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Of the full-time students now attending English Universities three quarters are men, and one quarter women. Nearly half of them are engaged in the study of arts subjects such as history, languages, economics or law, the others are studying pure or applied sciences such as medicine, dentistry, technology, or agriculture.

The University of London, for instance, includes internal and external students, the latter coming to London only to sit for their examinations. Actually most external students at London University are living in London. The colleges in the University of London are essentially teaching institutions, providing instruction chiefly by means of lectures, which are attended mainly by day students. The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, however, are essentially residential institutions and they mainly use a tutorial method which brings the tutor into close and personal contact with the student. These colleges, being residential, are necessarily far smaller than most of the colleges of the University of London.

Education of University standard is also given in other institutions such as colleges of technology and agricultural colleges, which prepare their students for degrees or diplomas in their own fields.

The three terms into which the British University year is divided are roughly eight to ten weeks. Each term is crowded with activity, and the vacations between the terms - a month at Christmas, a month at Easter, and three or four months in summer - are mainly periods of intellectual digestion and private study.

A person studying for a degree at a British University is called a graduate.

B. A. or B. Sc. stands for Bachelor of Arts, or of Science, the first degree. M. A. or M. Sc. denotes Master of Arts, or of Science. One can become a B. A. after three years of hard study, and an M. A. at the end of five years.