Module 2. Higher Education in the USA

Text A. More than 2,2 Million Students Took SAT, Most Ever

Text B. The Higher education system of the United States an informal configuration of varied institutions

Text C. College Ratings: How Helpful Are They?

Text D. US Higher Education. Flexibility and choice in degree studies

Text E. US colleges Seek to Change the Shape of Higher Education

Text F. College Success: Helping Others to Help Yourself

Text G. Dorm Life Can Be the Biggest Classroom

Module 3. Higher Education in Russia

Text A. Levels of Higher Education in Russia

Text B. Higher Education: new architecture

Text C. Top 10 Universities in Russia 2019

Text D. The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech)

Text E. Leasure activities

 

Module1

 

Higher Education in

Great Britain.

Text A.

Universities

Before reading:

  I.TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if 1-7 below are true (T) or false (F).

1. Students who are older than 25 can’t study at the university. T/F

2. The training grounds for medicine, law or engineering in Britain tend to be the ancient universities. T/F

3. After leaving school student can’t take the gap year. T/F

4. Higher Education in the UK is free for everybody. T/F

5. Universities traditionally offer cheap and clean accommodation in halls of residence. T/F

6. Prospective university students expect a rich and varied social life. T/F

7. In Britain, university students are expected to present a subject perhaps once a term and comment on it in tutorials. T/F

 

 

Read the text:

Universities

 Cairo, Bologna, and Paris have been offering them the longest. What am I talking about? A university education, of course. So who goes to university and what do they get out of their experience?

Admission

Most universities don't let just anyone in. Grades in the subjects you take in the final years of secondary education are what usually count and in many countries people also have to do an entry test. While most participants in higher education are in the 18-25 age group, some people choose to take a break from work later on in life and opt for the role of mature student, bringing experience of work and the real world to their studies.

Which one to go to

In many countries there is a pecking order to the universities, with a few high status institutions at the top turning out an intellectual elite and attracting the best minds in teaching and research. Take a quick name check of the leading writers, politicians or scientists in the UK or the USA and you should find the majority chose to spend their student years sitting in the dining halls and libraries of Oxford and Cambridge or Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The training grounds for medicine, law or engineering in Britain tend to be the metropolitan „redbrick‟ universities slightly lower down the list.

Money

When entrance was restricted to a lucky few in Britain, the state actually paid the sons and daughters of the middle classes not only their tuition fees but also a yearly grant towards living expenses as well. These days most European and North American students are given a loan which they have to pay back to the government once they are in full-time employment, or they finance themselves by working their way through college with part-time jobs in the evenings or at weekends.

Where to live

For the majority of students, attending a university in a town or city near to where they live is the only financially viable option, but in Britain for many years going to university meant leaving home, with all the freedom and independence that implied. Universities traditionally offer cheap and clean accommodation in halls of residence or student houses. After a year or so, many students opt to share private rented accommodation outside the university, which often pushes their culinary and hygiene skills to the limit.

  Year out

These days if you haven’t taken time off between finishing school and embarking on higher education, you haven’t really lived. The gap year can be devoted to working for charities in different parts of the world, or simply to travelling, but it can at least concentrate the mind and perhaps give you a few more ideas about what you should do with the rest of your life. If you want to study abroad, you can often get a year out as part of a language course, or enter a scholarship programme such as Erasmus to support you while studying at a foreign university. Business or management students often devote time away from university in the form of a work placement, to help them gain practical experience in a professional environment.

 Teaching & learning

A common feature of any university is attending lectures, which involves taking notes while a lecturer, a university teacher, is speaking to a large group of students. In Britain, you are also expected to present a subject perhaps once a term and comment on it in tutorials. These are small group discussions led by a lecturer at which closer analysis of a particular area is undertaken. Science-oriented courses also involve practical lessons and field trips which enable students to get to grips with their chosen course of study in the laboratory or beyond the university walls.

  How you are doing

 As at school, progress is measured by examinations, either divided into Parts I & II, or taken at the end of the course, and known as Finals. Alternatively, it can be based on continuous assessment and coursework. An important component of most systems is the extended dissertation, a piece of writing measured by the number of words a student has to produce, say 10,000. This must be based on some original research from primary as well as secondary sources and on some sort of gathering and interpretation of data.

  Social life

There is an old saying that „all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy‟, and prospective students expect a rich and varied social life. Friendships forged in the student union bar or in the many and varied clubs & societies that exist at most universities may last a lifetime. In the USA fraternities & sororities encourage a similar bond.

