The System of Higher Education in Great Britain

There are 90 universities and 60 other higher educational institutions in Great Britain. Many big cities have a university and a college of higher education. There are also such higher institutions in Great Britain as polytechnics.

There are the following main types of universities in Great Britain: ancient, Redbrick and New. There is also Open University.

The first group is ancient universities: Oxford and Cambridge. They were founded in 12^th and 13^th centuries. They are the oldest and the most famous universities in Great Britain. They have a lot of rules and traditions. They have a collegiate system. It means that a university is a federation of colleges. Now Cambridge consists of 20 colleges and Oxford consists of 48 colleges. Each college is largely independent: it has its own staff of teachers, a separate building, its own financing and individual curricula. It organizes term exams, but university is responsible for final exams and for awarding degrees to college students. The next tradition is that some colleges are only for men and others – only for women students. There are also coeducational colleges. The third tradition is that the university tutors teach students one-to-one or in very small groups. Such lessons are called tutorials.

Most universities in Great Britain are national universities. That is UK government pays three quarters of tuition fee and a student pays only one quarter of it. If the student’s family income is low the government helps him (her) with the grant. There are also some private universities in Great Britain (for example, Westminster University). Education in such universities is very expensive.

Let’s speak about the second type of UK universities – Redbrick universities. The period of foundation of Redbrick universities is between 1850 and 1930.They have a name “Redbrick” because the material used for their construction was red brick. The most famous Redbrick university is London University. It is a federation of 44 schools and institutes. The number of its internal students is over 40 000 and it has also a great number of external students, who come to London only for examinations.

The next type is New Universities. New Universities were founded after the Second World War, as a result of Industrial Revolution. After the Second World War UK began to develop its industries very quickly. British plants and factories needed a lot of qualified specialists. That’s why a number of New Universities appeared in large industrial cities, such as Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and others.

Now a few words about Open University. It’s a very interesting type of university. It started in 1960 for people, who wanted to continue their education, but couldn’t attend classes because they worked full-time and studied only in free time. University provides its students with lecture materials and tests by e-mail, TV and radio programs. Such form of education is called distance training. Every year in October OU students take exams.

Now we shall say some words about the degrees you can get at British higher schools. After three or four years of study you can get a Bachelor’s Degree (usually BA=Bachelor of Arts or BS=Bachelor of Science). After one or two years of further study a student can get a Master’s Degree (MA or MS). If students wish to teach at university, they work for a higher degree, a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

4.6. Выберите верный вариант перевода данных словосочетаний.

Образец: 1 ­­- b.

1.высшее учебное заведение a) university, b) higher school,

c) college

2. консультация a) study, b) tutorial, c) rule

3. плата за обучение a) curricula, b) tuition fee, c) staff

of teachers

4. заочное обучение a) full-time education, b) part-time

education, c) distance training

5. дальнейшее обучение a) higher degree, b) further study,

c) period of study