Armorial of British universities

The armorial of British universities is the collection of coats of arms of universities in the United Kingdom. Modern arms of universities began appearing in England around the middle of the 15th century, with Oxford's being possibly the oldest university arms in the world, being adopted around the end of the 14th century. The earliest granting of university arms was to King's College Cambridge by Henry VI in 1449. Arms are granted by the College of Arms and Lyon Court. It has been suggested that new universities register arms in an attempt to appear more traditional or legitimate. As corporations, older university arms have historically been granted without a crest, however newer institutions use crests with mantling, including new colleges at older universities. The first crest granted to a university was to Leeds in 1905 while the first British university to be granted supporters was Sussex in 1962, although both Oxford and Cambridge have used angels as supporters and Cambridge has used the 'alma mater' emblem as a crest without these components being officially granted.

University and college arms often incorporate, or are simply copies of, arms of their founders or local authorities. At collegiate universities, constituent colleges may bear their own arms, such as at Cambridge and Oxford. Many older coats of arms were recorded by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies in The Book of Public Arms in 1915, which also recorded some coats of arms of constituent colleges, and by John Woodward in A Treatise on Ecclesiastical Heraldry in 1894. Most university mottos are not granted with the coats of arms, instead being added by custom by the institution, an exception to this being the arms of Imperial College London. Those universities in Ireland that existed prior to independence from the United Kingdom were granted arms along the lines of other British universities; these are listed separately below.

An open book (referencing historically the Christian bible) as a symbol of 'wisdom', 'knowledge' or 'learning' is common to many arms. The Sun, a flaming torch or a lamp representing enlightenment features often, as do a wheatsheaf symbolising growth and an owl representing wisdom. A martlet, representing strenuous effort, is sometimes found. Keys in the form of crossed keys, pairs of keys or a single key held by a beast are also common to several university arms. The keys represent access to heaven and symbolically the access to greater things brought about through education.

Most British universities have a coat of arms, but some universities, particularly former schools of art or design (now arts universities), are not armigerous. These include Arden University, Arts University Bournemouth, Arts University Plymouth, Bath Spa University, BPP University, Leeds Arts University, Norwich University of the Arts, Oxford Brookes University, Regent's University London, University of Bedfordshire, University of Brighton, University College London, Ravensbourne University London,University of Roehampton (although two of its colleges are armigerous) and the University of West London.

The images below may either be the coat of arms in the form of a shield (escutcheon) or the 'full heraldic achievement', as granted by the College of Arms or the Lyon Court. Some arms may be assumed arms, if they are often taken from a founder or benefactor, particularly in the case of colleges and halls within universities.