Bill Bryson emphasizes the impressive position of British universities in the global education landscape, despite limited financial resources. He points out that Britain boasts three of the world's top ten universities and eleven within the top one hundred. This statistic is striking, particularly when considering that the nation comprises only 1 percent of the global population.

Furthermore, Bryson highlights the significant contributions of British institutions to academic research, noting that they contribute nearly 12 percent of all academic citations and 16 percent of the most cited studies worldwide. This demonstrates the critical role that these universities play in the global academic community, underlining their impact and excellence in higher education.