Improve English: Oxford Cambridge & Red Brick Unis Ep 815
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Hi there and welcome to this podcast.

You've probably heard of Oxford and Cambridge University, and you've probably heard of the Ivy League universities in America. But do you know the term Redbrick universities in the UK? And do you know what it means to be a Russell Group university? In this episode, I'm going to talk about the choices on offer if you're going to university in the UK.

At the moment, it's open day season, the time of year when British universities open their doors and anyone can come in and have a look around, usually future students. So in this podcast, let's talk a bit about university open days, but also about the different types of universities in the UK.

I'll cover some really useful phrases, things you need to know, and you'll learn more about the British university system. So a great topic for all language learners because it's about education, but particularly good if you or your children are going to study at a British university. In the academic year 2021 to 2022, 680,000 international students

We're studying for UK degrees, so it's still a popular choice. Don't forget to listen to this podcast several times to help any new words stick in your head.

Hello, I'm Hilary and you're listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.

And seriously, if there are any of you who would like to go to university in the UK, there is an excellent set of English lessons covering just this topic in much more depth in our course, Activate Your Listening. It's part three on education. The topic of university is covered in various ways and

with my daughter especially, who was at a British university at the time we made the course. So it's a conversation and she gives you an inside view of university, including what to cook if you're on a student budget. So if you're interested in learning the words, the vocabulary associated with university life, then Activate Your Listening is ideal for you.

So currently, my son and I are busy visiting various universities in the UK. My son is my youngest child and hopefully the third one to go to university. He's currently coming to the end of year 12 in the British school system.

He's 16, nearly 17 years old. So we're looking at universities with a view to him going in September 2026 next year. We're working quite hard going through that list of British universities with his views in mind and selecting which ones to attend open days.

for. Open days are where the universities throw open their doors and welcome prospective students, people who want to have a look around. The word prospective, P-R-O-S-P-E-C-T-I-V-E, prospective, is describing someone or something who or that is a prospect. A

a potential, a possibility in other words. So prospective students, usually accompanied by their parents, go to the open days to have a look around the university buildings and

hear about the courses and see the halls of residence. This is the accommodation where the students live. Above all, university open days are a really good way to get a feel for a place. Are you going to like it there? And if you're going to be a student, you're going to be living in that location for three or four years. So you need to make sure you're happy with the town or city that the university is in.

In the UK university entry system, you put down five choices of university and send this in by the January of the year that you want to enter university. There's much more on inactivateyourlistening.com

But what it means is a lot of research to make sure you put down the right universities for you. And there are lots of different types of university to choose from. You'll probably have heard of Oxford University and Cambridge University. They're sometimes collectively referred to as Oxbridge. And along with St Andrews University in Scotland, these are

are called the ancient universities in the UK, reflecting the fact that they are the oldest universities. And these ones are usually at the top of any league table. They are elite. That's E-L-I-T-E. The best, in other words. Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews are very traditional and they very much have their own traditions.

For example, at Cambridge University, the terms T-E-R-M or periods of teaching don't have the usual names. In the British education system, we usually talk about the autumn term, the spring term and the summer term. But at Cambridge University, these are Michaelmas, Lent and Easter. And at Oxford University, different names again. Bizarrely, the terms are called Michaelmas and

Hillary and Trinity. So in these top traditional universities, you may be required to wear a formal gown and go to formal meals and observe other traditions. If you like all of this and you can get the grades for entry to Oxford, Cambridge or St Andrews, these will give you the university experiences closest to Harry Potter's Hogwarts.

St Andrews is where Prince William went, for example. There are also a group of UK universities called Red Brick, the Red Brick Universities. The word brick, B-R-I-C-K, means a building block, what your house may be built from, in other words. The Red Brick Universities in the UK are Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield. So,

So in our major cities. And the term red brick university goes back to the Victorian era, from the time of Queen Victoria, when a number of specialist universities were built in our major industrial cities. Red brick work, sometimes ornate, O-R-N-A-T-E, was common in buildings of this era. And in fact, the Victoria building in the University of Liverpool

is probably the original red brick. These universities focused on science subjects and engineering subjects useful for the industrialisation of Great Britain and reflecting the time when they were built. So these university buildings showed a break in the tradition of Gothic stone architecture of places like Oxford and Cambridge.

