Oxford and Cambridge

Centres of knowledge Oxford and Cambridge are Britain’s oldest universities. Their academic traditions date back nine hundred years. They are among the top educational institutions in the world. Famous names Oxford has educated many of Britain’s politicians, writers and actors. Cambridge has produced some of the best minds in science, including Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton. Both universities do important research and publish books. Secrets of success Their academic success may be because the universities have separate colleges, where students live, sleep and work. Undergraduates prepare and discuss topics every week in small groups, known as tutorials. Recently, over 90% of the students said they were satisfied with their courses. Important discoveries How have the two universities contributed to human knowledge? Henry Cavendish, the discoverer of oxygen, was educated at Cambridge. Francis Crick and James Watson, who first described the structure of DNA, also worked there. Oxford University educated Thomas Hobbes, the philosopher, and Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web. Research activity What about current research? Oxford has 3,800 staff in 70 departments specialising in everything from African economies to vaccination. One institute is following 12,000 children in four countries over 15 years to study the effects of poverty. There is a unit which is investigating how the human body can combat cancer. The Department of Tropical Medicine is using mobile phones in the fight against malaria. Warmer climate, stronger bridges Geographers at Cambridge are coordinating data on climate change, and how it affects vegetation and the spread of disease. Engineering scientists are using technologies to monitor bridges and tunnels so that they don’t collapse. Going global UK universities have become more international. Oxford is involved in several programmes to study global health issues. A Cambridge department is studying the growing economies of Brazil and India. Nearly two-thirds of students doing postgraduate research come from outside the UK, many from the US and China. Who knows, maybe someone reading this will also be a student at one of the UK’s universities in the near future?