The A-Z of Business Schools: Judge School of Management Studies, Cambridge

Age: Seven.

That's very young for so venerable an institution: Yep. But management studies began life in the department of engineering in 1954. In those days management was a subject for engineers, see. Then Sir Paul Judge, best known for a management buy-out of Premier Brands from Cadbury Schweppes, the largest ever buy-out in the domestic food industry, gave the university some dosh in 1990. By then management had become a respectable and lucrative subject for universities and, hey presto, a management school.

Address: Eye-popping purpose-built, post-modernist complex in the midst of all that medieval, draughty stone, using the shell of the old Addenbrooke's Hospital. Wonderfully located opposite the Fitzwilliam Museum and next to Brown's restaurant.

Ambience: Comfy (no draughts here). But not everybody likes the extraordinary new building. Facade is a mix of terracotta red, sky blue and interesting green. Inside it's all airy, with plenty of wood, patterned ceilings, columns and big windows looking out on to the Fitzwilliam. Students and staff mingle for tea and coffee in the open plan "common room".

Isn't this the place where Baroness Thatcher had been hoping to bankroll a professorship of enterprise studies to the tune of pounds 2m? Yes. But the dons have been objecting on the grounds that professorships shouldn't be bought. Heaven forfend! So, the Baroness may end up hating Cambridge as much as she does Oxford, her alma mater which denied her an honorary degree in 1985.

Vital Statistics: When it started out, it launched a radical new MBA closely involved with companies to get round criticism that MBAs were too removed from the real world. It consisted of three terms at Cambridge, interrupted by two years in the workplace. Most of that went up in smoke. It now runs two MBAs: a one-year full-time; and a two-year sandwich where you spend two terms in Cambridge, a year in the workplace, and the final chunk back at Cambridge writing a dissertation. Both MBAs are very international and closely linked to business.

Added value: Cambridge. The international feel that brings. Small group teaching.

Easy to get into? You need a good degree: a first or a 2.1 plus GMAT score of 600 and two years' work experience.

Association of MBA's accreditation: Yes.

Glittering alumni: Erika Gomex, brand manager for Pampers and Baby Fresh, Procter & Gamble, Mexico.

International connections: MBA intake from 30 countries. Only 15 per cent is from the UK, just under 20 per cent from the rest of Europe, and almost 30 per cent from North America.

Research: Rated 4 (top is 5) in the research assessment exercise.

Student profile: The average age of MBA students is 28 and they generally have six or seven years' work experience; one-third of the MBAs are women.

Cost: pounds 18,000 for the one-year course; pounds 19,500 for the two-year sandwich course.

Return on investment: Students receive an average of four job offers within six months of graduating.

Who's the boss? Prof Sandra Dawson, KPMG professor of management studies and an expert in health management.

Next week: City University Business School.