[Grammar] "University of XXX" or "XXX University"

[Snappy]

The University of Oxford is called Oxford University in short.
So is the University of Tokyo.

Tokyo is the name of a place (the capital of Japan). Oxford is the name of a place, too.

Somebody has once told me that a university's name in the form of "the University of (place)" can be called "(Place) University" in short.

If this is true, the University of California can be called the California University."

I wonder if this theory is acceptable.

 

[Barb_D]

Absolutely no. Not in the U.S.

 

[Linguist__]

(Not a teacher)

In Britain, at least, Universities can offically call themselves anything they wish to be called. Almost all of them are either 'University of X' or 'X University'. Which one is correct depends on what the university has called itself.

That being said, it's extremely common here to refer to a university as 'X University' regardless of whether this is the form it takes officially. Also common is dropping the 'university' altogether. Normally, context is enough to avoid confusion.

'What are you studying?'
'Civil Engineering at Glasgow University' (extremely common. The official name is 'University of Glasgow'.)

'I got ino Oxford University to study English Literature!' (extremely common. Again, the official name is 'University of Oxford'.)

'What are you studying?'
'Civil Engineering at Glasgow.' (common)

'I got into Oxford to study English Literature!' (common)

So, in Britain at least, yes. You can change 'University of X' to 'X University'. Not when you are using the name officially though, like in a CV.

 

[mmasny]

A problem arises when it comes to talking about non-English universities as mine. I know my university is often called Warsaw University. But why this is so I have no idea.