01) University of Oxford
COVID-19 Information:
As UK schools have largely closed and exams will no longer be taking place, the University of Oxford is awaiting further information from the government on how qualifications (i.e. A-Levels) will be awarded. More information for both domestic and international offer-holders will be made available as soon as possible.
Graduate applications are still being processed by the university - an online form has been provided on the university website for any queries. If you need to take an English-language test, the university currently has a deadline of the UK summer. If test centers around the world do not reopen in time, the university will provide further guidance on how to proceed.
The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, and is actually so ancient that its founding date is unknown – though it is thought that teaching took place there as early as the 11th century.
It’s located in and around the medieval city center of Oxford, dubbed “the dreaming city of spires” by the 19th century poet Matthew Arnold, and comprises 44 colleges and halls as well as the largest library system in the UK.
There are 22,000 students at Oxford in total, around half of whom are undergraduates, while 40 per cent are international students. A quarter of the city of Oxford’s residents are students, giving the city the youngest population in the UK.
The University of Oxford does not have a main campus, its buildings and facilities instead being scattered around the medieval city center. Its colleges each have a distinctive character and traditions often dating back centuries. Colleges are self-governing institutions to which students usually apply directly. There are four academic divisions within Oxford University: Humanities, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences; Medical Sciences; and Social Sciences. The university’s particular strength is the sciences, and it is ranked number one in the world for medicine.
Oxford is a youthful and cosmopolitan city with plenty to see and do. There are dozens of historic and iconic buildings, including the Bodleian Libraries, Ashmolean Museum, Sheldonian Theatre, the cathedral, and the colleges themselves.
Students can choose to spend their time studying or avail themselves of the many extracurricular activities available. There’s a strong musical life at Oxford, with clubs and societies spanning all genres, from jazz, through to classical and folk. Oxford is also ranked highly for sport, with its top rowers taking part every year in the world-famous boat race with the University of Cambridge on the River Thames. Drama lovers are also well catered for, with one of the largest and most vibrant university drama scenes in the country.
Oxford has an alumni network of over 250,000 individuals, including more than 120 Olympic medalists, 26 Nobel Prize winners, seven poets laureate, and over 30 modern world leaders (including Bill Clinton, Aung San Suu Kyi, Indira Ghandi and 26 UK Prime Ministers).
It has a friendly rivalry with Cambridge for the title of best university in the UK and is regularly ranked as being one of the top three universities in the world. Notable Oxford thinkers and scientists include Tim Berners-Lee, Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins.
QS World Ranking #02
QS Ranking in Europe #01
02) University of Cambridge:
COVID-19 Information:
UK students with an offer from the University of Cambridge are advised to wait for further information from the university. The university is working hard to minimize the impact on admissions and is consulting with UCAS and other bodies, while waiting for further government advice.
International students who must take an English-language test should check for updates on when IELTS and TOEFL test centers will reopen.
All offer holders are instructed to keep a log of any disruption they experience, so the university can treat all candidates equitably. Students are not required to send this information now, but may be asked to provide it in the future.
All events and open days have been cancelled until further notice.
Located in the center of the ancient city of Cambridge, 50 miles north of London, the University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research institution that serves more than 18,000 students from all corners of the globe.
The university consists of numerous listed buildings and is divided into 31 autonomous colleges, with many of the older ones situated on the famous river Cam. Applications are made directly to the individual colleges, rather than to the university overall. You can live and are often taught within your college, receiving small group teaching sessions known as college supervisions.
Six academic schools – Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Clinical Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Technology – are spread across the university’s colleges, housing roughly 150 faculties and other institutions.
Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge’s 800-year history makes it the fourth-oldest university in the world and the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. Cambridge students make up 20 percent of the town's population and most of the older colleges are situated near the city center. Its notable buildings give the city of Cambridge a unique character, and include King's College Chapel, the history faculty building designed by James Stirling and the Cripps Building at St John's College.
Cambridge is widely acknowledged as a vibrant place to be a student. On the academic side, the university is home to over 100 libraries, which hold more than 15 million books in total. There are also nine world-renowned arts, scientific and cultural museums such as Kettle’s Yard and the Fitzwilliam Museum, which are open to the public throughout the year, as well as a botanical garden.
Extracurricular activities give you the chance to get involved with anything from the university’s renowned student drama societies, which spawned the likes of comedy group Monty Python, to music, politics and hundreds of other clubs and societies. The sports scene at Cambridge is huge too, with state-of-the-art facilities and over 80 sports on offer with teams for novices and experts alike.
With its reputation for academic excellence and traditional scholarly values, the University of Cambridge often ranks among the very top universities in the world for teaching, research, and international outlook. The university has educated eminent mathematicians, scientists, politicians, lawyers, philosophers, writers, actors and heads of state. Ninety-eight Nobel laureates and 15 British prime ministers have affiliations with Cambridge as students, faculty or alumni, including the scientists Francis Crick and Frederick Sanger.
QS World Ranking #04
03) Imperial College London
COVID-19 Information: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/covid-19/.
Ranked 7th in the world in the QS World University Rankings® 2022, Imperial College London is a one-of-a-kind institution in the UK, focusing solely on science, engineering, medicine and business. Imperial offers an education that is research-led, exposing you to real world challenges with no easy answers, teaching that opens everything up to question and opportunities to work across multi-cultural, multi-national teams.
