The University of Durham is the third oldest university in England. The main campus is spread throughout the historic and beautiful university town of Durham in the north-east of the country, with a second newly-built campus at Stockton-on-Tees, 20 miles away. It is within easy access of the Scottish border, the attractive countryside and coastline of historic Northumbria and the Lake District. Durham is dominated by the eleventh-century cathedral, Britain’s favourite building according to a national radio poll and one of the locations used for the Harry Potter films.

The three academic faculties (Arts, Science, Social Sciences and Health) offer a wide range of courses at Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD levels. Two-thirds of departments achieved 2001 research grades of 5 or 5* (the top of the scale), making Durham one of the national leaders for research.

Like the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Durham is a collegiate university. Teaching and research take place in academic departments, which are quite separate from the 15 residential colleges which provide full board or self-catering accommodation. Ustinov College is for postgraduates only and is the largest postgraduate residential community in Europe. The other colleges are predominantly undergraduate and provide a social and academic network for students. Colleges hold their own social events, have a shop and library and run their own sports teams. Students are assigned academic tutors in their departments and an individual welfare tutor in their college, which contributes to the high academic success rates of Durham students.