PhD studentship

[Jean-Sebastien Cleiftie]

Hi,
I'm a french student in school of Pharmacy and I'll graduate this year.
One of my majors is Immunology and I planned to go to grad.school(after my 
military service)in the USA.
A friend of mine told me that it could be more interesting to go to 
England and get a Phd over there,and then go to the States for a post-doc.
 . In effect, he told me that I could get a Phd in about 3 years in 
England (vs 5 years in the States).Is that true?
 What are the requirements (GRE-like tests,TOEFL)in order to be enrolled?
Thanks for your time.
JSC.