Imperial is based in South Kensington in London, in an area known as ‘Albertopolis’, Prince Albert and Sir Henry Cole’s 19th century vision for an area where science and the arts would come together. As a result, Imperial’s neighbours include a number of world leading cultural organizations including the Science, Natural History and Victoria and Albert museums; the Royal Colleges of Art and Music; and the Royal Albert Hall, where all of their students also graduate.
There is plenty of green space too, including two Royal Parks (Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens) within 10 minutes’ walk of campus. Travel to and from the area is also really easy as it’s served by three Tube lines and many bus routes.
One of the most distinctive elements of an Imperial education is that students join a community of world-class researchers. The cutting edge and globally influential nature of this research is what Imperial is best known for. It’s the focus on the practical application of their research – particularly in addressing global challenges – and the high level of interdisciplinary collaboration that makes their research so effective. Read more about their research impact on their research and innovation webpages.
The number of award winners, Nobel Prize holders and prestigious Fellowships (Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering, Academy of Medical Sciences) amongst their staff is a testament to the outstanding contributions they have made in their respective fields.
Imperial is one of the most international universities in the world, with 59% of its student body in 2019-20 being non-UK citizens and more than 140 countries are currently represented on campus. Meanwhile, the College’s staff, like their students, are diverse in their cultural backgrounds, nationalities and experiences.
04) ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
For COVID-19 information please visit: https://ethz.ch/services/en/news-and-events/coronavirus.html
ETH Zurich is one of the world's leading universities in science and technology and is known for its cutting-edge research and innovation. It was established in 1855 as the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School, and a century and a half later the university can count 21 Nobel laureates, 2 Fields Medalists, 2 Pritzker Prize winners, and 1 Turing Award winner as alumni, including the great Albert Einstein himself.
The university, officially called the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in English, has 16 departments that offer academic education and conduct scientific research in subjects ranging from engineering and architecture to chemistry and physics.
Education at ETH Zurich combines solid theory with practical application, and most degree programs build on strong mathematical foundations. For undergraduates the main teaching language is German, while most master's programs and doctoral studies are in English.
Located in Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, ETH Zurich has two main locations: in downtown Zurich and on a modern campus built on a hill in the outskirts of the town. Students at ETH face an intensive workload, but they can still find time for cultural and other leisure activities and for attending the many regular symposia and conferences on campus, where some of the best minds in science come to speak.
ETH students like to exercise their bodies as well as their minds, and there is a wealth of various sports on offer on campus. The largest annual event is the SOLA relay race , taking place in 14 sections over a total distance of 140 kilometers. More than 900 teams have been known to take part at once in the annual spectacle.
Since the 1880s, students have also been able to show off their best moves at the Polyball, a classic ball event, featuring live music by several orchestras and bands. Every November, 10,000 dancers, music-lovers and partygoers descend on ETH’s extensively decorated main building for what is usually an unforgettable night
05) UCL
For information on COVID-19 please visit: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/coronavirus/
Change the World Around You
UCL is a top-ranked university with life-changing research and a progressive approach to academia, making it different from the rest. At UCL, postgraduate students learn by doing—shaping the world around them with a hands-on approach. Innovators, industry disruptors, thinkers and magic-makers choose UCL to jump right into studies across hundreds of programmes.
Where novel thinking is nurtured and encouraged
UCL is a diverse community with the freedom to challenge, to question, and to think differently. Our community pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems.
An Academic Powerhouse
UCL is 10th in the world in the “QS World University Rankings 2020.” There have been 30 Nobel laureates among its former staff and students; a winner in every decade since the Prize started.
World Leading Research University
At the very heart of UCL’s mission is our research. We were rated the top university in the UK for research strength in the last Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014). We offer over 675 postgraduate taught, research and initial teacher education programmes across a wide range of disciplines, and encourage our community to work across traditional subject boundaries. UCL's research-based teaching methodology means that research is integrated into many of our degrees and students have the opportunity to make an original contribution to their field of study.
London’s Global University
UCL sits at the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic cities, meaning you are perfectly placed to take advantage of everything London has to offer. We were the first university in England to welcome women to university education, and the first university in England to welcome students of any religion or social background. UCL has 18,000 students from outside the UK, with over 150 countries represented, providing a truly global perspective.
Disruptive Thinking Since 1826
For nearly two centuries we’ve confronted humanity’s biggest issues, and today we continue our heritage of disruptive thinking. Through our research, many minds at UCL work together to improve lives and communities and create real world impact. Read about some of the disruptive discoveries from UCL at www.ucl.ac.uk/made-at-ucl/.
Your Future
At UCL we know that students choose to enter graduate study for a myriad of reasons, and we are deeply committed to supporting our student’s aspirations and enhancing their skills and employability. UCL Careers helps students to find their perfect career, develop their professional skills or start their own business through one-to-one guidance and events, as well as a variety of careers information. Recruitment and networking events help students improve their knowledge of a particular industry sector and specific employers. For students interested in starting a business, UCL Innovation and Enterprise gives expert advice and practical support, as well as networking opportunities.
Be Inspired
If you want to find out more about the impact that our ground-breaking research and discoveries have on people, lives and communities, listen to our #MadeatUCL Disruptive Discoveries podcast. We bring you closer to the researchers answering life’s big questions, from green infrastructure, to artificial intelligence, space exploration, to treating cancer.
