Higher Education in Great Britain

After leaving secondary school young people can apply to a university, a polytechnic or a college of further education.

Higher education has become more available in the second half of the 20^th century. Universities take the better student, that’s why nearly all students complete their studies. The normal course of study lasts 3-4 years. Students aren’t supposed to take a job during the term. Unless their parents are rich, they receive a state grant, which covers most of their expenses, including the cost of accommodation. Quite a lot of students live on campus (or in college) or in

There are 126 universities in Britain. There are no great distinctions between different types of British universities. But still there are some categories of them. They are divided into 5 categories:

· The Old ones, which were founded before the 19th century, such as Oxford and Cambridge;

· The Red Brick, which were founded in the 19th or 20th century;

· The Plate Glass, which were founded in 1960s;

· The Open University, it is the only university offering extramural education. Students learn subjects at home and then post ready exercises off to their tutors for marking;

· The New ones. They are former polytechnic academies and colleges.

The best universities, in view of "The Times" and "The Guardian", are The University of Oxford, The University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, London Imperial College, London University College.

Universities usually select students basing on their A-level results and an interview.

After three years of study a university graduate get the Degree of a Bachelor of Arts, Science or Engineering. Many students then continue their studies for a Master's Degree and then a Doctor's Degree (PhD).

For seven hundred years Oxford and Cambridge universities dominated the British education. Scotland had four universities, all founded before A. D. 1600. Wales only acquired a university in the 20th century; it consisted of four university colleges located in different cities (Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor, and Aberystwyth). The first English university after Oxford and Cambridge (sometimes referred to as Oxbridge) was Durham, in the North of England, founded in 1832. The University of London was founded a few years later in 1836.

During the 19^th century institutions of higher education were founded in most of the biggest industrial towns, like Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield (sometimes called the Redbrick Universities). At first they did not have full university status but were known as university colleges; since 1945, however, all have become independent universities, and in recent years a number of other universities have been founded: Sussex, Essex, Warwick, and others.

In the middle 60s there was a further new development. Some of the local technical colleges maintained by local authorities had gained special prestige. By 1967 ten of these had been given charters as universities. Many of them are in the biggest cities where there were already established universities; so now we have the University of Aston (Birmingham), Salford (close to Manchester), Strathclyde (Glasgow), Herriot-Watt University (Edinburgh), and Brunei University (London).

When we add all these together we find that the number of universities in England increased within ten years from nineteen to thirty-six, and in Scotland from four to eight.

 

Oxbridge

Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest universities in GB. They are called Oxbridge to denote an elitee education. Only rich people send their children to these universities. The main characteristic feature of these universities is the tutorial (that means individual tuition). The normal length of the degree course is 3 years, after which the students take the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Some courses may be a year or two longer.

Oxford is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Oxford had existed as a city for at least 300 years before scholars began to resort to it. The end of the 12^th century saw the real beginning of the University. A characteristic feature of Oxford is that many traditions of the Middle Ages are still current there. One of them is that the students have to wear gowns.

Oxford University is a federation of colleges, and it is impossible to understand its structure unless one first understands the nature and function of these colleges, which have no resemblance whatever with the institutions called "colleges" in America.

Oxford has twenty-nine ordinary colleges for men, five for women and another five have both men and women members. All these are parallel institutions, and none of them is connected with any particular field of study. No matter what subject a student proposes to study he may study at any of the men's colleges.

Each college has a physical existence in the shape of a dining-hall, chapel, and residential rooms (enough to accommodate about half the student membership, the rest living in lodgings in the town). It is governed by its Fellows (commonly called " dons "), of whom there are usually about twenty or thirty. The dons are also responsible for teaching the students of the college through the tutorial system. The Fellows elect the Head of the college (whose title varies from college to college).

The colleges vary very much in size and extent of grounds and buildings.

Colleges choose their own students, and a student only becomes a member of the University by having been accepted by a college. Students are chosen mainly on academic merit, but the policy of colleges in this respect varies from college to college. Some tend to be rather keen to admit a few men who are very good at rugby or some other sport, or sons of former students or of lords, or of eminent citizens, or of millionaires.

The colleges and university buildings are scattered about the town, mostly in the central area, though the scientific laboratories and the women's colleges are quite a long way out.

The university teachers are mostly Fellows of colleges, who may at the same time hold university appointments as lecturers or professors. Part of the teaching is by means of lectures and any student may attend any university lecture. At the beginning of each term (there are three terms in the Oxford academic year) a list is published showing all the lectures being given during the term within each faculty, and every student can choose which lectures he will attend, though his own college tutor will advise him which lectures seem likely to be more useful. Attendance at lectures is not compulsory, and no records of attendance are kept.

Apart from lectures, teaching is by means of the "tutorial" system, which is a system of individual tuition organized by the colleges. Each Fellow in a college is tutor in his own subject to the undergraduates who are studying it. Each student goes to his tutor’s room once every week to read out an essay which he has written, and for an hour he and the tutor discuss the essay. A student does not necessarily go only to his own tutor but may be assigned to another don in his own college or in another college when he is studying some particular topic which is outside the special interest of his own tutor.

Cambridge University dates back as the 13^th century. Today there are more than 30 colleges. The oldest one is Peterhouse (founded in 1284) and the most recent is Robinson College (1977). But the most famous is the King’s College. The building is the real example of English 15^th century architecture. Until 1871 the University was only for men. In 1871 the first women’s college was opened. In 1970s most colleges admitted both men and women.

Students at Oxbridge have different societies and clubs. Different sports are very popular, but the most popular sports are rowing and punting.

Every year at the end of March a contest between Oxford and Cambridge universities takes place on the River Thames.

 

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