Cambridge

Oxford

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Text 5. FAMOUS Universities of the UK

Oxford is a beautiful city on the river Thames about 50 miles from London. The first written record of the town of Oxford dates back to the year 912. Oxford University, the oldest and most famous university in Britain, was founded in the middle of the 12^th century. It began when some teachers, each with a few students, decided to live and work together in the same house. Later they built colleges and by 1300 there were already 1,500 students. Little by little the great university we know today grew up. Most of the Oxford colleges are fine buildings of grey or yellow stone and many of them have stood there for more than 500 years. The oldest college is Merton which began in 1264. The newest one has only been opened for a few years, so the university is still growing.

Nowadays there are about 12,000 students in Oxford and over 1000 teachers. Outstanding scientists work in the numerous colleges of the University, teaching and doing research work in physics, chemistry, mathematics, cybernetics, literature, modern and ancient languages, art, music, philosophy, psychology.

Oxford University has a reputation of a privileged school. Many prominent political figures of the past and present times got their education at Oxford.

The Oxford English Dictionary is well-known to students of English everywhere. It contains approximately 5,000,000 entries, and there are thirteen volumes, including a supplement.

Oxford University Press, the publishing house which produces the Oxford English Dictionary has a special department called the Oxford Word and Language Service (OWLS for short). If you have a question about the meaning of a word or its origin, you can write or telephone and the people there will help you.

Cambridge is situated at a distance of 70 miles from London, the great part lies on the left bank of the river Cam crossed by several bridges. The dominating factor in Cambridge is its world famous University, a centre of education and learning. Newton, Byron, Darwin, Rutherford and many other scientists and writers were educated at Cambridge.

Today there are more than twenty colleges in Cambridge University. The oldest college is Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284, and the most recent is Robinson College, which was opened in 1977. The most famous is probably King’s College, because of its magnificent chapel. Its choir of boys and undergraduates is also well known.

The University was only for men until 1871. In 1871 the first women’s college was opened. Another was opened two years later and a third in 1954. In the 1970s, most colleges opened their doors to both men and women. Nowadays almost all colleges are mixed.

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