Most United Kingdom universities can be classified
into 5 main categories,
Ancient universities - universities founded before the 19th century
Red Brick universities - universities founded in the 19th and early 20th
centuries.
New Universities - two categories of institutions have been given this label:
those created in the 1960s less often called Plate Glass Universities, which
were known as "New Universities" when first created, but which are now more
commonly considered a sub-section of the "Old Universities" which existed prior
to the 1992 changes which allowed Polytechnics to become Universities, and
those created in or after 1992 often called Post-1992 universities, from
polytechnics and colleges of Higher Education, which are the Universities most
commonly referred to as "New Universities" in the present day.
The Open University, founded in 1968 is Britain's sole mainly distance-learning
University.
Admission
The universities share an admission system which is operated by UCAS.
Applications, which may be made on-line, must be made by October 15th of the
previous year for Oxford and Cambridge (and medicine, dentistry and veterinary
science courses) and by January of the same year for admissions to other UK
universities.
Many universities now operate the Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)
and all universities in Scotland use the Scottish Credit and Qualifications
Framework (SCQF) enabling easier transfer between courses and institutions.
Funding
The vast majority of British universities are state financed, with only one
private university - the University of Buckingham - where students have to pay
all their fees. None of the universities are actually state-owned, however.
English undergraduate students (and students from other EU countries) have to
pay university fees up to a maximum of £3,070 capped (in 2004/5). A
state-provided loan is available which may only be used for tuition fee costs.
Welsh undergraduate students studying in a Welsh University have to pay a
maximum university fee of £1,200, however, if they choose to study outside of
Wales they are subject to the same fees as students from that country. i.e. if a
Welsh student studies in England they pay £3070. Scottish and EU students
studying in Scotland have their fees paid by the Student Awards Agency for
Scotland, however also have to pay a sum of around £2,000 when they graduate.
Students are also entitled to apply for state-provided loans to pay for living
costs, a portion of which is also means-tested. A new grant is also available,
which is means-tested and offers up to £2700 a year. As part of the deal
allowing universities to charge up to £3070 a year in tuition fees, all
universities are required to offer burseries to those in receipt of the full
government grant of at least £300. Different funding arrangements are in place
for students on NHS funded degree and diploma courses, with students on nursing,
midwifery, and operating department practice courses being eligible for a
non-means tested bursary, while healthcare students on degree level courses are
eligible for a means tested bursary, and are not eligible for the full student
loan as a result of their bursary entitlement.
Students in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are also eligible for a
means-tested grant, and many universities provide bursaries to poorer students.
International students are not subsidised by the state and so have to pay much
higher fees.
In principle, all postgraduate students are liable for fees, though a variety of
scholarship and assistantship schemes exist which may provide support. The main
sources of funding for postgraduate students are research councils such as the
AHRC and ESRC. Postgraduate students from the UK or EU who spend less than 16
hours per week on course mandated lectures or seminars are also eligible to
claim unemployment benefit and housing benefit, provided that they can prove
they are available to work 40 hours per week. This is irrespective of if they
are enrolled as studying full-time or part-time. However, typically this is not
a common source of funding except for students in the 'writing up' stage of a
phd, where they have completed their main period of registration as a phd
student and are finishing off their thesis. ( Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_university )
List of Universities in U.K. sorted by
Country
United Kingdom is formed by the 4 countries of
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland.
