Facilities

Girton College is situated, famously, over two miles away from the centre of town. This is due to its history as a women’s college: the University authorities didn’t want male students to be distracted, and so placed the first women’s college as far away as University statutes allowed.

History aside, Girton’s distance doesn’t affect your student life at all: if anything, it improves it, creating an unusually tight-knit student community. Town is at most a 15 minute cycle in, and regualr buses provide access to town each day.

If you have mobility issues which you believe may limit you at Girton, contact both the Admissions Office and the Cambridge University Disability Resource Centre, who are able to make reasonable adjustments for you, which can include discounted taxis, and the right to drive a car as a Cantab.

Girton has a vast array of rooms, which are graded from A- (bottom) to G (the best). Girton’s accomodation system operates on a balloting system, whereby each person pays the same price as everybody else, and your rents are fixed for 3 years (or 4, if you are doing a masters).

Rooms are randomly allocated in first year, and then a balloting system results in those who have the lower graded rooms getting first pick next year, such that on average, each person gets a high quality of room.

Those who fancy more independence, or just to be closer to town, can apply to live in a college house in 2nd, 3rd and 4th year.

Those who have allergies or disabilities which may affect their room choice are encouraged to contact the Admissions Office, who can arrange a suitable room.

Swirles Court is Girton College’s new residential block, based in the North-West Cambridge site. Replacing our former block, Wolfson Court, Swirles Court provides brand new accomodation for Girton undergraduates and postgraduates.

Situated next to a Sainsbury’s, and conveniently close to the West Cambridge site, Swirles Court is arranged as several flats and houses, providing a mix of independence with the security of a college environment with a porters’ lodge, staffed 24/7.

The facility has only self-catering facilities, alongside a quiet study area and clothe-washing facilities.

Girton College has one of the best stocked libraries of any college, due to its history and its location. Featuring over 100,000 books and a fully serviced IT area, many of the required texts can be found down your corridor.

All students at Girton also have access to all the faculty libraries, regardless of your subject. Students can borrow from the University Library, a legal deposit library, which has a copy of every single publication printed in the United Kingdom, alongside extensive original sources.

Students have access to extensive online resources, all paid for by the University.

Many of these services can still be accessed by students when they graduate from Cambridge.

All students receive a “Raven” account on registration at the University, providing students access to the entirety of the university’s resources. This provides an academic email, and access to the University Information Services (UIS), who are essentially the University IT support desk.

Girton College also has extensive IT services available. 16 computers are available in the library, alongside three reading rooms featuring an array of computers, scanners and printers. Printing is subsidised by the College.

Students also gain access to the Eduroam WiFi network, designed for access at academic institutions. This is available all over Cambridge, other universities, and other academic institutions, like the British Library.

Girton College has extensive sports facilities, all on site.

• Rugby pitches
• Football pitches
• A brand new squash court
• A multi-gym
• A weights room
• An ergo room (available to members of Girton College Boat Club)
• Cricket pitches and two tennis courts in the summer
• The swimming pool
• Boat house and our own rowing boats (off-site)

Students can book many of these via the College. The fact that many of these are placedon Girton’s grounds can lead to huge crowds of supporters for big sports events.

Girton has a strong reputation for music over the ages, and accomodates it accordingly. Music students are entitled to rooms with space for their instrument, and provide pianos. There are also several recital rooms provided for music students.

Girton College has a specific choir, who go on regular tours across the world, heading to Toronto in 2016. For organ scholars, Girton College provides access to the organ of the College Chapel.

Girton has its own chapel within the main college building and regular services and concerts are held there every week. Many of these services are non-denominational, and the chapel and the college chaplain are available to students of all faiths and to those of none. Within the chapel itself, there is a ‘prayer corner’ set aside for private prayer which is always open to students, no matter what their faith. The Chapel Box Room is also available and can be booked by students for spiritual use. There is also a University Multi-Faith Chaplaincy Centre at Merton Hall Farmhouse on Madingley Road, which is available to all Girton students.

There are also a number of dedicated worship spaces in town that cater for practitioners of the major world religions and there are a number of university-wide faith communities/ societies. For more information, please contact the JCR Ethnic Minorities Officer at jcr-ethnic@girton.cam.ac.uk

All of College’s Conference Rooms can be booked out by students when not in use by commercial customers or supervisors. This can range from small rooms like the Chapel Box Room, featuring a projector and smart board, to the glorious Stanley Library.