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Great Britain is home to some of the oldest and most renowned universities in the world，such as Cambridge and Oxford whose foundations date back to the 13th century and 12th centuries respectively.These universities set the standard for the British higher education system.
Britain’s universities are legally independent of the government and enjoy almost complete academic freedom.The administration of a university alone is responsible for the maintenance and development，including staffing，student enrollment，course design，and the conferring of degrees.Universities are governed by councils which are typically made up of prominent academics，businessmen，and other public figures.The head of the council is known as the chancellor，and is usually a well⁃known public figure.Chancellors are generally not paid because the position is largely honorary.The real work of running the university is done by the vice chancellors who are mostly academic professionals.
There is no national university entrance examination of any sort in Britain.Universities select and admit students mainly on the basis of their grades on their A levels，AS levels or GNVQs，traditionally in conjunction with school references plus an interview.
All British universities are partially funded by central government grants，except for the University of Buckingham，Regent’s University London，and the profit⁃making University of Law and BPP University，which are the only four private universities in the country.As of the 2012—2013 academic year，20％ of all university income comes from the government.The rest generally comes through various other channels，the most important of which include tuition fees，donations，and company contributions.Among these，tuition fees are the most significant source of income，accounting for 45％ of all university income.
Before 1998，university students did not pay tuition for their education.In addition，students from poor families could receive maintenance grants，a kind of need⁃based financial aid，from the central government.In 1998，the new Labor government replaced the maintenance grant with student loans for all the poorest students and implemented a tuition fee of￡1，000.In 2004，the government passed legislation to increase the size of the maintenance grants that poor students could receive.
Colleges constitute another important component of Britain’s higher education.Unlike universities，many of the colleges are privately funded or sponsored by religious bodies.Before 1988，a lot of them were under the control of local education authorities.The Education Reform Act of 1988 freed them from government control，and gave them the same degree of academic freedom and administrative independence as universities.The colleges vary greatly in size and range of disciplines.Some of them specialize in particular fields of study like art or design;others are multidisciplinary and can award degrees up to the level of doctorates.There are also several colleges that provide professional teacher training.
In most British universities and colleges，students spend three years studying full time for Bachelor of Arts（BA）or Bachelor of Science（BSc）degrees.Then if they want to obtain a master degree in art（MA）or in science（MSc），they need to spend another year of full⁃time study.A doctoral degree requires from three to five years of additional study and research.Obtaining a degree in some fields requires more time than others.For instance，a language major often includes an overseas study program and consequently takes more than three years to complete.Medical students also have to spend more than three years to earn a bachelor degree.
British universities are composed of different colleges，so students register both with the university and with one of the colleges.For example，Oxford and Cambridge each has more than 30 colleges.The university provides academic essentials such as lectures，exams，and facilities like libraries and laboratories，while the college provides for students in terms of practical matters such as lodging and sports facilities.Colleges also oversee the academic progress of the students through tutorial systems.To ensure the quality of education，British universities frequently invite experts from other universities and even foreign universities to evaluate their work.
The following are the top 10 universities according to the ranking published by the Guardian newspaper：
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
University of St.Andrews
University of Surrey
University of Bath
Durham University
University of Warwick
Imperial College London
University of Exeter
Lancaster University