They were an invite to university for people who weren't from the upper classes. And the red brick buildings indicated this. And they're great universities to go to with prestige and good results. You'll sometimes see other universities than these called red brick. Nottingham and Reading are examples.

Another term you may come across is plate glass universities. Again, this refers to buildings. These are universities that were built in the early to mid-1960s after a government call to build more universities. The seven plate glass universities are York, Lancaster, East Anglia, Sussex,

Essex and Kent Universities. Oh, and Warwick too. That's W-A-R-W-I-C-K.

So again, these universities from the 1960s are named after the architectural style at the time. And as with red brick universities, the term plate glass universities is sometimes used to describe other universities that were built around the same time. Another group is the University of London, which is a group of some 17 universities.

all located in and around the capital. So the University of London includes such places as LSE, the London School of Economics, King's College, Goldsmiths and UCL or University College London all belong to the University of London.

If you want to study in the UK's capital, then you will need money because accommodation, even student accommodation, is expensive in London. And you won't find universities with a campus, that's C-A-M-P-U-S. You won't find those in London. A campus means all the university buildings are on the same site and it tends to mean it's a bit green, it's leafy, there are trees and grass.

So some people really like a campus university. So you won't particularly find these in London, but if you fancy all the excitement, all the London attractions on your doorstep, then many of these London universities are prestigious. They have prestige.

Be aware, though, a little like London Gatwick, when in fact Gatwick Airport isn't that close to London, not all universities that are part of University of London are actually in the centre of London. For example, Royal Holloway is University of London, but that's not that far from my house in Surrey.

And then there are the so-called new or metropolitan universities. These ones were upgraded to become universities in 1992. So these began as polytechnics and colleges of higher education, which were really more like technical colleges. They taught technical subjects. These universities, these new or metropolitan universities,

tend to be located, again, in cities. And you can tell the difference between these and the local traditional universities because they have an extra name to show the difference, to differentiate. For example, in Nottingham, there is Nottingham University and then there's Nottingham Trent University, which is the modern metropolitan uni. So, Nottingham Trent was known as Trent Poly.

or Trent Polytechnic. Similarly, there is the University of Liverpool, and then there's Liverpool John Moores University, which again is the ex-Polytechnic or the Metropolitan University. If you want vocational subjects,

subjects that have a job at the end of them. Sounds like a very good idea. Then these are good universities to go to. And lastly, if you've done any research into British universities, you'll have come across the Russell Group. The Russell Group is a collection of 24 universities in the UK which are large research firms.

focused universities that are often placed high in the league tables. Entry to Russell Group universities is what many students aim for. And this group includes ancient and red brick and plate glass universities. And the group is often assumed to have the UK's best universities. But it's being mainly judged on research.

Russell Group universities are ones like Exeter, Edinburgh, Queen's University in Belfast, Nottingham, Newcastle and Durham. However, don't assume that all the best universities are on this list. There are other elite universities not in the Russell Group, such as the Universities of Bath, that's B-A-T-H, St Andrews...

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East Anglia, Lancaster, Leicester and Loughborough. These are all highly respected universities that are not in the Russell Group. So if you're doing your research on what are the best universities in the UK, do look further than the Russell Group. But if your university is in that list of 24, it means it's a really good one.

Well, that's a taste of what there is to know about British universities. And of course, it's an introduction to some British place names like Loughborough, for instance, which can be difficult. It's also a podcast which covers good general vocabulary about university. As ever, your comments are appreciated. Let us know whether this was easy, too easy, difficult, too difficult.

and what you thought of it. We love to hear from you. Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.