Churchill College differs from most other colleges in Cambridge in the proximity of its postgraduate accommodation to the main college site, alongside undergraduates and Fellows. This allows postgraduate students to take advantage of the College’s excellent facilities and to participate in the wider College community.
Churchill offers the best accommodation provision in Cambridge for students with partners or families.
“The vast majority of graduates live in large houses around the edge of the College site, with their own gardens and communal facilities .”
All first-year postgraduate students are provided with college accommodation, and students in their second or third year of study may also apply to live in college rooms. Typically between two-thirds and three-quarters of Churchill fee-paying postgraduate students can be accommodated by the College. Most of this is in houses on or next to the College site. There are 26 rooms off site; most of these are in smaller houses within half a mile of the College but eight are in a house near to the Addenbrookes hospital site, and a bus ride from College. All first year students are guaranteed college accommodation if they confirm by the given deadline. The College has the best provision for students with partners or families among the colleges, with 45 flats and maisonettes.
Living so close to the heart of the College, where there is the College library, sports facilities and catering available seven days a week, provides a valuable opportunity to be part of the College community and get the best use out of the many resources the College offers to support your academic and social life.
What works so well about the buildings and site is the way they combine wonderfully expansive outdoor space with a great deal of open and interconnecting indoor space: the concourses and foyers; the bar; the dining hall; the student union areas. In most Cambridge colleges, once cold weather, rain and fog set in, wandering social contact essentially stops, as people dash from one building to another, largely eschewing the exposed public space. Because of Churchill’s spacious and light interiors, we don’t have this problem.
The vast majority of postgraduates live in large houses around the edge of the site, with their own gardens and communal facilities as well. So they have access to the central dining facilities but reasonable snack kitchens in each house as well. The houses are up to a hundred years old and many were originally built as homes for academic Fellows and have been converted to student residences with shared facilities. In addition there are three modern buildings with 10 en-suite rooms in each which were built in 2020. All the rooms have ethernet access. Rents include heating and network access and we try to keep them overall at about the Cambridge collegiate average.
Amenities are exceptional — arguably more akin to those of a large, campus university than a traditional Oxford or Cambridge college. We have a wonderful on-site sports field, an excellent gym, tennis and squash courts, dance studios, a large theatre/cinema and a music recital room with rehearsal and recording facilities, a Steinway grand piano and a Rubio harpsichord. We also have an art studio. Our dining hall is the largest of the Cambridge colleges and our bar, which operates throughout the day, is open-plan and right in the centre of College. It is wireless connected, so people quite often deal with their emails there over breakfast or coffee.
Churchill College is a member of the National Codes of Standards.
These are schemes designed to provide a minimum set of professional standards for larger student accommodation providers regarding their accommodation management. This offers students peace of mind in knowing that we follow professional standards of service.
The Codes ensures that tenants receive good standards of housing management. Disputes and misunderstandings are reduced, and where problems do occur they are resolved quickly. Find out more
Our postgraduate accommodation
Churchill has one of the largest on-site graduate housing provisions and the best partner and family accommodation amongst the Cambridge colleges.
