Nottingham University is the fifth largest university in the UK . The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham , United Kingdom , with further campuses in Ningbo , China and Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia . With more than 49,000 applications for 2011 entry , Nottingham is the third most popular university in the UK , and has been described by the Times as `` the nearest Britain has to a truly global university '' and the `` prime alternative to Oxbridge '' .