Universities in the United Kingdom

The University of Bristol utilises the UNESCO definition of Education for Sustainable Development.  This encompasses not just environmental sustainability but also economic and social issues.  It also includes knowledge, skills and values that students should be equipped with to be future fit.  As part of Bristol European Green Capital 2015 the University has pledged to ensure that all students encounter sustainability during their time studying as well as signing up to a UNESCO GAP Commitment. This wiki will provide you with detailed information to support the inclusion of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) materials in the formal curriculum, tailored on a subject by subject basis and also inform you of ESD activities at the University. 

Universities that were originally Polytechnics, Further Education Colleges, Teacher Training Colleges, University Colleges etc that were granted full University status as part of the Education reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. Most of these have elements that date back several hundred years - whilst their University degree awarding status may be 'new', their establishment is often older than some of the Civics and Red Brick Universities. This article explains the various routes to university status of the list below.

In the years following the end of the Second World War, local education authorities (LEAs) paid student tuition fees and provided non-mature^{[clarification needed]} students with a maintenance grant. Under the Education Act 1962 a national mandatory award of student maintenance grant was established, payable by the LEAs to students on most full-time courses. In 1980, the level of grant increased from £380 to £1,430.^[1]

As the university population rose during the 1980s the sums paid to universities became linked to their performance and efficiency, and by the mid-1990s funding per student had dropped by 40% since the mid-1970s, while numbers of full-time students had reached around 2,000,000 (around a third of the age group), up from around 1,300,000.

The universities in the United Kingdom (with the exception of The Open University) share an undergraduate admission system operated by UCAS. Applications must be made by 15 October for admissions to Oxford and Cambridge (and medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses) and by 15 January for admissions to other UK universities.^[3]

British universities tend to have a strong reputation internationally for two reasons: history and research output. The UK's role in the industrial and scientific revolutions, combined with its imperial history and the sheer longevity of its ancient universities, are significant factors as to why these institutions are world renowned. The University of Cambridge, for example, has produced 90 Nobel Laureates to date - more than any other university in the world.^[6] The reputation of British institutions is maintained today by their continuous stream of world-class research output. The larger research-intensive civic universities are members of the Russell Group, which receives two-thirds of all research funding in the UK.