23. 45. British Universities

The principal post-school institutions of higher education are the 47 universities (including the Open University), of which 36 are in England, 8 in Scotland, 2 in Northern Ireland and 1 in Wales.

British universities are independent, autonomous, self-governing institutions. Although they all receive financial support from the state (about 79 per cent of their incomes is now provided by government grants), the Department of Education and Science has no control over their regulations, curriculum, examinations, appointment of staff, or the i way in which money is spent.

British universities can be roughly divided into three groups: 1) Oxford and Cambridge and the older Scottish universities, 2) the redbrick universities, and 3) the new universities.

1. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge date from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the older Scottish universities ot St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. All the others were founded in the nineteenth or twentieth centuries.

Oxford and Cambridge have dominated British education for seven hundred years. In the second half of the twentieth century they have preserved an antique way of life.

Oxford and Cambridge each consist of a number of residential colleges founded at different times, most of them for men, but a few (of later foundation) for women. Oxford has five women's colleges, Cambridge three. Each college has its own building, its own internal organization, its own staff and students. In order to enter the university, one must first apply to a college and become a member of the university through the college. The colleges are not connected with any particular study and are governed by twenty to thirty 'Fellows'. Fellows of a college are 'tutors' (teachers, often called dons). They teach their own subject to those students in the college who are studying it, and they are responsible for their progress.

The university is like a federation of colleges. It arranges the courses, the lectures and the examinations, and awards the degrees. Today some of the men's colleges are co-educational. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge each have over 10,000 full-time students. Oxford is older than Cambridge, more philosophical, classical and theological. Cambridge, on the other hand, is more scientifically biased. But in many respects (especially their prestige and wealth) they look very alike, therefore they are often referred to collectively for convenience as Oxbridge. Admission to the universities is based on the old tribal patterns which guide boys from traditional schools to traditional universities. Candidates to Oxford and Cambridge are largely self-selected, much influenced by parents, schoolfriends and family backgrounds.

The older Scottish universities were founded before Scotland was joined to England, and to a great measure they take their traditions from the continental universities.

2. The universities, which were founded between 1850 and 1930, including London University, are known as redbrick universities. They were called so because that was the favourable building material of the time, though they are rarely referred to as 'redbrick' today.

3. The new universities were all founded after the Second World War. The first of this group was Keele University (in Staffordshire), founded in 1948. In 1961 seven new universities were approved: the universities of East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Lancaster, Sussex, Warwick, York.