When it talks about the ranking and reputation of the University of Cambridge, the word ‘top’ is omnipresent. With over 800 years of history, a star-studded list of alumni, and a strong reputation for academic excellence and influence, the University of Cambridge is undoubtedly one of the top higher education institutions in the world today. What would it be like to study and live at this school? In this blog, I will share my experience of learning a one-year MPhil in Technology Policy at Cambridge.
About My Major
There are two types of postgraduate programmes in the UK: Taught master’s and Research Master’s. The one I studied is the Taught Master degree, which means that I can graduate if I complete the required courses and meet the graduation requirements. Although some courses require thesis assignments, students do not need to find a research topic to write a thesis. For my major, that most people shouldn’t have heard of because it’s only available at Cambridge University in the UK!
What exactly is this major about?
This major is about policy, so this course belongs to the business school class, Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS). As for why not other Policy, but technology Policy? This specialism looks for candidates with science and technology knowledge and aims to train some future leaders with a technology background. This major is very important to your leadership ability; this is a course which you need to learn how to communicate with the government or how to stand on the government level to formulate policies. If you want to take a career path, consider this major.
What is Mphil?
MPhil is the abbreviation of Master of Philosophy, also a unique name for Master at Cambridge University. Theoretically, an MPhil can continue to PhD directly in University of Cambridge without additional application or interview. However, there are two prerequisites. The first is that your graduation result must be 70% or above, that is, first class, and the second one is that your MPhil must be a Research Master. And my major is Taught Master, so it doesn’t meet the requirement.
Unlike undergraduate graduation, grades will be divided into first-class and second-class degrees. We only have a Distinction and a Pass in our graduation. Our distinction also requires a 75% grade or above. The professor himself said, “I may not be able to get one Distinction student in a year, so don’t force yourself to do it. In that case, my goal is to pursue a Pass that can be achieved with a 60% or above score.
Study At The Business School
The Business School in Cambridge is definitely the most distinctive of all the buildings I’ve seen in Cambridge. At first, I imagined Cambridge to be an old city full of all sorts of 800-year-old castles. While it’s true that such buildings can be found everywhere in Cambridge, the Judge Business School was a huge surprise to me.
The entire interior of the building looks like a large children’s playground park. And with its bold, bright yellow colour, unique to Cambridge Business School, it feels out of place in the image of Cambridge as an old-fashioned, traditional university.
Interesting Classes
One of our elective classes is Negotiation Skills, which is interesting because it’s not just about theories from the textbook. The professor encourages us to learn by doing.
For example, the professor made us do an exciting activity in the first class. He gave us ￡2 and asked groups of two students to discuss how to divide this money wisely. He gave each student a unique secret note about the target to achieve. Mine said, “You can make up any story to convince your opponent, but you must get at least ￡1.6”. When the negotiation started, my opponent insisted on ￡2, and I was trying to get as much as I could for ￡1.6, so we didn’t make a deal within 3 minutes.
Later when the other groups shared their successes, I realised that one thing they had in common was that they all traded for other deals. For example, one group decided to use the 2 pounds to buy a beer to drink and chat. In the end, the professor also concluded that the difference between the failure and success groups is that they can start from a different perspective (multi-dimension) instead of limiting themselves to money (one-dimension). He will use exciting activities to make you remember some truths. Of course, as a member of the failure group, I will remember this class more deeply.
Various activities
Another benefit of this major is that the business school is a networking and relationship-orientated college. Therefore, Judge always organises lectures and invites influential people.
For example, the school invited Kevin Rudd. He is the former Prime Minister of Australia and former Foreign Minister of Australia. Our professor asked all of us to attend this lecture since he is a very influential person in the political world
In this lecture, he mainly talked about his views on the future of progressive politics, followed by an interview with a professor. This lecture is as important as any class. In fact, most knowledge in this major is learned from outside activities rather than the classroom.
Live In Cambridge
Student Accommodation
I did a lot of research before going to the UK. Eventually, I chose to live in an off-campus student accommodation in Cambridge as it would allow me to avoid the hassle of paying taxes and bills and allow me more time to deal with my heavy coursework. My flat is The Railyard, and the studio room type is for more privacy. The flat is close to Cambridge train station, and there are restaurants and supermarkets nearby for all the needs in my life. The best part is I only need a 10-minute bus ride to Judge Business School.
Free Time
Employment
The most significant number of graduates (around 25%) find jobs in consultancy firms, followed by finance (20%), government (15%), large ICT companies (15%), energy companies (10%), as well as international organisations, healthcare and technology start-ups. I want to start my own online company after graduation. I did my undergraduate degree in computer science and already have some knowledge in IT. So I applied this major for more experience of management. However, many of my classmates are supported by the government’s total award to come and study this programme, and they will go straight into the government after finishing it. If you want to pursue a career, consider this programme.
You should also use the networking as another aspect of employment, and Cambridge University’s Business School offers a well-established network of alumni contacts. You can log into your Cambridge account and find the contact details of graduated students, and if they happen to be in the industry or company you’re interested in, you can contact them, or if you have any questions about employment, you can also go to consult the alumni of the relevant industry.
All in all, studying at Cambridge has been an essential experience in my academic career. I hope that every student ready to start their journey can learn from these experiences and get to know what university life is like.
Don’t be anxious; university study is bound to have pressure, which is normal. Try to turn anxiety into the driving force of learning, gradually adapt, find your own direction, and persistently walk on the right path. You will definitely reach your goal.
If you are interested in Cambridge, please read the following blog.
