Спереводом текста british university britain‘s universities, except for the university of buckingham, are financed by the state. one particularity of universities in uk is that most students choose to attend institutions far away from their hometowns. there are four main types of british universities: ancient universities, red brick universities, new universities, open university. ancient universities in the united kingdom: university of oxford — founded before 1167, university of cambridge — founded 1209. red brick universities: university of birmingham, university of bristol, university of leeds, university of liverpool, university of manchester — named after the buildings they were housed in which were usually built with red brick — were founded in the industrial parts of the cities during the victorian era (1837—1901) and before the second world war. red brick universities concentrated on teaching predominantly «practical subjects» often linked to engineering. two types of universities are subsumed under the term «new universities». first of all the academic institutions founded in the 1960s after the robins report. besides recommending immediate expansion of universities, the report also suggested elevating colleges of advanced technology to university status. some new universities: aston university, university of bath, university of bradford. the open university is britain‘s single distance-learning institution. in 2010 a total of 180,000 students, most of them based in the uk, were enrolled, which made it the largest institution of higher education in the uk by student numbers. the open university was rated top university in england and wales for student satisfaction in 2010 and the quality assurance agency for higher education rated teaching at the open university as excellent that same year.