  Life after university

Well before the graduation ceremony, when students queue up to receive their degrees from the Chancellor of the university at a special ceremony, the careers office has been busy assessing future graduates for the kind of employment paths they should take by giving them an aptitude test, arranging interviews, company presentations and recruitment fairs. For those attracted by the academic life, there are further opportunities for study on Masters and Doctorate (PhD) programmes and on into further research and teaching.

 And what does university education all add up to?

This was the opinion of Theodore Roosevelt, a former US American President - A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education he may steal the whole railroad. Or is it as an American journalist, Sydney Harris, said? - The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one's mind a pleasant place in which to spend one's time.

 After reading:

 

II. Answer the following questions:

1) How to enter a university?

2) Which one to go to?

3) Where to get money for university entrance?

4) Where can the students live while studding at the university?

5) What is a gap year?

6) What is the procedure of university study?

7) What does the life after university look like?

8) How is the progress of university study measured?

9) What can you say about social life at university?

10) What does university education all add up to?

III. For each section, match the words taken from the text (in the box at the top) with the definitions below

aptitude test	clubs and societies	continuous assessment
degree	dissertation	Doctorate
entry test	field trip	finals
Fraternities &sororities	gap year	grades
grant	halls of residence	intellectual elite
lecture	Masters	pecking order
Private rented accommodation	recruitment fairs	redbrick universities
scholarship programme	student houses	student union bar
subjects	tuition fees	tutorial
work placement	working your way through college

 

Admission

  1. an examination to see if you are good enough to go to university 

2. areas of knowledge you study at school 

3. a number or letter to symbolize how well you have done in an exam  

Which one to go to

4. learning institutions built later than Oxford or Cambridge

 5. hierarchy 

6. the best minds in the country  

Money

7. money given by the state to help for e.g. education

 8. money you pay for a university course 

9. paying for your education by being employed while you are studying  

Where to live

10. houses bought by the university and rented to their students

11. houses rented to anyone 

12. communal accommodation built by university  

Year out

13. a year between school and university when you don’t study

 14. a temporary position with a company to gain employment experience

 15. money from a private organisation to help with the cost of study  

Teaching & learning

16. study away from the classroom often to collect data or samples

 17. small group lesson based on discussing an area or problem 

18. lesson in the form of a formal speech using notes and visual aids  

How you are doing

 19. a long, structured piece of writing exploring a subject in detail

 20. examinations at the end of a course 

21. evaluating pieces of work during the course 

Social life

22. organisations run by and for students to develop different interests

23. a place for students to have a drink

24. student membership organisations in the USA

Life after university

25. exam to see what kind of jobs would suit you

26. university qualification gained after a degree taking one or two years

27. highest university qualification after a Masters taking four or more years of research

28. the first university qualification you receive after 3 or more years of study

29. large ‘market place’ where employers try to interest students in working for them

IV. Find the right translation for the phrases and try to memorize them:

word	translation
1) pecking order	a) „ умей дело делать – умей и позабавиться; делу время, а потехе час
2) training groun	b) мужское студенческое братство (у девушек – женское студенческое братство)
3) living expenses	c) ректор университета
4) full-time employment	d) проверка [тест] на профпригодность
5) hall of residence	e) железнодорожный товарный вагон
6) push to the limit	f) ярмарка вакансий
7) take time off	g) гуманитарное образование
8) year out	h) неофициальная иерархия
9) field trips	i) расходы на проживание
10) get to grips with	j) постоянная работа
11) extended dissertation	k) общежитие
12) “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy‟	l) дойти до предела своих возможностей
13) chancellor of the university	m) сделать перерыв в работе
14) aptitude test	n) академический отпуск
15) freight car	o) «выездные уроки», экскурсии учащихся
16) recruitment fair	p) начать делать что-то или иметь дело с чем-то
17) liberal education	q) расширенная дипломная работа
18) fraternities & sororities	r) тренировочная площадка

 

V. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the box

order

status

elite

minds

check

libraries

grounds

engineering

Which one to go to

In many countries there is a pecking1)_________ to the universities, with a few high2)___________ institutions at the top turning out an intellectual3)___________ and attracting the best4)____________ in teaching and research. Take a quick name5)______________ of the leading writers, politicians or scientists in the UK or the USA and you should find the majority chose to spend their student years sitting in the dining halls and6)__________ of Oxford and Cambridge or Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The training7)________________for medicine, law or8)_______________ in Britain tend to be the metropolitan „redbrick‟ universities slightly lower down the list.      

