There are more than forty universities in Britain but the names of the most famous institutions are Eton, Oxford and Cambridge; people do not always realize what place these institutions occupy in the whole educational system. Eton is a public school, and the best known of the public schools, which, in spite of their name, are not really public at all, but independent and private secondary schools taking boys from the age of thirteen to eighteen years.Apart from public schools there is a complete system of state primary and secondary education. Children, who continue at school until they are sixteen can take the examinations for the General Certificate of Education at Ordinary Level. This may be taken in any number of subjects.