Middle Common Room

In some universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland — particularly collegiate universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, Durham, York, Kent and Lancaster— students and the academic body are organised into a common room, or at Cambridge a combination room. These groups exist to provide representation in the organisation of college or residential hall life, to operate certain services within these institutions such as laundry or recreation, and to provide opportunities for socialising. Typically, though there are variations based on institutional tradition and needs, the following common rooms will exist in a college or hall:

In addition to this, each of the above phrases may also refer to an actual room designated for the use of these groups. At the University of Cambridge, the term combination room (e.g., "Junior Combination Room") is also used, with the same abbreviations. As a generalisation, JCRs are associations of undergraduates and SCRs an association of tutors and academics associated with a college. Postgraduates are sometimes given their own MCR, or placed in with either of the other groups. This terminology has, in addition, been taken up in some universities in other English speaking nations.

The terms JCR, MCR and SCR originated from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. The terms are now used at ten British universities as well as Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland, Harvard College in the United States of America and at the University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto, Canada. Due to the way that the terms have evolved over time and the idiosyncratic nature of university structure, the use of the three terms varies considerably from institution to institution. The main variations involve terminology, mature students and postgraduate students.

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