Half of Cambridge’s students do not identify as heterosexual

MORE than half of students at Cambridge University do not identify as heterosexual, a survey has found.

Of the 600 students who took part in the Varsity student newspaper survey, 49.7 per cent said they were heterosexual, 11.9 per cent said they were homosexual and 29.7 per cent said they were bisexual. Some students were more creative with their answers, with one respondent claiming their sexuality was “rower”.

The findings, based on around 5 per cent of the undergraduate body, tally with a recent survey by Oxford University student paper Cherwell, that also found that 49 per cent of students identified as heterosexual with 33 per cent saying they were bisexual.

In 2015, a Yougov study found that half of young people said they did not consider themselves to be exclusively heterosexual.

The survey also revealed which subject areas or colleges had students who were more sexually active. Students of psychological and behavioural sciences had the lowest number of sexual partners on average, with an average of 3.77, followed by classicists, natural scientists, computer scientists and medical students. A further 10 per cent said they were in a “complicated” situation with only 16.5 per cent having regular one-night stands. Most students who have had sex – 71 per cent – lost their virginity before arriving at Cambridge.

‹ A student at a Cambridge college was allegedly set on fire during an initiation ceremony, leaving him “basically immobilised” from burns on his legs, it has been claimed.

The incident happened this year when a first-year was told to put out a lit toilet roll tucked into his shorts by running into the wind, the student newspaper Varsity reported.

A Clare College student told the newspaper that the fresher was “basically immobilised” after the initiation ceremony for the Clare Rugby and Boating Society and had to be hospitalised.