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Facilities Available to You

Facilities Available to You

There are a vast range of opportunities and facilities open to you as a member of the University. This section merely points to a few of the more obvious ones, directing you to their various websites. To get a better idea of the full range of facilities the University has to offer, use the A–Z index and other links on the University's central web pages.

The Accommodation Service

The University Accommodation Service helps those new to Cambridge who are looking for rented accommodation. The office is open each weekday (09:00 to 12:45 and 14:00 to 17:00). Its role is to help all University staff (including Visiting Scholars) find rented accommodation, including self-contained flats/houses, rooms in shared flats/houses, or rooms in a house where the owner lives.

 

The University and College Union (UCU)

The University and College Union (UCU) is the union for academic and academic-related staff, and at national level negotiates with universities on pay. It also plays a major role in campaigning on university issues. The Cambridge University and College Union has its own website, given below.

 

Careers service

The University Careers Service is based at Stuart House, Mill Lane. It exists to help students and graduates plan for their future, and provides a comprehensive careers guidance and placement service. It is open to all current Cambridge students (both undergraduates and postgraduates), and all academic and academic-related staff of the University, whether or not they are Cambridge graduates.

  • Careers Service
  • Leaflets available from Careers Service: (3)38283 (student enquiries); (3)38288 (others)

 

Catering facilities: The University Centre

Situated in Granta Place, Mill Lane, the University Centre is the catering and social centre for graduate members of the University of Cambridge. It is open to:

  • alumni of the University of Cambridge (their membership cards are distributed by the Development Office)
  • members of the Regent House
  • registered graduate students
  • staff on the University payroll, including retired staff in the USS and CPS pension schemes
  • other students matriculated at the University of Cambridge who qualify for membership (e.g. PGCE, LLM, Clinical School, etc.)

Spouses of any of the above are also welcome to join. Visiting Scholars may also join for a small fee (£1 per month).

The Centre is open from 10:30 until midnight; and provides a wide range of facilities, details of which are given on the website. The Centre also has rooms available for hire for private functions; if you have a booking enquiry, contact the Conference Manager.

 

Chaplain to the University Staff

The Reverend Peter Hayler is Chaplain to the University Staff based at Great St Mary's, the University Church. His work involves visiting Departments and helping people explore the relationship between work and faith. He offers spiritual and pastoral support to all Staff who do not have a formal College connection and thus access to a College Chaplain.

Peter is available to talk in confidence to anyone of any religious belief or none. He has an office in Great St Mary's and co-ordinates a Multi-Faith Chaplaincy Centre at Merton Hall Farmhouse on the West Cambridge site. For information about a number of Prayer and Study Groups that take place around the University please contact:

 

Childcare and Holiday Playscheme

Childcare Office

The University's Childcare Office offers a range of services for staff parents including a childcare information service, a regular parent email newsletter, and overseeing applications for the University Nurseries and Holiday Playscheme. The Childcare Information Adviser can provide information and advice on other childcare within the Cambridge area. Further information can be found at the web address below.

University Nurseries

The University has three workplace nurseries for staff who hold a contract of employment with the University and are listed on the monthly central payroll.

  • The University Nursery at Edwinstowe Close, off Chaucer Road, has 76 places.
  • The University Nursery at West Cambridge on Charles Babbage Road, off Madingley Road, offers 101 places.
  • Eddington Nursery at Eddington Avenue, Cambridge, offers 92 places

The University also offers two salary exchange schemes to save tax and national insurance on childcare costs at the University Nurseries and other registered or approved childcare facilities. For further details on these and the University Nurseries, including current costs and how to apply, see the web page below.

Holiday Playscheme

The University of Cambridge Holiday Playscheme is for children of rising five to 14 years. They can be cared for in the school holiday periods (excluding Christmas and Bank Holidays). Full details, including costs and activity timetables, can be found at the web address below.

