About higher education in great Britain

 

The structure of higher education in Great Britain is very complex. Four types of institutions — universities, teacher-training colleges, colleges of ad-vanced technology, and technical colleges — are the main source of full-time higher education.

A university consists of a number of faculties. There are faculties of ideology, medicine, arts, philosophy, law, music, natural sciences, economics, engineering, agriculture, and commerce. The courses at universities are not regarded as vocational.

The universities grant their own degrees. The normal duration of a first degree course is three years, at the end a bachelor degree is awarded on the results of examinations. A master degree is usually awarded after a further year or two years study. The highest degree is the doctor of philosophy (Ph. D. or D. Phil.) awarded for research and the submission of a thesis — normally after a minimum of three years full-time work after either the bachelor or master degree.

Colleges of advanced technology in the quality of their work and in status are equal to the universities; in fact they are technological universities. They grant the Diploma of Technology, an important award of the standard of a university degree, which was introduced in 1958.

The usual minimum course for the Diploma in Technology is three years for full-time, and four years for sandwich course students.

Sandwich courses were introduced after the war. These are courses where there are alternate periods of full-time employment and full-time education.

These courses provide many people with an opportunity of receiving higher technical education.The technical colleges provide advanced technical studies and training in food technology, heating, ventilating, refrigeration and fan engineering, rubber technology, etc.

Students of teacher-training colleges take the subjects which they intend to teach as main subjects to a standard which approaches that of a pass degree given by universities. The number of teacher-training colleges is growing now. After the war there was a great shortage of teachers because during the war quite naturally there had been no expansion of teacher training: in fact fewer teachers than ever were trained. Many colleges were ill-equipped and badly housed.

 

Ex. I. Find the English equivalents to the following:

1. Курс обучения в университетах не считается профессиональным.

2. Многие колледжи были плохо оборудованы, и не хватало жилых помещений.

3. Структура высшего образования в Великобритании очень сложная.

Ex. II. Point out what information is given in the text:

1. The cost of education in these universities is very high.

2. Courses in correspondence and evening higher schools are one year longer than that in full-time higher schools.

3. Four types of institutions – universities, teacher-training colleges, colleges of advanced technology, and technical colleges – are the main source of full-time higher education in Great Britain.

4. The cost of education at these universities is so high that only the sons of the wealthiest classes can afford to attend them.

 

TEXT VII

ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES

 

In Great Britain there are universities in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and some other towns. Of these, Oxford is the oldest for its history goes back to the 12th century. Cambridge University began in the 13^th century. So Oxford and Cambridge are the two oldest universities in Great Britain. They are most highly thought of and well known not only because they are the oldest universities in the United Kingdom, but also because the standard of teaching there is very high.

The cost of education at these universities is so high that only the sons of the wealthiest classes can afford to attend them. Cambridge University has twenty-eight colleges. Women do not take a very active part in University life at Cambridge, they work harder than men do, and one seldom sees them outside the classrooms.

All the colleges at Cambridge are built on the same plan. There is a chapel, a library and a large dining-hall. The colleges join one another along the river. There is a court in the middle. On all sides of the court there are buildings where the students live.

Life in Cambridge and Oxford in the past was strict, students were for-bidden to play games, to sing (except church music), to hunt or fish or even to dance. Books were very scarce and all the lessons were in the Latin language. The students studied Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric.

 

Ex. Find what information is given in the text:

1. In the 13th century some students left Oxford.

2. There had been constant trouble between Church and townsfolk.

3. The standard of teaching in these two oldest universities is very high.

4. The story of Cambridge begins in 1209.

5. The number of teacher-training colleges is growing now.

TEXT VIII

THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

In 1836 the University of London was created to conduct the examination and to grant degrees upon the students from any institution situated anywhere in the British Empire.

Up until 1900 the University of London was only an examining and degree-awarding body, but in that year an Act of Parliament permitted to provide lecture rooms, museums, laboratories, work shops, etc. for both teaching and research. Today the University of London is a federation of colleges, each largely independent. There are faculties of Theology, of Arts, of Medicine, of Science etc.

The University of London grants degrees to all who satisfy its examinations, with the exceptions of engineering and medical degrees (for which the study at an approved institution is required). The London external degree has been of great importance in the development of the university system.

Many of the new independent universities were at first university colleges (i. e. university institutions which could not award their own degrees) and for them the University of London became the degree-awarding body. The London external degree is very important to students in technical colleges and some teacher-training colleges, as well as for private students working on their own, away from educational centres.

The development of new qualifications (e. g. the new Diploma in Tech-nology) and increasing enrolments in regular university courses have made the external degree less important.

 

Ex. I. Find the English equivalents to the following:

1.... был только органом, принимавшим экзамены и присваивавшим степени … 2. Лондонский университет присваивает степени всем, кто выдерживает экзамены. 3.... степень, присваиваемая заочно, имеет очень большое значение.

 

Ex. II. Point out what information is given in the text:

1. One of the characteristic features of our public education is the equal right to education for all citizens.

2. The specialized institutes train specialists for one of the fields of culture or national economy.

3. The development of new qualifications (e. g. the new Diploma in Technology) has made the external degree of the University of London less important.

4. Oxford and Cambridge are the two oldest universities in Great Britain.

TEXT IX