recording obtained by Varsity and The Sunday Times, at Monday"s meeting of Cambridge"s University Council " the University"s policy-making body of college heads, senior academics and student representatives " Deborah Prentice said Russell Group vice-chancellors had begun private discussions with the party. She added that discussions were taking place now because "what we have heard is if Reform is elected, there will not be [inaudible, but think "then new"] consultations. They"ve made it…...

2+ day, 21+ hour ago (95+ words) Flossie Bullion chats with some members of Fetchish, the London-based collective bringing an alternative club night to the Cambridge Union Friday November 28 2025 "We encourage people to use their own fantasy and be part of the performance" "The Union is often quite a rigid space in terms of dress code and I would really like to bring some changes to that" "This perception of the world as a huge rhizomatic system where you can see so many patterns being traced across completely different subjects and time periods" I predict a Riot (Grrl revival)!...

2+ day, 21+ hour ago (825+ words) Sasha Djuric-Fraser traces the origins of student engagement for Palestine at Cambridge Friday November 28 2025 Lyra Browning for Varsity Cambridge students have long engaged with the Palestinian cause. "The horror we feel against the genocide in Gaza isn't just a student issue. It's a human issue," a spokesperson from Cambridge For Palestine (C4P) emphasised when asked about the background of the movement. A Cambridge University Palestine Society has existed since at least 2006. Its level of support has increased dramatically: in 2006, it registered just 17 members. "The horror we feel against the genocide in Gaza isn't just a student issue. It's a human issue" In 2009, 60 academics signed an open letter to the Vice-Chancellor, praising the "initiative taken by Cambridge University students in asking this University to respond to the recent humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza". "While the society has existed long before 2023, in a sad,…...

3+ day, 5+ hour ago (1075+ words) A Palestinian journalist, who described the October 7 attacks as a "great day, was due to speak at Newnham in October before the events cancellation by Charlie Rowan & Wilf Vall Friday November 28 2025, 12:10am The Department for Educations (DfE) counter-terror team contacted the University of Cambridge to "raise concerns" about a student event featuring a Palestinian journalist who called the October 7 attacks a "great day," documents obtained by Varsity show. The event, which was organised by the Cambridge University Palestine Solidarity Society (PalSoc), was due to host Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed at Newnham College to speak about "journalism, Gaza, and the role of action in shaping narratives". However, after it emerged that Abed had posted tweets celebrating proscribed terror group Hamass attacks on October 7th, 2023, PalSoc cancelled the event. Now, internal documents seen by Varsity reveal that the DfE flagged the event under their…...

2+ week, 10+ hour ago (162+ words) Chirathi Perera investigates the covert clubs whose influence at Cambridge runs deeper than their names suggest Sunday November 16 2025, 7:56pm "A spirit of intellectual freemasonry" Secrecy seems to rank higher for the Apostles than intellectual honesty. An apostle writing to Richard Deacon said that "there were good reasons for keeping silent and secretive. The motives of those wishing to know the membership list are not always pure." Their obsession with secrecy would border on being dramatic: Micheal Straight, who became an Apostle in 1936, recounts his first meeting in Maynard Keynes" room at King"s " "I held up my right hand and repeated a fearful oath, praying that my soul would writhe in unendurable pain for the rest of eternity if I so much as breathed a word about the Society to anyone who was not a member." "The Cambridge Heretics were born…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (611+ words) Dhruv Shenai talks to Cambridge materials science professor Howard Stone about the future of the UK steel industry Saturday November 15 2025, 1:26pm Walking along the Morfa beach in Wales, the sun sinking behind the clouds, you turn to face the peaceful city of Port Talbot. Towering in the foreground is the Port Talbot Steelworks. For the past 70 years, this has been a centre for UK Steel production. Now, its future is on the line, with the last blast furnace falling silent in 2024. It all comes down to Tata Steel's initiative to upgrade their plant to electric arc furnaces. These furnaces specialise in recycled steel and could make the UK produce sustainable steel. However, the science behind high-performance recycled-steel remains unknown, which is where Howard comes'in. I was intrigued by the significant interest a foreign company was showing in British steel, and so…...

3+ week, 15+ hour ago (380+ words) Times Higher Education in collaboration with HR consultancy Emerging has named the University of Cambridge the top UK institution for employability Sunday November 9 2025, 9:51am The University of Cambridge has been named the top UK institution for graduate employability in the Global Employability University Ranking 2026. Times Higher Education collaborated with HR consultancy Emerging to create the Global Employability Ranking. Now in its thirteenth year, it surveys major international employers to identify which universities they believe best prepare students for the workplace. In total, 16 UK universities featured among the world's 250 most employable institutions. Four are based in London, while St Andrews, Edinburgh, and Cardiff were also recognised. Cambridge's top performance is attributed to its international reputation, extensive alumni network, and distinctive teaching model. The University has more than 400 alumni groups worldwide, and recent funding initiatives have supported new approaches to teaching alongside the…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (140+ words) Nick and Anuk discuss the new women's society excluding trans women, University spending cuts, and more by Nick James & Anuk Weerawardana Saturday November 8 2025, 1:50pm This week on Varsity Voices, our third instalment of the series, we discuss the best new stories from Varsity's latest print edition. This includes covering the new student women's society that's excluding trans women, as well as the impending University spending cuts. Also on the podcast, we are joined by Varsity's Editor-in-Chief Ben Curtis where he talks to us about his experience interviewing fellow podcaster Alastair Campbell, and Varsity's vulture editor Daisy Bates where she recounts her encounter with a spiritual healer. New episodes will be released every other Tuesday during term-time, and will be the perfect companion to morning walks to lectures!...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (333+ words) Luke's story makes the impact of the growth of the University's running culture clear " previously inexperienced runners embarking upon iron man triathlons after being inspired and motivated by their ... In the past few years there has been an explosion in the numbers of students taking up running at the University. A running culture has undoubtedly developed, with many friends constantly uploading their latest escapades and timings on their Strava profile. In order to better understand this cultural shift, I spoke to runners Luke and James to understand their own unique running journeys, and how they might be a good representation of the different kinds of people who have been drawn to running in recent years at Cambridge. Luke's story makes the impact of the growth of the University's running culture clear " previously inexperienced runners embarking upon iron man triathlons after…...