TheFaculty of English is considered to be one of the leading departments inthe subject, both nationally and internationally. The Faculty is active inall major areas of English literature, and in English language for literarystudies. It is rated as excellent for the quality of its teaching, and ofits research by the Quality Assurance Agency and the Higher EducationFunding Council for England. It was awarded a 5* rating in the 2001 ResearchAssessment Exercise.

The Faculty currently has 38 University Teaching Officers, 36 CollegeTeaching Officers associated with the Faculty, almost 200 graduate studentsand over 650 undergraduates. The Faculty is located at 9 West Road in a newbuilding opened in October 2004.

Cambridge English is particularly well known for its attention to the closereading of texts, and for textual analysis: this approach underpins much ofthe work of the Faculty. It is at the core of the Faculty's work tostimulate critical enquiry, engagement with current and historical literarydebate, to encourage students to cultivate an enquiring mind, and to providethe appropriate conditions for members of the Faculty to carry out researchwhich widens and deepens the understanding of literature.