Universities Ancient to Modern Quiz

The exact founding date of the University of Oxford is unknown although there is evidence of teaching happening in Oxford from 1096. As a centre of university level learning Oxford grew substantially from 1167 after Henry II stopped English students from attending the University of Paris. The university gained its royal charter in 1248.

The University of Oxford is formed of a number of constituent colleges which are semi-autonomous from the university itself. Oxford is regarded as a very prestigious university, often being in the top 10 in rankings of the world's best universities.

The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209 by scholars who, following a dispute with local people of the town, left the University of Oxford and established a new institution in Cambridge. The university was granted a royal charter in 1231, meaning while Oxford is the older university by historical usage of the term, Cambridge actually received its royal charter first.

The University of Cambridge is made up of a number of semi-independent colleges. Like Oxford, Cambridge is regarded globally as a very prestigious university and regularly ranks in the top 10 universities world wide.

The University of Glasgow is one of the four ancient universities of Scotland and was founded by papal bull in 1451. Glasgow is the largest university in Scotland in terms of student numbers. The university is also home to one of the few veterinary medicine schools in the UK.

Durham University was founded in the city of Durham in north east England in 1832 and received its royal charter in 1837, making it the third oldest university in England. The university opened a medical school in the nearby city of Newcastle in 1852 and a College of Physical Sciences in 1871 (later called Armstrong College).

These later merged in 1937 becoming known as Kings College and in 1963 Kings College ceased to be part of Durham University and became the University of Newcastle.

The University of Birmingham gained its royal charter, granting it university status, in 1900 but the institution has its origins in the Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery which was founded in 1825 and the Mason Science College, founded in 1875.

The university is home to the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower which is the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world and is often referred to by its nickname of Old Joe.

Queen's University Belfast was formed as an independent institution with university status by the Irish Universities Act of 1908. This replaced the Royal University of Ireland with two separate institutions, the National University of Ireland, covering the Republic of Ireland, and Queen's University Belfast based in Northern Ireland.

The University of Exeter was granted its royal charter in 1955 as part of a wave of granting full university status to a number of institutions that had previously been local university colleges. These university colleges taught students at degree level but rather than awarding degrees themselves students took examinations and gained degrees from the University of London.

As well as sites in the city of Exeter the university also has two campuses in the neighbouring county of Cornwall.

The University of York was established in 1963 as part of a move to create more universities in the UK and enable more students to enter higher education. They are often referred to as 'plate glass universities' reflecting their more modern construction materials as opposed to older universities which generally featured Victorian era buildings made from red bricks.

The main campus is based in the Heslington area of York. In 2003 the university established a medical school in conjunction with the university of Hull which is known as Hull York Medical School.

Northumbria University is located in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in north east England. It gained university status in 1992 with the passing of the Further and Higher Education Act which gave university status to many of the institutions previously known as polytechnics and thus ended the binary divide in UK higher education. Northumbria University can trace its beginnings back to the Rutherford College of Technology, the College of Art and Industrial Design and the Municipal College of Commerce which all merged in 1969 to form Newcastle Polytechnic.

When granted university status in 1992 the institution became known as the University of Northumbria at Newcastle as the name Newcastle University was already in use. The long name is still used occasionally for legal documents but since 2002, for most purposes the university has used the name Northumbria University.

Canterbury Christ Church University was granted university status in 2005. The university developed from Canterbury Christ Church College which was established in 1962 by the Church of England to train teachers. The college gradually expanded into offering degrees in subjects other than teaching and education through the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1995 the institution gained the ability to award their own degrees and became known as Canterbury Christ Church University College before being eligible to become a university in 2005 after meeting the criteria for university status as specified in UK law at the time.

The university is based in the city of Canterbury in south east England.