History UsefulNotes / BritishUnis

Sororities and Fraternities are non-existent (at least officially...) and hazing is nowhere near to the scale of the US. What hazing does occur is generally restricted to public-school-based drinking societies and the odd particularly loutish sports team.

Universities founded later than {{Oxbridge}}, but pretty distinguished in their own rights. The 'Red Bricks' were founded between the start of the Victorian Era and UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo. Others were chartered in the 19th century. Some of them are:

* Prifysgol Aberystwyth University[[note]]i.e. Prifysgol Aberystwyth/ Aberystwyth University, 'prifysgol' being the Welsh word for 'university'[[/note]]: the oldest university in Wales, it also pioneered the study of International Politics (the department was founded in 1919 with the object of preventing something like UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne from ever happening again - well done, everyone). Known colloquially as 'Aber' (pronounced the same way as 'ABBA'). Also the only uni to ever be banned from ''Series/UniversityChallenge'' for five years after the Aber team started a fight with Manchester.

Many of these came about as a result of the British expansion of Higher Education after UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo advised by the Robbins Report. Mainly founded in the 1960s. They are often built of concrete.

* The University of Manchester: A red brick where the nucleus of the atom was discovered and the world's first programmable computer was invented. The largest single-campus university in the UK. Merged in 2004 with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), a large and well-respected institution in its own right. The student union has its own [[http://www.manchesteracademy.net/ nightclub]] with spaces for three gigs to run simultaneously (and they usually do). Over the years it's played host to Music/{{Gorillaz}}, {{Pulp}}, The Music/FlamingLips, KingsOfLeon, Music/KylieMinogue, {{Radiohead}}, ''Music/{{Nirvana}}''... The Hall of Fame reads like a [[http://www.manchesteracademy.net/Hall%20of%20Fame/hfindx.html who's who of music]].

* Prifysgol Aberystwyth University[[note]]i.e. Prifysgol Aberystwyth/ Aberystwyth University[[/note]]: the oldest university in Wales, it also pioneered the study of International Politics (the department was founded in 1919 with the object of preventing something like UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne from ever happening again - well done, everyone). Known colloquially as 'Aber' (pronounced the same way as 'ABBA'). Also the only uni to ever be banned from ''Series/UniversityChallenge'' for five years after the Aber team started a fight with Manchester.

* Prifysgol Aberystwyth University[[note]]i.e. Prifysgol Aberystwyth/ Aberystwyth University[[/note]]: the oldest university in Wales, it also pioneered the study of International Politics (the department was founded in 1919 with the object of preventing something like UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne from ever happening again - well done, everyone). Also the only uni to ever be banned from ''Series/UniversityChallenge'' for five years after the Aber team started a fight with Manchester.

There's somewhat of a pecking order when it comes to British Universities, with people trying to get their children into the more desirable ones. Unis will compete to get as high up the published newspaper league tables as possible and acquire high teaching and research scores, and students choose 5 unis from the list based on their subject and expected grades. This scale is overall reputation, many universities punch above their weight in specific fields, usually those related to local industry (eg Sheffield - Metallurgy, Nottingham - Chemistry, Staffordshire - Ceramics). Similarly, some degrees have only local application - law in Scotland, for instance, means you will be taught ''Scots'' law, not the English law taught at Oxbridge, and so Glasgow and Edinburgh share that particular title. Finally, Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dublin are called the "ancient" universities, [[CaptainObvious because they are the oldest]]. This means that they get to appoint "Regius" Professors - "Royal" Professors - who hold appointments created by British monarchs. A Regius professor gets a nice title, and being one is a source of bragging rights among academics. Glasgow currently has the highest number of Regius chairs, at 13.

* York. Known for [[MorallyAmbiguousDucktorate ducks]] (due to the campus being arranged around a large lake) and being hopeless at ''Series/UniversityChallenge''; still has a respectable reputation. Built using the same "CLASP" modular system as St Paul's School. [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOfTheRoses Has a friendly rivalry with Lancaster]], which manifests in a yearly sports competition. Please note: it is the University of York, not York University. "York University" is four years older and not British at all, but Canadian, being located in UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} (which was called York 1793-1834, and which still has districts/suburbs called "Yorkville", "East York", and "North York").