VI. Match the parts to form the phrases from the article

Part I	Part II
1) to spend their student years	a) to receive their degrees
2) finance themselves by	b) led by a lecturer
3) queue up	c) private rented accommodation
4) small group discussions	d) makes Jack a dull boy
5) help them gain practical experience	e) working their way through college with part-time jobs
6) many students opt to share	f) medicine, law or engineering
7) the training grounds for	g) in a professional environment.
8) all work and no play	h) sitting in the dining halls and libraries of Oxford and Cambridge

 

 

London School of Economics

There are universities in most big towns and cities in Britain. This is the LSE, the London School of Economics, part of the University of London.

Many students come from abroad to study in the UK. They have to find tuition fees, food and somewhere to live. It can be expensive. 

Some students live in Rosebury Hall, the university halls of residence about 2 kilometers from the main campus.

VII. Can you reorder Stephen's questions to the students?

  VIII. Find the appropriate answers for them (given below)

1. do / Why / you / live / in / Hall / a /Residence? / of_____________________
2. . live / to / What’s / like / it / here? _____________________________ _____________________________
3.    next / you / live / Will / year? / here _____________________________           __________________________
4. on / goes / What / here / LSE / at / the / Students’ / Union?_____________________________________
5. that does What to be officer an mean Students’ International?_____________________________

 

A. Well, as you can see, students will come here between their classes and lectures and will meet up with their friends before going home or going to another class.

B. I will. In the first year everyone gets the accommodation, but they move out to share a flat next year, but I’m definitely staying here.

C. It’s great. There’s so many things I can do over here. There’s a canteen, a bar, a TV room and then there’s even a laundry.

D. About 70 percent of our students come from overseas, so I work with some of them in helping them in visa issues and generally settling down in a new home in London.

E. It’s really nice. It’s a short walk to the campus, it’s cheap and I get to meet a lot more people.

 

IX. Transform the direct speech of a dialogue into the reported speech.

Nick: How important are the extracurricular activities like the sporting clubs and societies?

Student: I think it’s really important. I think especially in Oxford where it’s a really strong academic environment it’s really easy for people to just get really caught up and just live in the library. It’s definitely good for people to get out and do something different..

Nick: Is it difficult to get the balance right between your university work and your sport?

Student: Well, I tend to be busy all of the time. So I’m studying during the daytime and then in the evenings I come down here and train. You have to work really hard but at the same sense you can also, kind of, play really hard. You can train hard and do really well at sports and other activities.

X. Complete the text about Cambridge using the words in the box.

men	graduation	study	best	sports	colleges	writer
career	river	style	famous	gowns

 

Cambridge University is one of the oldest and most (1) ________universities in the UK. There are 31 (2) ____________________________________ within the university,

many of them dating back to the 13th and 14th Century. One of the oldest colleges is Corpus Christi, which has been maintained in the original (3  ______________. Christopher Marlowe, who was a (4) _______________ at the same time as Shakespeare, studied here. Corpus Christi used to be for (5) __________________      only. In 1660, however, they decided to allow women to (6) _______________       here too.

Living in Cambridge is like stepping backwards in time. The students at Cambridge University, who wear (7)  _____________    for special occasions, like (8)_____________     day, talk about why they chose Cambridge. Many believe it to be one of the (9) ____________ universities in the country, so it offers good (10)__________    prospects. Also, it has an active social scene and there are lots of things to do in Cambridge, like go to clubs or bars, join in the (11) ___________ activities, or hire a punt * and relax on the (12) ____________.

 

* a boat which you move by pushing with a long stick

 

XI. Spelling: Unjumble the words in bold

 

tuaemr student→

kepcign order→

tnitelelcalu elite→

training urgodns→

halls of dersciene→

extended isnsdertatio→

tpaiuted test→

tnuecrrimte fairs→

XII. Read and think of other activities of the students. Share your ideas with the class.

Many students get involved in activities outside their studies. The Oxford University Fencing Club is over a hundred years old. It is still popular today.

  XIII. М ake the power point presentation about different aspects of the university life in the UK.

XIV. Write а summary of the Text. Follow the tips given in the Appendix 2, section II.

 

Text B.