\paperw3360 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \f1 \fs22 The most famous British universities are Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford is the oldest, having its origins in the infor
mal groups of masters and students who used to gather in Oxford in the 12th century. The closure of the University of Paris to Englishmen in 1167 accelerated OxfordÆs development into a \i universitas\i0 . The University today embraces a number of pres
tigious institutions such as the Bodleian Library, the Ashmolean Museum and the Sheldonian Theatre. Cambridge University was founded in 1284, and further colleges were set up when the Pope formally recognised Cambridge as an \i universitas\i0 in 1318.
Prestigious university institutions include the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Cavendish Laboratory of experimental physics and the Cambridge University Press, which was founded in 1534.\par
