of students, usually between one and three students, who meet with a member of the teaching staff or with a doctoral student. Students are normally required to complete an assignment in advance of this supervision, which they then discuss with the supervisor during the session. The assignment is often an essay on a subject assigned by the supervisor, or a problem sheet set by the lecturer. Depending on the subject and college, students sometimes receive between one and four supervisory sessions each week. This pedagogical system is often cited as being unique to Oxford, where supervisions are known as tutorials, and Cambridge and is sometimes credited with the exceptional nature generally associated with the education at these two world-renowned universities. A tutor named William Farish developed the concept of grading students' work quantitatively at the University of Cambridge in 1792.
=== Research ===
The University of Cambridge has research departments and teaching faculties in nearly every academic discipline, with research and lectures conducted by university departments. The colleges are charged with giving or arranging most supervisions, student accommodation, and funding most extracurricular activities. During the 1990s, the University of Cambridge added a substantial number of new specialist research laboratories on several sites around the city, and major expansion continues. From 2000 to 2006, the University of Cambridge maintained a research partnership with MIT in the United States, known as the Cambridge–MIT Institute, which was discontinued after evolving into what is now called the CMI Partnership Programme.
=== Graduation tradition and ceremony ===
The university's governing body Regent House manages and votes on graduations. A formal meeting of Regent House, known as a congregation, is held for this purpose, which is typically the final act during which all university procedures for undergraduate and graduate students and other degrees are finalised. After degrees are approved, candidates …
