Introduction
Supervisions are the means by which small-scale undergraduate teaching takes place in the University of Cambridge. Elsewhere such teaching is sometimes referred to as tutorials. In mathematics, the typical supervision consists of a pair of students discussing mathematical problems with a supervisor, who is normally a College or University lecturer, or a research worker/student from one of the University departments (not necessarily from the Faculty of Mathematics). The individual attention available in such supervisions is a characteristic of a Cambridge undergraduate education, and is not common in many British universities (or elsewhere in the world). Each mathematics student receives roughly two hours a week of supervisions. Colleges, through Directors of Studies, are responsible for the organisation of supervisions in Parts IA, IB and II of the Mathematical Tripos.
A Guide for Supervisors
The Faculty of Mathematics publishes a guide on undergraduate Supervision in Mathematics. A one-page summary is a useful reminder of core Faculty guidelines, but all new supervisors are expected to read the full guide carefully before they supervise.
The full guide is primarily intended to help new supervisors give good supervisions that are of maximum benefit to the students. It also describes the responsibilities of the supervisor to the College and deals with some practical details, such as how to go about finding supervision work (see also below), and when and how to get payment.
The Faculty also publishes a Guide for Lecturers (see also the Faculty page on Lecturer Guidelines).
Training for New Supervisors
There are training sessions every year for new supervisors, run jointly by Researcher Development and the Faculty of Mathematics. For further information please contact the Postgraduate Office, researcherdevelopment@maths.cam.ac.uk.
- Details of the latest courses;
- Mathematics Supervisor Resources - Moodle site restricted to members only. Those attending these training sessions will be automatically enrolled.
Requests for Supervisions and Supervisors
For the academic year 2024-2025, the Faculty are trialling a new 'sign up sheet' for supervisors to offer supervisions, and for Directors of Studies to request supervisors. Anyone with a CRSID can request access to the online word document at https://bit.ly/maths2024-supervisors-signup
To use the page, simply add your request or offer underneath the relevant course title, as noted at the top of the document. To help browsing the document you might wish to turn on Navigation from within Word, as shown in the following two screenshots.
Before turning on Navigation
Click on the icon pointed to by the green caret symbols.
After turning on Navigation
Information for Students
The Faculty also provides information and advice on supervisions for students.
