Schools colleges and universities to visit United Kingdom

The most famous and perhaps the most beautiful of Cambridge's colleges. The main attraction is the superb Perpendicular Gothic chapel, featuring Rubens' Adoration of the Magi, a spectacular fan vault and ^16th-century stained glass windows. It's one of the most spectacular examples of late Gothic architecture. A splendid alchemy of stone, wood and stained glass. It was founded in 1441 by Henry VI.

As early as the 10th century, Salerno, Pavia, Bologna and Paris had schools of higher learning welcoming students from all over Europe. In England, on the other hand, illiteracy prevailed almost everywhere, including among the clergy. Hence the creation, in 1133, of a school of higher learning with the primary aim of training better-educated clerics. Oxford was a natural choice: the city was one of the most important in the kingdom, and great masters taught in churches or organized public readings before an audience of learned clerics. Oxford became a true university town when Henry II ordered English clerics to return from Paris. Christ Church is certainly the city's most famous and finest college. Its construction was ordered by King Henry VIII in 1546. Its ^17th-century dome jealously guards a bell called Great Tom, which strikes 101 times every evening to signal the closing of the college gates. In the main courtyard, nicknamed Tom Quad, you'll find the great hall and its famous staircase. Founded in 1525, the college chapel is also Oxford Cathedral, the smallest cathedral in England. It inspired Lewis Caroll, who taught there, to writeAlice in Wonderland, while the chapel's architecture influenced some of the fantastic settings in his famous novel. Several Harry Potter scenes were also filmed here.

Famous for its university choir, considered one of the best in the world. The college was founded in 1511 by Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. The chapel housing the renowned choir was built in 1863. St John's is also proud to have produced 9 Nobel Prize winners, as well as six prime ministers, three archbishops, two princes... Quite an impressive list. Among them, the poet William Wordsworth and the mathematician Paul Dirac, one of the fathers of quantum mechanics. His Bridge of Sighs across the River Cam is also noteworthy.

Magdalen College, on the banks of the river, is recognizable by its 15th century tower from which, every May ^1st at 6am, a choir begins a 17th century Eucharistic hymn, while the students meet down on the bridge after a night of festivities. It was founded in 1448. It is also the only college to have a deer park within it. A cruel legend has it that there are as many fallow deer in the park as there are teachers in the college. Every time a teacher leaves his post, a deer is killed. To be checked anyway....

Created in 1582, it is the fifth oldest English-speaking university on the planet and was at the centre of the Enlightenment movement in Scotland. Charles Darwin, David Hume, Alexander Graham Bell, Sir Conan Doyle, Robert L. Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott have all passed through its walls. Today, the most famous buildings are the Old College (1789) on South Bridge, the New College (1846) on Mound Place and the buildings dividing Bistro Square: the Medical School (1880), McEwan Hall (1897) and Teviot Row House (1889) which is the oldest student union built in history and has no less than six bars. Several museums depend on the university, if three are accessible only by appointment or with limited schedules/dates (anatomy, natural history and geology; see website), two others are open to the public.

Talbot Rice Gallery: this contemporary art gallery offers temporary exhibitions by international artists.

St. Cecilia's Hall: it has one of the largest collections of musical instruments in the world.

Famous university of the city, it is a beautiful building of dark red brick and yellow sandstone, with a cloister of neo-medieval style, inspired by the Tudor style. Built in 1849, this faculty is one of the most prestigious institutions in Great Britain. The Queen's Welcome Centre is a souvenir store and a well-documented tourist information center about Belfast and Northern Ireland. It is possible to enter the Lanyon Building to see the Great Hall and the Naughton Gallery, and walk in the gardens on the other side.

Founded by the famous Henry VIII in 1546, Trinity College was the college of Isaac Newton, whose bedroom was next to the chapel, and, just next door, an apple tree that is no stranger to his work on gravity! The library, built by Sir Christopher Wren, contains original works by Newton and the Winnie-the-Pooh manuscript by A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh manuscript. This is the largest of the city's 31 colleges. It welcomes around a thousand students a year. It is twinned with Christ Church College, Oxford. It has trained 34 Nobel Prize winners!

The first university of Aberdeen, founded in 1495.

Aberystwyth, Wales' first university city, has a recognised university, which opened in 1872 in a former seaside hotel. It was the first British university to accept women, and also the first in the world to open a faculty dedicated to international politics. It ranks fourth in the United Kingdom for the quality of its teaching. It is divided into several buildings and 18 departments. The most impressive is undoubtedly the one built facing the sea.

It is impossible not to notice this building, exuberant with its round towers with pointed roofs, elaborate windows, balconies and arches.

In 1864, when the city of Aberystwyth was connected to the national railway network, Thomas Savin bought the building and transformed it into a hotel. He asked the architect J.P. Seddon to give this Victorian building a more "Gothic Revival" look. Take the time to enter and discover the pretty circular balcony and the carved wooden ceiling. This strange architecture is a very successful mix of styles

Located in a charming and quiet cobbled street, Merton College was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, former Chancellor of England and later Bishop of Rochester. It is one of Oxford's oldest and most important colleges with its medieval buildings and 13th century chapel overlooking nature and the Thames. J.R.R.R. Tolkien was a professor here. Sociologist Theodor Adorno and poet T.S. Eliot also went through Merton College. To discover, a chapel, superb gardens and the library, one of the oldest still in operation.

It is a true college of excellence where princes William and Harry attended school. With its traditions, imposing buildings and students in costume, Eton College is the most prestigious of the public schools (as its name does not indicate, a private school), founded in 1440 by Henri VI. It is one of four schools in England reserved exclusively for boys. Very expensive, of course. A few steps from Windsor Castle, it is a must-see visit and the second most important attraction in the Windsor area.

Founded in 1352 by the bourgeoisie of Cambridge in the heart of the city, it is a fine example of early medieval architecture. It is one of 31 colleges at Cambridge University. Novelist Christopher Marlowe was one of his famous residents, as was navigator Sir Thomas Cavendish and more recently Downtown Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville. Another specific feature is that the college carefully maintains a unique collection of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. It has one of the smallest numbers of students.

University College, Oxford, is steeped in history and renowned for its prestigious academic tradition. Founded in 1249, the college has witnessed many remarkable events and personalities over the centuries. The poet Shelley was expelled for atheism. Nevertheless, a statue is dedicated to him today, although a modest veil is drawn over the reason for his expulsion: a pamphlet entitled The Necessity of Atheism. Although the college dates back to 1249, the current buildings were mainly constructed in the ^17th century.