 

University Information Services

University Information Services (UIS) provides computing facilities and related services in support of research and teaching in the University of Cambridge. It is run under the aegis of the IT Syndicate and has detailed rules and guidance on the acceptable use of IT facilities, developed in conjunction with the Human Resources Division. For full details of the above and the facilities offered by the University's Information Service, see the web addresses below.

 

Continuing Education

The University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) delivers high quality and distinctive educational programmes for adult learners in a broad range of liberal arts and vocational topics, predominantly studying on a part-time basis, for either personal enrichment or professional development. ICE aims to ensure that the expertise and resources of the University of Cambridge are made available to all students, irrespective of their previous educational achievements.
 
ICE’s role is to form and sustain accessible, welcoming and diverse communities of learning and collaboratively design and deliver responsive short courses and award-bearing undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in close partnership with the Collegiate University.
 
To find out more about courses at ICE and funding options available to University of Cambridge staff visit our website: http://www.ice.cam.ac.uk  

 

Staff Counselling Service

The Staff Counselling Service offers confidential personal counselling to help solve personal or work-related problems away from the work environment. College staff may be seen once for assessment and onward referral in the Student Counselling Service.

Address: 2–3 Bene't Place, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EL
Tel: (3)32865
Email: reception@counselling.cam.ac.uk
Web: www.counselling.cam.ac.uk

 

The Language Centre

The Language Centre was established as an academic service in 1990. It is located in Downing Place. Since January 2000 the Centre's mission has been to provide language-learning opportunities for all members of the University and for the staff of the University. Within that context, the Centre has various roles, including responsibility for taught courses for non-specialist language learners. For more details on these roles, and the facilities and courses offered, see the Centre's website.

 

Libraries and museums

The University is famous for its Colleges and buildings. However, its libraries, museums and collections also hold many treasures that give an exciting insight into some of the scholarly activities, both past and present, of the University's academics and students. To visit the websites of these dozen or so different collections (which include the University Botanic Gardens and the Herbarium), go to the web address below.

 

Car parking and ‘park & cycle’

University employees are not automatically entitled to free parking spaces. There are 17 University sites in central Cambridge at which the demand for staff parking far outweighs the available space. The need for a parking badge is determined by a strict order of priorities, with disability and antisocial working hours placing individuals high up on the list. For full details on how car parking spaces are allocated, see the web address below. Further information and advice on parking regulations within the University is available from the contact below.

Park & Cycle

The Park & Cycle facility is located at the West Cambridge Site, off Clerk Maxwell Road. The scheme works like the Park and Ride Schemes but instead of buses you use bikes. University staff, working at sites in central Cambridge, can park their car in one of the 292 spaces, and then collect their bike from their individual secure locker and cycle the last mile to work.

The facility was officially opened on 26 April 2001 by Anne Campbell MP. For details and FAQs about the scheme, go to the web address below. You can also download an application form for a 'Park and cycle' space from the web, or request one from the parking administrator (details below).

 

Pdoc

Pdoc is a society run for post-docs by post-docs (i.e. contract research staff). It provides information, contacts and activities to help post-docs make the most of the opportunities Cambridge has to offer, both in terms of career development and socially.

 

Society for Visiting Scholars

The Society for Visiting Scholars provides a termly programme of social activities for post-doctoral visiting scholars and their families. These include trips to Stratford-upon-Avon and the Houses of Parliament, as well as local visits to the Cambridge Colleges. For more information, and how to book any of these trips, contact the Accommodation Service (whose offices the Society shares) at 12 Mill Lane. The Society's web page is given below.

 

Sports and recreational facilities

The name of Cambridge is synonymous worldwide with its major sporting occasions, and particularly those of the Boat Race and the Varsity Rugby Match. A rich heritage of sporting activity at the University is the foundation for the enormously diverse range of sports available today. University sport includes the activities of the University sports clubs, the sports clubs of the Colleges, and the individual sportsmen and women. For full details of all the sports opportunities available to you, and clubs and associations, go to the sports website below.

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