* The University of Central Lancashire ([=UCLAn=]): Formerly Lancashire Polytechnic, situated in Preston. Has a sizeable population of mature and part-time students and an apparently vast advertising budget. [[note]] as With Wrexham University (below), the former Preston Polytechnic sailed close to the wind of legal action by seeking to style itself UCLA - University of Central [=LAncashire=]. While the chances of Preston being confused with Los Angeles are vanishingly small - save by those who seriously failed Geography - legal advice suggested[[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope that a small case n" should be added]]. The "n", in the form "[=UCLAn=]", is very small and inobtrusive. [[/note]]

* The University of Central Lancashire (UCLAn): Formerly Lancashire Polytechnic, situated in Preston. Has a sizeable population of mature and part-time students and an apparently vast advertising budget. [[note]] as With Wrexham University (below), the former Preston Polytechnic sailed close to the wind of legal action by seeking to style itself UCLA - University of Central [=LAncashire=]. While the chances of Preston being confused with Los Angeles are vanishingly small - save by those who seriously failed Geography - [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope that a small case n" should be added]]. The "n", in the form "[=UCLAn=]", is very small and inobtrusive. [[/note]]

* The University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN): Formerly Lancashire Polytechnic, situated in Preston. Has a sizeable population of mature and part-time students and an apparently vast advertising budget. [[note]] as With Wrexham University (below), the former Preston Polytechnic sailed close to the wind of legal action by seeking to style itself UCLA - University of Central LAncashire. While the chances of Preston being confused with Los Angeles are vanishingly small - save by those who seriously failed Geography - OurLawyersAdvised that a small case n" should be added. The "n", in the form "UCLAn", is very small and inobtrusive. [[/note]]

* The University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN): Formerly Lancashire Polytechnic, situated in Preston. Has a sizeable population of mature and parttime students and an apparently vast advertising budget.

Some universities in this category were not even polytechnics: ''Prifysgol Owain Glyndŵr'' made the leap all the way from being the NEWI (Northeast Wales Institute), Wrexham's tech college. %%One of its constituent colleges in Wrexham was called Yale College - all very well for a tech, but despite having had the name since long before the upstart degree mill in the USA (founded by the same Mr Yale, who emigrated) they did not think to copyright it. The American Yale College ''did'', however, and sued Wrexham University's arse off in a pre-emptive strike. The Welsh form ''Coleg Ial'' is acceptable, apparently.
* P.O.G. has since earned brownie points by buying out, and keeping afloat, the perpetually struggling Wrexham Town football club, whose Racecourse Ground is slap bang next door to the former tech college campus. This earns the P.O.G. the prestige of hosting Wales' international fixtures on its premises, drawing in football fans from all over the world to pay its admission prices, eat its food, and drink in its bars. Although some locals see dark and sinister intent in the local tech (''nobody'' in Wrexham calls it a "university" - to locals it is still NEWI, or just "the tech") buying up a prime building site just next door which currently, inconveniently, has a football club as tenants. Bets are out as to how long the football club will last.

* The college formerly known as Cambridge Polytechnic is the setting for Creator/TomSharpe's ''Literature/{{Wilt}}'' series of novels. After expulsion from [[TheApartheidEra South Africa]] for being illegally in possession of a sense of humour, Sharpe got a job teaching history here. He wrote about his experiences in academic bureaucracy and office politics (both of which seemed to matter far more than mere teaching), fictionalising his workplace as the Fenland College of Technology, and writing himself into the character of Henry Wilt. The first of the five ''Wilt'' novels was made into a film starring Griff Rhys-Jones and Mel Smith.

See that entry. The "old college tie" may not help you as much as it did, but it's still a good thing to have. Usual offers are A*A*A/A*AA, (Scottish students may get away with AAB or even AAC because their exams are harder) with many subjects like Maths requiring extra entrance exams.

Scotland does things differently. There, students used to pay a £2,000 flat fee. The Lib Dems and Labour claimed that they'd abolished fees, but in usual politician style they promised to abolish "up-front fees", and you still got a bill after you graduated. Then in 2007, the new SNP government allowed the Student Awards Agency to pay these ones for you as well. This only applies to Scottish people though - everyone else still has to pay the fees as they are charged, although Scots still have the student loan to contend with. There is also a pending challenge to the European Court of Human Rights by English students. Because of Scottish law, English students, despite being from the same nation as the Scots, pay ''more'' than EU students who are not. It is alleged that this is discrimination, which it probably is.

** Imperial College, London (ICL) - officially the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin (Until very recently part of the University of London). Located in South Kensington and poorly signposted inside. Notable for its focus on the sciences and an almost complete lack of a humanities department (it has a business school), and the resulting skewed gender ratio. And being the sort of place where people discuss theoretical physics while drinking in the pub.

** Birkbeck College, London. Best known as ''the'' evening college (its motto is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "In nocte consilium," or "Study by Night"]]), it is surprisingly strong in Humanities research.

* The elections often turn into something of a circus, with joke candidates outnumbering real ones, low turnouts unless there's a high-profile local or national issue affecting students (and sometimes even then - of course the SU's power to influence such matters tends to be limited) and the threat of re-opening nominations if enough people vote for the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "re-open nominations"]] ballot option. "RON" usually has its own campaign, which sometimes personifies the concept as a real or fictional person, a real or fictional animal or [[EverythingsBetterWithPlushies a cuddly toy.]]

