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Non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cambridge University Press & Assessment is a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge. It was formed in August 2021, when the University of Cambridge merged Cambridge University Press, the world's oldest academic publisher, and Cambridge Assessment.[2][3][4]
Status | Department of the University of Cambridge |
---|---|
Founded | 1534Cambridge University Press and Cambridge Assessment) | ; 2021 (merger of
Headquarters location | Cambridge, England |
Key people |
|
Revenue | £1 billion (2022)[1] |
No. of employees | 6,560 (2022)[1] |
Official website | cambridge.org |
The organisation operates in over 170 countries around the world and has offices in 50 locations,[5] with its headquarters in Cambridge, England.
Its products include the Cambridge Dictionary, Cambridge Core, IGCSEs, Cambridge Technicals, Linguaskill and hundreds of academic journals and books.
Two following the merger between Cambridge University Press and Cambridge Assessment, the combined group calculated that it reaches 100 million learners worldwide, with 85% of its revenues coming from outside the United Kingdom. It reported a turnover of £1 billion in 2023, up from £868 million the previous year.[6]
As part of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Press & Assessment is a non-profit organization. It is led by Peter Phillips, its chief executive officer, who reports to the Vice-Chancellor of the university.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment's operations include four main product groups: English, International Education, Academic, and UK Education.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment also works in partnership with Cambridge University on mathematics curriculum (Cambridge Maths) and on supporting education at a national level (Cambridge Partnership for Education).
The organisation is governed by a 'Syndicate' (Press & Assessment Syndicate) of 18 senior members of the University of Cambridge. The Press & Assessment Syndicate governs the group's activity and exercises oversight through the Press & Assessment Board and its committees. Day-to-day management of the business is delegated by the Syndicate to the Cambridge University Press & Assessment's Chief Executive Peter Phillips, working with its executive board. Updates from the syndicate are published by the official newspaper of the University of Cambridge, The Reporter.
In a 2021 discussion reported in the Cambridge University Reporter, Dr D.D.K.Chow of Trinity College, expressed concerns about the lack of academic leadership of the new body:
"For 323 years, the Press has been tightly controlled under the University's academic leadership through the Press Syndicate (formerly Curators)...However, the Council's report proposes a Press and Assessment Syndicate, without such academic leadership....The proposed change in composition of the Syndicate...is in stark contrast to the arguments used by the Press to obtain its current tax exemption. In a landmark letter to the Inland Revenue in 1975, Sir Geoffrey Cass, then Chief Executive of the Press, wrote: "The Press of Cambridge University is actually no more than a department of the University, with no independent status of its own, governed by academic senior members of the University" and that it was not "an almost semi-independent 'international publisher'....Without adequate academic leadership, it would be all too easy for commercial concerns to override academic values, removing public benefit....If the Regent House does zippo to provide leadership on the Press and Assessment Syndicate, treating Cambridge University Press and Cambridge Assessment as cash cows, there is little reason for the University to continue owning them."[7]
Cambridge University Press & Assessment was formed on 1 August 2021. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II approved amendments to University of Cambridge Statutes,[8] which formally recognised the operational merger of Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press, presented at a Privy Council meeting on 15 December 2021.[9] The main changes to Statute J were to replace references to the University Press with references to the merged entity under the title of the Press and Assessment Department, and to update the name of the Press Syndicate to the Press & Assessment Syndicate.[10]
The two founding organisations have an entwined history, since December 1858 when Cambridge University Press first printed exam papers for UCLES.[11][12]
At the 2022 Education World Forum, Cambridge University Press & Assessment Chief Executive Peter Andrew Jestyn Phillips warned of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students' mental health, urging the gathering of education ministers and leaders to "put wellbeing at the heart of everything we do."[13]
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