Whilst at Cambridge your academic study and research is likely to take up most of your time and energy. Beyond knowledge, your academic activities give you the opportunity to develop skills that transcend your subject and are applicable to many factions in the outside world, including employment, entrepreneurial activity and personal passion projects.
It is worth taking the time to reflect on the skills you are developing in your study and research activities. How do you learn whilst studying/researching? Are you working in groups? Do you lead on projects? Are you a course representative or spokesperson? Do you present or take part in debates and discussions? Perhaps you are growing more specific skills, such as health & safety skills in lab work, maintaining data, working with an external client or organisation, internships, placements, or industry-based projects. Below are some examples of skills developed during academic study and research, with some suggestions on activities you can seek-out to bolster your academic skills.
If you are interested in learning more about your current skills, you can evaluate your skills using the ‘Skills Discovery’ tool, accessible via your CRSID.
Activities that develop academic skills at Cambridge
- Analysing data to solve problems
- Analysing texts for patterns and themes
- Applying theory
- Coding & Programming Languages (academic)
- Consider external pressures in which processes occur
- Design project spanning multiple disciplines
- Develop language skills
- Discussion & Debating
- Exam preparation
- Independent study
- Individual projects
- Group work
- Industry project as part of degree
- Lab work - manage, store, analyse data
- Lab work - managing ethical considerations
- Lab work - practical lab skills (extraction, scientific drawing, calibration)
- Making module choices
- Managing your time
- Peer feedback & assessment
- Pitching ideas
- Presentations
- Produce models and drawings
- Referencing
- Research and study skills enhancement (library)
- Study abroad
- Supervisions
- Testing procedures
- Understanding religious, political and cultural contexts
- Undertaking research opportunities/projects
- Written communications
Core skill areas developed in academic study
- Digital, technology use and technical skills
- Interpersonal, communication and social skills
- Learning, thinking, and reasoning skills
- Presentation, negotiation and influencing skills
- Planning and organisation skills
- Self-management skills
- Writing, analytical and reporting skills
Specific skills that can be developed in these skills areas:
- Ability to reflect
- Accountability
- Achievement orientation
- Active learning and learning strategies
- Active listening
- Adopting a different perspective
- Analytical thinking
- Applying appropriate learning strategies
- Asking the right questions
- Autonomy
- Building networks
- Commercial awareness
- Communication
- Complex problem solving
- Computational and algorithmic thinking
- Crafting an inspiring vision
- Creativity and imagination
- Critical thinking
- Data analysis and statistics
- Data management
- Deductive Reasoning
- Developing relationships
- Digital ethics
- Evaluation of arguments
- Fluency of ideas
- Fostering Inclusiveness
- Goal monitoring, adjusting, and evaluating
- Inspiring Trust
- Integrity & Ethical behaviour
- Interpretation
- Judgement and decision making
- Monitoring & Evaluation
- Organisational Awareness
- Persuasion
- Project management
- Reasoning, problem solving and ideation
- Research
- Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility
- Self-development
- Self-motivation
- Storytelling and public speaking
- Strategic planning
- Teamwork
- Time management and prioritization
- Transferring knowledge to different contexts
- Understanding biases
- Working with accuracy
- Work-plan development
How to get involved at Cambridge
The above list of skills and activities is just the start – you will find yourself using a range of other academic skills.
- If you would like to build more skills to support your academic study, the Cambridge University Libraries Training page gives you access to workshops and resources to develop your research, presentation, reading and engagement whilst studying.
- Library CamGuides focus on the skills you will develop as an undergraduate and masters student.
- Library Study Skills guides help support with specific areas of academic study
- Ask your college about ‘Subject Societies’ that focus on subject specific events and seminars at college level – you can also look for university-level subject societies.
- Postgraduate students (usually PhDs) organise weekly/bi-weekly workshops for Masters and PhD students (not limited to Cambridge) to present their research (e.g. 20 min presentation), test new ideas, and receive informal feedback to improve their work. You can see an example of this from the Faculty of History and their ‘Cultural History Workshop’ and the HPS workshops. If this interests you, why not ask your college or faculty about opportunities to present, discuss and share your work. If you are already active in these groups or want to start one, a role as a convenor can build project management skills, public speaking skills and more. If you are presenting your work, you can refine skills in public speaking, debate and synthesising ideas.