Outside of {{Oxbridge}}, the British Unis don't appear in fiction all that much. They do appear in some crime dramas and ''Series/TheBill'' has a fictional one. The University of Bristol appears in ''Film/StarterForTen'', but isn't actually named in the book (unlike the film, which makes it obvious). Edinburgh University appears in the ''Rebus'' series of novels occasionally. ''FreshMeat'' is set at the fictional Manchester Medlock University, a FictionalCounterpart to the University of Manchester, which both the writers atttended.

* The college formerly known as Cambridge Polytechnic is the setting for TomSharpe's ''{{Wilt}}'' series of novels. After expulsion from [[TheApartheidEra South Africa]] for being illegally in possession of a sense of humour, Sharpe got a job teaching history here. He wrote about his experiences in academic bureaucracy and office politics (both of which seemed to matter far more than mere teaching), fictionalising his workplace as the Fenland College of Technology, and writing himself into the character of Henry Wilt. The first of the five ''Wilt'' novels was made into a film starring Griff Rhys-Jones and Mel Smith.

* The University of Bristol: a Red Brick and Birmingham's (occasional) deadly rival, for reasons no-one can remember. [[StartMyOwn Founded by the parents whose child failed to get to Oxbridge to give him, and others, an Oxbridge-like education.]] Very well-regarded Education department.

* It's worth noting that the definition of 'Far-Right' can be very flexible, and not in a good way. Non-white racists tend to have a fairly easy time of it.

Sororities and Fraternities are non-existent (at least officially...) and hazing is nowhere near to the scale of the US.

In most subjects, Oxford and Cambridge will sit firmly in 1st and 2nd place for most years, but many subjects have universities that regularly come third in those subjects and are usually considered especially prestigious in those areas. Examples include Manchester for Physics, Warwick/Imperial for Maths, and Edinburgh for Medicine. Imperial College London and UCL are perennial 3rd-placers in a larger number of subjects than any others, and accasionally beat their way into 2nd or 1st place some years. Usually similar entry requirements to Oxbridge in these subjects.

In most subjects, Oxford and Cambridge will sit firmly in 1st and 2nd place for most years, but many subjects have universities that regularly come third in those subjects and are usually considered especially prestigious for those subjects. Examples include Durham for Physics, Warwick for Maths, and Edinburgh for Medicine. Usually similar entry requirements to Oxbridge in these subjects.

* The University of Leeds: a red brick which was initially started as a medical school, now dominates the entire north of the city. Has a fierce rivalry with the much newer Leeds Metropolitan, a former tech college that likes to beat the old Uni at sports.

* York St. John: Actually ''much'' older than the main University of York, having been formed in the 1840s. Mostly focused on religious and historical studies until the 2000s, when a major expansion drive saw it vastly expand its range of subjects and student population, not to mention taking over a significant part of the north of the city.

** School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). One of those ones nobody in the UK seems to have heard of, though its reputation is actually quite impressive. Very multi-cultural.

* University of Edinburgh: Founded 1582 (by Royal Charter; the Reformation having happened in 1560). The only non-Oxbridge British university to produce a [[UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet Prime Minister]] (TheViscountPalmerston, the Creator/EarlRussell,[[note]]Who matriculated but did not graduate[[/note]] and GordonBrown); all other [=PMs=] either went to Oxbridge, didn't go to uni, or were [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers the Earl of Bute]] (who went to Leiden University in UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands).

* Prifysgol Aberystwyth University[[note]]i.e. Prifysgol Aberystwyth/ Aberystwyth University[[/note]]: the oldest university in Wales, it also pioneered the study of International Politics (the department was founded in 1919 with the object of preventing something like UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne from ever happening again - well done, everyone). Also the only uni to ever be banned from ''UniversityChallenge'' for five years after the Aber team started a fight with Manchester.

* York. Known for [[MorallyAmbiguousDucktorate ducks]] (due to the campus being arranged around a large lake) and being hopeless at ''UniversityChallenge''; still has a respectable reputation. Built using the same "CLASP" modular system as St Paul's School. [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOfTheRoses Has a friendly rivalry with Lancaster]], which manifests in a yearly sports competition. Please note: it is the University of York, not York University. "York University" is four years older and not British at all, but Canadian, being located in UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} (which was called York 1793-1834, and which still has districts/suburbs called "Yorkville", "East York", and "North York").

Somewhere in the middle of all this is the Open University. Think degree via correspondence course and online stuff, although it is a LOT more demanding than most correspondence courses. More than a few people have taken up OU courses just to try and get on ''UniversityChallenge''. Largest in the country in terms of number of students. Frequently features its TV programmes on BBC Learning Zone in the wee small hours on BBC Two.

In Scotland: