Oxford–Cambridge rivalry

Rivalry between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge is a phenomenon going back many centuries. During most of that time, they were the only two universities in England and Wales, making the rivalry more intense than it is now.

The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, sometimes collectively known as Oxbridge, are the two oldest universities in the United Kingdom. Both were founded more than 800 years ago, and between them they have produced a large number of Britain's most prominent scientists, writers and politicians, as well as noted figures in many other fields. Competition between Oxford and Cambridge also has a long history, dating back to around 1208 when Cambridge was founded by scholars taking refuge from hostile townsmen in Oxford.

In 2012 the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, based on a survey of 13,388 academics over 131 countries which was then the largest evaluation of academic reputation to date found that both Cambridge and Oxford belonged to the elite group of six universities touted as the 'globally recognised super brands'; The other four were Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University.

Oxford and Cambridge both have:

Oxford and Cambridge also share a common collegiate structure: each university has more than 30 semi-autonomous residential colleges (see Colleges of the University of Cambridge, Colleges of the University of Oxford), which provide the environments in which students live, work and sleep.

Applicants must choose a specific college when applying to Oxford or Cambridge, or allow the university to select one for them, as every undergraduate and graduate student must be a member of one of the colleges. However, all colleges are part of the university and students studying the same subject attend the same lectures and exams, irrespective of to which college they belong. Degrees are also awarded by the central university and not by the individual colleges.

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