That time of year . . .

It's that time of year when things get very busy in the academic world - final examinations for the undergrads. It seems strange to think that a whole academic year has already gone by - but the academic year is very short for Cambridge undergrads (a whole 21 weeks!) so in essence it's actually about half of the year for myself. The summer holidays are somewhat of a blessing in disguise as there are no undergrads running around, which means no interruptions, no marking and no supervisions or tutorials!

Oxford has the slightly perverse tradition that undergrads wear gowns to their examinations - thankfully Cambridge does not share the same tradition. Unfortunately, the examiners have to wear the gowns - which means that myself, as an invigilator, will have to wander around Cambridge for a few days in my BA status gown. This is one of the put-me-downs of the system - as I did not get my undergrad degree from here, I'm not entitled to 1) wear my colours of my subject (MEng) and 2) wear the gown corresponding to my status (Masters graduate; but <24 years old so have to wear a BA gown). So I shall walk around the exam room and no doubt the undergrads will know that they are being examined by a "dirty" academic!

Although the joke is on them. I attended a student-supervisor dinner at Robinson College last week (food/wine was excellent as always) and most of the fellows on the table are fellow "dirty" academics. My supervisor, who was previously the head of department and is now the pro-vice chancellor for research, graduated from Bristol as an undergrad before doing her PhD at Cambridge. She told me that when she applied for her PhD, she was told in no unerring fashion that "if a Cambridge student wants to do it, then we will give it to them instead." Luckily it wasn't the case, and Cambridge didn't lose one of the brightest academics of that generation! It perhaps explains why she told me the first time I met her that they preferred to take on non-Cambridge undergraduates for PhD positions in the department - I presume that it's probably a "fresh blood" sort of thing as well.

My other supervisor is filthy in comparison - St. Andrews undergraduate and UMIST (now University of Manchester) PhD student. Transferred to Cambridge soon after and has stayed there since, becoming a Professor recently. It's all a confusing game!