Higher Education in the United Kingdom
There are many academic institutions in the U.K. that make up the system of higher education.
The universities have traditionally been regarded as centres of academic learning, in contrast to polytechnics, which have focused on vocational (work-related) education. However, this distinction has gradually disappeared. Nowadays both types of institutions run similar courses to equally high academic standards.
You can also study at degree level at colleges of higher education. These institutions are generally smaller than universities, and tend to concentrate on more specialized fields of study, such as education, art and design, music and drama.
Each UK university and college has its own identity and traditions. There may be campus and non-campus universities. In a campus university the accommodation, libraries, lecture theaters and seminar rooms are concentrated in one area of the town or city. At a non-campus university or college, the departments and facilities are spread out across a wider area.
Entry to the institutions of higher education is by selection, usually based on examination grades, and is competitive in most subjects. The most common requirements for entry into establishments of higher education are General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and A-levels.
The general pattern of teaching and learning on full-time courses of higher education is a mixture of lectures, seminars and tutorials, essays, exercises and tests.
A lecture is given to a large group of students. It is a talk on a certain topic of study which lasts about an hour. The titles of lectures are usually available at the beginning of each term, so that students have a chance to find out about the subject before the lecture. Seminars usually consist of a group discussion of ideas and opinions about a particular field of study. Once or twice a term, students will have a tutorial. This means that they see a tutor alone to discuss their work and their progress.
Each university and department has its own method of assessment. Most universities and colleges still use some form of written examinations. These can last up to three hours. Students have to answer three or four questions in an essay form. In general, progress is measured through a combination of course work, dissertation and final examinations.
When they first arrive at college, first year university students are called “freshers”. Often freshers live in a Hall of Residence or near the college campus. They may move out into a rented room in their second or third year, or share a house with friends.
Traditionally, the academic year is split into three terms – autumn (late September/early October to mid December), spring (January to late March/early April) and summer (April to mid July). The year begins with Freshers’ Week – a week of music, entertainment and activities designed to introduce new students to student life.
The first degree titles are Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BS). First degree courses are called undergraduate courses. Many students wish to enhance their first degree with further study in a particular vocational or professional area. In Britain there are thousands of postgraduate courses.
A great number of courses are taught at Master degree level. The title of the degree may change depending on the subject studied. The most common are MA (Master of Arts), MS (Master of Science), MBA (Master of Business Administration) and others. These courses normally last for a full calendar year and include coursework (lectures, seminars, tutorials). The postgraduate student may be asked to complete a project or carry out research work in order to produce thesis or dissertation. If you wish to study for a doctorate, the master’s degree will be an entry requirement in most universities and colleges. Doctoral degrees are awarded for original research, followed by a presentation and defense of a thesis. People can take PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) degree in both arts and science subjects. A doctorate can take four years or more to complete.
For seven hundred years Oxford and Cambridge Universities dominated the British education. Oxford has 38 ordinary colleges for men, 1 for women. Each college has a dining-hall, a chapel and residential rooms. 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. Every student can choose which lectures he will attend. Attendance at lectures is not compulsory.
Cambridge University has more than 30 colleges today. The oldest of them is Peterhouse which was founded in 1284, and the most recent is Robinson College which was opened in 1977. The University was exclusively for men until 1871 when the first woman’s college was opened. Almost all colleges are mixed now, they open their doors to both men and women.
Scotland had four universities, all founded before AD 1600 (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews). Wales only acquired a university in the twentieth century. The first English university after Oxford and Cambridge (sometimes referred to as Oxbridge) was Durham, founded in 1832. The University of London was founded a few years later in 1836. During the nineteenth century institutions of higher education were founded in most of the biggest industrial towns, like Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield (sometimes called the Redbrick Universities).
In 1967 the Open University was set up. As the university is truly “open”, there are no formal entry requirements. Students are accepted on a “first come, first served” basis. Most of the students work at home or in full-time jobs and can study only in their free time. The students are of all ages and come from very different backgrounds. Some, such as teachers, want to improve their qualifications. Others, like retired people or mothers whose families have grown up, are at the Open University because they now have time to do something they have always wanted to do.
So, the variety of educational opportunities in the UK is enormous.
