For 300 years, Cambridge University students have gathered anxiously around a noticeboard to learn their degree results.
But the tradition is to end after the institution decided that the ritual is just too stressful for today’s undergraduates.
From next summer, students will no longer discover how they fared in their finals from ‘class lists’ posted outside the university’s Senate House.
Instead they will receive grades privately by email and only then will the lists be put up.
The change follows a lengthy campaign by students who argued that discovering their results from a public board can be ‘humiliating’ and a ‘big stress’.
They also complained that results for disciplines such as maths are even read out from the Senate House balcony.
But critics accused the university of ‘squeamishness’ and warned against diluting healthy competition between students.
Professor Alan Smithers, an education expert and adviser to the Commons schools select committee, said: ‘If you get a first, it will open doors for you, and if you get a third or a pass you will find it more of a struggle, and whether you see the result up on a list or by email is not going to make much difference to that hard fact.’
Anastasia de Waal, head of family and education at the social policy think-tank Civitas, said: ‘Are we more sensitive than we were 300 years ago? Probably not, but the authorities probably are.’
She added that students at Oxbridge ‘really thrive’ on rivalry.
‘There is a healthy competition and this tradition is part of that.’
While welcoming the change, students are annoyed it will not be in place this year and some want the class lists scrapped.
Others want a system similar to Oxford University’s, where students can opt out of the lists.
At Cambridge, the circumstances for opting out have to be exceptional, such as mental illness.
Professor John Rallison, Cambridge’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, said ‘due to the need to consult thoroughly’, the new system will not be introduced before June 2010.
Ant Bagshaw, Cambridge University Students’ Union education officer, said the change was ‘great news’.
But he added: ‘It’s a bit late as this issue has been going on a number of years and another year of stalling just isn’t good enough.
‘Posting the exam results is tradition for tradition’s sake and there is no justification in it.
‘The big stress is other people finding out your exam results before you. There is a lot of student anxiety about it.’
A survey carried out by the union earlier this year showed most students want to receive their results privately.
Students are also still campaigning to make it easier to opt out of the class lists.
Mr Bagshaw said officials had suggested the opt-out system may change but a Cambridge spokesman denied this.
But the tradition is to end after the institution decided that the ritual is just too stressful for today’s undergraduates.
From next summer, students will no longer discover how they fared in their finals from ‘class lists’ posted outside the university’s Senate House.
'Stressful': A Cambridge student bends down to
find his results on the Senate House noticeboard while others discuss
their grades
The change follows a lengthy campaign by students who argued that discovering their results from a public board can be ‘humiliating’ and a ‘big stress’.
They also complained that results for disciplines such as maths are even read out from the Senate House balcony.
But critics accused the university of ‘squeamishness’ and warned against diluting healthy competition between students.
Professor Alan Smithers, an education expert and adviser to the Commons schools select committee, said: ‘If you get a first, it will open doors for you, and if you get a third or a pass you will find it more of a struggle, and whether you see the result up on a list or by email is not going to make much difference to that hard fact.’
Anastasia de Waal, head of family and education at the social policy think-tank Civitas, said: ‘Are we more sensitive than we were 300 years ago? Probably not, but the authorities probably are.’
Historic: But students say Cambridge ought to have scrapped the noticeboard tradition long ago
While welcoming the change, students are annoyed it will not be in place this year and some want the class lists scrapped.
Others want a system similar to Oxford University’s, where students can opt out of the lists.
At Cambridge, the circumstances for opting out have to be exceptional, such as mental illness.
Professor John Rallison, Cambridge’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, said ‘due to the need to consult thoroughly’, the new system will not be introduced before June 2010.
Ant Bagshaw, Cambridge University Students’ Union education officer, said the change was ‘great news’.
But he added: ‘It’s a bit late as this issue has been going on a number of years and another year of stalling just isn’t good enough.
‘Posting the exam results is tradition for tradition’s sake and there is no justification in it.
‘The big stress is other people finding out your exam results before you. There is a lot of student anxiety about it.’
A survey carried out by the union earlier this year showed most students want to receive their results privately.
Students are also still campaigning to make it easier to opt out of the class lists.
Mr Bagshaw said officials had suggested the opt-out system may change but a Cambridge spokesman denied this.
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