Church bells ring as Cambridge university turns 800

Church bells rang out at several cities in the country, as universities across the world Saturday celebrated the 800th birth anniversary of Cambridge University.

St. Paul's Cathedral, Kolkata, Sacred Heart Cathedral and St. James' Church in New Delhi, and St. Mark's Cathedral in Bangalore, keeping a promise made to Cambridge vice chancellor Alison Richard during her recent visit to the country, rang the bells celebrating one of worlds most popular institution of learning.

Notable former Cambridge students include Oliver Cromwell, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking.

The university boasts of more Nobel Prize winners than any other institution. It is also the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world.

"One of our success mantras has been our genius scale of the collegiate system. The freedom of academics to think and explore the beauty of our setting, and the fact that we have and we continue to attract the brightest students and academics is our success mantra," Vice-Chancellor of the university, Alison Richard, told the Times of India news.

"Cambridge has a great past with a rich heritage of excellence. We are in the 21st century with our eyes firmly on the future. The university has been transforming tomorrow for 800 years and will continue to do so," she added.

The university was founded after scholars from Oxford gathered to study at the ancient Roman trading post of Cambridge in 1209.