Trinity College 2011- Trinity 'King of colleges' in table

Trinity College 2011- Trinity 'King of colleges' in table

Trinity College has knocked Emmanuel College off the top spot in a ‘league table’ for undergraduate degree results at Cambridge University.

Trinity College emerged as the top college in the Tompkins Table of performance at Cambridge University this year, pushing Emmanuel into second place.

The table, which analyses results from all 29 colleges entering students for BA Tripos exams, has been compiled since 1981 by Peter Tompkins, a consulting actuary who studied at Trinity College.

He said Trinity College’s 37.2 per cent figure for firsts was the highest he could recall for any college in the 30 years of the tables.

Its neighbouring college, Trinity Hall, came in third – marking its highest position for 24 years.

The table, which is not sanctioned by the university, allocates a 100 per cent score for candidates ranked with a first, 60 per cent for those with a 2:1, 40 per cent for a 2:2 and 20 per cent for a third.

Trinity achieved a point score of 70.94 per cent, while Emmanuel scored 69.79 per cent – with 31.8 per cent of its students getting firsts.

The bottom college in the table was Lucy Cavendish, which achieved a point score of 55.38 per cent – with 9.5 per cent of its students getting firsts.

Meanwhile, Jesus College jumped up to eighth place from 16th last year, Clare climbed from eighth place to fourth and Pembroke went from 10th place to fifth.

Colleges to drop in the rankings included the world-famous King’s College, which dropped from 14th place to 20th, and Peterhouse, which fell from seventh to 18th place.

Prof Grae Worster, senior tutor at Trinity College, said: “We are very pleased that our students have done so well.

“Of course these statistical summaries have numerous individual successes underlying them, many in the face of personal challenges, and we celebrate these as much as those who fly to the top of the first-class rankings.”

But Gerard Tully, who is the new president for Cambridge University Students’ Union (CUSU), said: “CUSU doesn’t believe the Tompkins is a useful metric for measuring student success – all colleges have very high-performing students.

“The table does have large variations year to year, and only focuses on one aspect of the academic experience.

“Students have a fantastic and fulfilling education and social life at Cambridge irrespective of the college they choose to attend. Colleges are about so much more than Tripos results – they are a community of academics and students as well as providing the underlying social fabric for almost all Cambridge students.”