Institute of Continuing Education
The University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) is a constituent part of the University of Cambridge that seeks to encourage people in all walks of life and throughout all stages of adult life to recognise the contribution that education can make to society as a whole and to the lives of individuals within it. The Institute of Continuing Education offers a wide range of programmes and courses which can be free-standing or lead to the award of a qualification. There are approximately 11,000 students undertaking part-time programmes of study and individual courses. Many of these are credit-bearing.
History
Continuing Education is a long-standing part of the University of Cambridge's work developed in the 1870s by James Stuart. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; he became the University’s first Professor of Mechanics, and later, after he left Cambridge, he was elected as Liberal Member of Parliament for Hackney and ran a major London newspaper. He was involved in a number of national moral reform movements of his day and passionately believed that access to education had a central part to play in bringing about a better and more equal society. As part of this mission, he pioneered and developed the idea of extending university education, with its emphasis on independent thought, critical reasoning and the development of the individual, to all members of society. For many years both Cambridge and Oxford sent out lecturers to Local Centres round the country until other universities took on responsibility for their surrounding areas.
Location
The Headquarters of the Institute are at Madingley Hall in the village of Madingley four miles west of Cambridge