The educational system of Ukraine

In Ukraine according to the “The Low on Education” there are the following stages of education: pre-school education, secondary education, vocational education, higher education, post-graduate courses, doctorate courses, improving qualification courses, beyond-the-school education, self-education.

In Ukraine the education is compulsory for all children between the age of 6 to 15. Mainly all schoolchildren attend state schools, where education and equipment are free.

Pre-school education is provided by kindergartens. Secondary education give a general education. There are specialized classes, gymnasiums, Lyceums for talented children.

For adults there are evening and distance learning secondary schools.

Vocational education is provided either in secondary schools or in vocational schools.

Higher education gives fundamental scientific, general and practical education. It may be full-time, correspondent and distance learning.

In Ukraine there are many types of higher educational establishments: institutions, conservatories, academies, universities, etc. They train specialists for various fields of science (physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, law, linguistics, etc.), conduct postgraduate courses and grant degrees.

There are the following degrees of higher education: bachelor degree (usually after four years of study); qualification of specialist (after five years of study and a diploma project); master degree (after master’s postgraduate courses); candidate degree (after theses defended); the degree of a doctor of science (after the second, more important theses defended).

XIII. Practice

Exercise 1. Tell about the educational system of Ukraine. Use the chart.

Exercise 2. Compare the educational system of Ukraine and Great Britain. What is common? What is different? Use the following plan.

1. Age of compulsory education.

2. Types of schools.

3. Examinations.

4. Professional training.

5. Higher educational establishments.

6. Degrees.

 

Exercise 3. Share your opinion about the comparison. What do you like most in two systems?

Supplementary Reading

Open University

The Open University was established in 1968 to enable people to study for a best degree at home. It started its first course in 1971 with 19,580 students. Now it is Britain’s largest teaching institution, with more than 100,000 men and women taking its various courses at any given time. About 6,000 students of all ages get degrees every year. Its degrees, diplomas and other qualifications are equal to those of any other university.

Apart from the well-known degree courses there are a lot of other courses, some lasting only a few weeks, others ten or twelve months.

Courses cover a wide range of subjects – from every-day topics though traditional university disciplines – history, chemistry, electronics and so on – to the latest manufacturing techniques.

There are nearly 200 courses and in all of them (except for higher degrees) there is only one principle: they are open to everybody. You need no formal academic qualifications to enter them. You must be 18 or over, and resident of the United Kingdom. And of course, you must have the desire to learn.

The OU operates by sending its educational materials to students in their own homes or places of work. It uses not only textbooks which can be bought at bookshop or by post from the OU’s centre at the town of Milton Keynes, but also video, audio cassettes and computer programmes. Students of the OU receive their lessons and lectures in their homes by means of special TV and radio programmes, E-mail. They also work with their tutors all over the country. Students write papers on the courses and discuss them with their tutors at meetings or by correspondance.

The OU’s success os of great interest abroad and a number of countries have bough teaching materials produced at the University.

 

American Educational System

Education in America is largely the business of the individual State, not the Federal Government. Each of fifty states has its own system of education. There is no Ministry of Education such as exist in many countries, no national system of education. The Federal Government of the United States does not interfere in any way with public education within the states.

Americans tend to study a larger number of subjects than Europeans, in school, and particularly at the university. Seven subjects are required for a first degree (Bachelor’s degree) in many colleges. In the USA wide, and sometimes superficial, knowledge is often valued more than specialization.

There are more than two thousand institutions of higher education in the United States. Young people who want to enter higher education must have attended a high school for four years. This means that a student who wants to study at the university or college must begin by doing good work in high school. If his results in high school are satisfactory, he is enrolled to a university or college, where he may take a Bachelor’s degree after a four-year course of study.

The first two years in an American college or university differ somewhat from a similar period in a European one. These years in American college are a continuation of secondary education. During this time certain courses must be completed before a student may begin study of his special field. Among the required courses are American history or government and physical education. In addition to the subjects which the freshmen (first-year students at American university) have to take, they may choose from the following courses to complete their programs of study: history, mathematics, chemistry, physics, French, German, Latin, geography, journalism, economics etc. The courses which students select depend, of course, on the field of study in which he wants to major.

The aim of American education is to create a good citizen, rather than a scholar. That is why great emphasis is placed on the social duties and obligations, on communicating with other people, and obtaining varied information, which will be of practical use in life.

I. Language

1. Vocabulary to be learn: