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The University Of London and the University Of Wales have since their inception been federal universities. That is, a governing body with over all responsibility for the maintenance of standards at the constituent colleges. Recently, however, there has been considerable pressure from the larger colleges to become completely autonomous institutions. An example of this would be the continued efforts of Imperial College London to gain autonomy from the federal University Of London , or Cardiff University leaving the University of Wales. Undergraduate applications to nearly all UK universities are managed by UCAS - the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. In the United Kingdom a new university is generally instituted by Act Of Parliament or Royal Charter ; in either case generally with the approval of Privy Council , and only such recognized bodies can award degrees of any kind. ADMISSION There is a centralized admission system that operates through UCAS http://www.ucas.com/ Applications can be made on line for admissions. Applications must be made by October 15th of the previous year for Oxford and Cambridge (and most medicine courses) and by January of the same year for admissions to other UK universities. Many universities now operate the Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme ( CATS ) enabling easier transfer between courses and institutions. FUNDING The vast majority of British universities are state financed, with only one private university - the University Of Buckingham - where students have to pay all their fees. None of the universities are actually state-owned, however. English and Welsh undergraduate Student s (and students from other EU countries) have to pay a proportion of their university fees up to a maximum of £ 1,175 to a maximum of £3,000 capped (in 2004 / 5 ); the actual amount paid is assessed on the basis of the income of the student and of the student's parents, a process known as Means Test ing. Scottish and EU students studying in Scotland have their fees paid by the Student Awards Agency For Scotland . Students are partially supported by a state-provided loan, a portion of which is also means-tested. Students in Scotland , Wales , and Northern Ireland are also eligible for a means-tested grant, and many universities provide bursaries to poorer students. International students are not subsidised by the state and so have to pay much higher fees. In principle, all Postgraduate students are liable for fees, though a variety of scholarship and assistantship schemes exist which may provide support. Postgraduate students from the UK or EU who spend less than 16 hours per week on course mandated lectures or seminars are also eligible to claim Unemployment Benefit and Housing Benefit , provided that they can prove they are available to work 40 hours per week. This is irrespective of if they are enrolled as studying full-time or part-time. Funding history In the years following the end of World War II Local Education Authorities (LEAs) paid student fees and provided non-mature students assisted with a maintenance grant. Under the Education Act 1962 a national Mandatory Award of student maintenance grant was established, payable by the LEAs to students on most full-time courses. As the university population rose during the 1980s the sums paid to universities became linked to their performance and efficiency, and by the mid 1990s funding per student had dropped by 40% since the mid 1970s , while numbers of full-time students had reached around 200,000 (around a third of the age group), up from around 130,000. Following an investigation into the future of universities, the July recommended the ending of universal free higher education, and that students should pay £1,000 towards the cost of their tuition fees, which would be recovered in the form of a graduate tax. At the time of the Dearing report, fees were still paid by the government, student grants of up to £1,755 (£2,160 in London ) were linked to family income, and a subsidised student loan of 1,685 pounds (2,085 pounds in London) was available. Instead of following Dearing's suggestions, the grant was replaced by the present loan scheme, introduced for students starting in 1998 . There was a transition year when about half the previous means-tested grant was available, although the new £1000 tuition fee still had to be paid. From 1999 , the grant was abolished altogether. From the Academic Year 2006 / 7 , a new system of fees will be introduced. These Variable Tuition Fees of up to £3000 per year will not have to paid up-front as at present, but will have to be repaid upon graduation, in addition to the existing loan. In fact, there is very little variation in the fees announced by universities — nearly all will charge the full £3000 on all courses. Instead, the differences will appear in the nature and value of various 'access' bursaries that will be on offer. REPUTATIONS British universities tend to have a strong reputation internationally for two reasons: history and research output. Britain's imperial past, combined with the longevity of universities like Oxford and Cambridge , are the main reasons that these institutions are world renowned. The reputation of British institutions is maintained today by their continuous stream of world-class research output. As a simplistic guide, Oxbridge tends to be the most reputable, followed by the '' Red Brick Universities '' (formed in the 19th century) and the remaining non-Oxbridge ancients. The Plate Glass Universities (formed in 1960) come next in reputation, although again, it is not compeltely clear, as some such as Warwick and York are regarded as highly, if not more highly than the non-Oxbridge Ancient universities. The Post-1992 Universities , the ex-polytechnics set up in the reforms of 1992 have the poorest reputation, with many of the members regularly appearing in the bottom 1/10th of most league tables. Most of this newer group belong to the Coalition of Modern Universities. The Times University Rankings give more detailed information. The perceived ranking of top British universities is also heavily influenced by the popularity in recent years of and Sports Science ). However, if one thing is to be learnt from recent statistics it is that comparisons in a single subject (which is what students are generally interested in) often give quite different answers from overall comparisons. In the 2003 '' Times Good University Guide'', 21 universities come top in at least one subject area, 41 are in the top three in at least one subject area, and 80 are in the top ten in at least one subject area. Part of this diversity stems from the fact that not all subjects are offered at all universities and they thus have no possibility of appearing anywhere near the top of the table,
PECULIARITIES In the United Kingdom the vast majority of University students attend Universities which are situated a long distance from their family homes (this is not true for universities in most European countries, such as Italy or Spain ). For this reason most Universities in the United Kingdom will provide (or at least help organise) rented accommodation for many of their students, particularly Fresher s (new entrants). At some Universities accommodation may be provided for the full duration of the course. For this reason the lifestyle of University students in the United Kingdom can be quite different from those other Universities around the world where the majority of students live at home with their parents. SEE ALSO
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