摘要：According to the History, University sector of higher education in the UK and Northern Ireland was established in four “waves”:
I - Oxford and Cambridge Universities (XI-XII centuries)
II – The need of preparing of branch specialists relevant to institutional market in XIX century, so called “Redbrick Universities”
III – Universities opened in the sixties of XX century. Various demands of market, increasing demand of society on higher education
IV – Polytechnic Schools which gained the status of universities in 1992.
Resolution in 1992 – “The Further and Higher Education Act 1992“, permits all Institutions of higher education in England and Wales to include the word „University“ in their names. This permission was used by all the polytechnic schools. In the future the new Institutions of higher education will not be awarded the word „Polytechnic“, while selecting their names. In this way there was created the Unified system of higher education. In spite of this the University sector (even literary sources) still uses the words „Old“ and „New University“ relating to traditional Universities and former Polytechnic institutions. Except the University sector there are other institutions which give the possibility to get higher education.
