List of the Best Universities in the United Kingdom

University of Oxford

• Oxford's academic beginnings date to the 11th century, making it the oldest English-speaking university and one of the oldest universities in the world. As of 2009, the university had about 11,700 undergraduate students and 8,100 graduate students. Prospective undergraduates must apply to both an academic department and to one of the university's 46 residential colleges and halls. Students typically live and eat at their college or hall, and compete in athletics with their college. Oxford's academic departments fall into four primary divisions, including the humanities; mathematical, physical and life sciences; medical sciences; and social sciences. Oxford's notable alumni include 25 British prime ministers, 12 saints, philosophers John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, scientists Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins, and poets and writers such as Samuel Johnson, T.S. Eliot and Evelyn Waugh. In 2010, the University of Oxford ranked first among U.K. universities in rankings by both The Guardian and The Times.

  University of Oxford
  Wellington Square
  Oxford OX1 2JD
  England, UK
  +44-1865-270000
  ox.ac.uk

University of Cambridge

• The University of Cambridge, founded in 1209, is the United Kingdom's second oldest university. The university had about 12,000 undergraduate students and 6,300 graduate students as of 2009. Prospective undergraduates apply to both an academic department and one of the university's 31 residential colleges. Cambridge's departments are organized into six divisions, including schools of arts and humanities, biological sciences, clinical medicine, social sciences, physical sciences, and technology. Notable alumni of the University of Cambridge include 15 British rime ministers, 24 international presidents and prime ministers, three signatories of the American Declaration of Independence, scientists Francis Bacon, Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton, and writers Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, A.E. Housman, E.M. Forster, Harold Bloom and C.S. Lewis. The University of Cambridge ranked second among the universities in the U.K. in 2010 rankings by both The Guardian and The Times.

  University of Cambridge
  Trinity Lane
  Cambridge CB2 1TN
  England, UK
  +44-1223-337733
  Cambridge.ac.uk

University of St. Andrews

• The University of St. Andrews, founded in 1413, is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest university in the English-speaking world, after the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. As of 2009, the school had about 6,700 undergraduate students and 1,800 graduate students studying within 40 different academic schools and departments. The university organizes its academics into four primary divisions or "faculties": arts, divinity, medicine and science. The university draws about 10 percent of its students from the European Union and 27 percent from overseas. In 2010, the University of St. Andrews ranked third in The Guardian rankings of U.K. universities, and fourth in the rankings of The Times.

  University of St. Andrews
  College Gate
  Fife KY16 9AJ
  Scotland, UK
  +44-1334-476161
  st-andrews.ac.uk