(Adapted from the Internet sites)
3.2 What new facts have you learnt from the text?
Comprehension check
4.1 Answer the following questions:
1. What used to be the difference between universities and polytechnics?
2. What differences can be seen between universities and colleges of higher education?
3. How can you define a campus/non-campus university?
4. What are the most common requirements to higher education?
5. What is a tutorial?
6. What are the forms and methods of assessment in most universities?
7. What parts is the academic year traditionally divided into?
8. What is the traditional beginning of the academic year?
9. How are the first degree courses called?
10. How can students enhance their first degree?
11. What kinds of study work do the courses for master's degree include?
12. What is a doctoral degree awarded for?
13. How many colleges does Oxford University include?
14. What kinds of colleges are there in Cambridge University?
15. What universities were there in Scotland in the 16th century?
16. When was the first university of London founded?
17. What institutions of higher education were opened in the 19th century?
18. When was the Open University set up?
19. Why is the university called "The Open University"?
4.2 Agree or disagree with the following statements:
1. There is a certain distinction between universities and polytechnics.
2. Colleges of higher education train students in a specialized field of study.
3. Entry to universities is based on competition.
4. Students know the titles of the lectures at the beginning of the term.
5. Tutorial is a group discussion of ideas.
6. Assessment is based on course work, dissertation and final examinations.
7. Freshers tend to live in a rented room.
8. The UK academic year starts with entertaining week.
9. There are three degree titles in the UK universities.
10. PhD is awarded in philosophy.
11. Cambridge University used to be for men only.
12. The Open University has no entry requirements.
Vocabulary
5.1 Give English equivalents of the following Russian words and word combinations:
высшее образование; классическое/теоретическое обучение; профессионально направленное обучение; территория университетского городка; условия поступления, приема; научное исследование; методика оценки знаний; курсовая работа; дипломная работа, проект; научная степень; жилье, место для проживания; общежитие (университетское); подготовить проектную работу; выполнить какое-либо исследование; представление и защита диссертации, посещение лекций, повысить квалификацию.
5.2 Complete the sentences. Choose the right word from the list of words suggested below.
1. The variety of academic institutions in the UK makes up the system of…
2. The universities have always been centres of…, while polytechnics used to focus on…
3. GCSE and A-levels are the most common…into higher education.
4. In a… university all the buildings are situated in one area of the city.
5. Each university uses its own…
6. In the course of studies students write…
7. Usually first-year students live in a…
8. The most common first degree… are BA and BS.
9. A lot of students want to…their first degree.
10. The postgraduate student carries out…
method of assessment; requirements for entry; higher education; research work; Hall of residence; vocational education; campus; academic education; titles; enhance.
Supplementary reading
6.1 Read the text to know more about Cambridge.
Cambridge
Yet Cambridge was important long before the University existed. Here, at the meeting of dense forests to the south and trackless, marshy Fens to the north, was the lowest reliable fording place of the River Cam, or Granta. In the first century BC an Iron Age Belgic tribe built a settlement on what is now Castle Hill. Around AD40 the Romans took over the site and it became the crossing point for the Via Devana which linked Colchester with the legions in Lincoln and beyond. The Saxons followed, then the Normans under William the Conqueror, who raised a castle on a steep mound as a base for fighting the Saxon rebel, Hereward the Wake, deep in the Fens at Ely. The motte of William's castle still stands and Ely Cathedral is visible from the top on a clear day.
The first scholars didn't arrive in Cambridge until 1209 and another 75 years passed before Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse, the first college. Clare (1326), Pembroke (1347), Gonville and Caius (1348), Trinity Hall (1350) and Corpus Christi (1352) were established in the first half of the fourteenth century. Ten more colleges were founded during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, including Christ's (1505), King's (1441), Queens' (1448), Jesus (1496), St. John's (1511), Trinity (1546), and Emmanuel (1584).
Henry VI took nearly a quarter of the medieval city for King's College; Henry VIII united two existing colleges to make Trinity grand enough to rival Christ Church in the “Other Place”. Women didn't have a proper college until Girton (founded in 1869) opened in 1873. There are now thirty one colleges; the latest is Robinson College founded in 1977 by a local millionaire.
The colleges contain the great architectural treasures of Cambridge. Founded not by remote bureaucrats, but by kings, queens (Queens' was founded by two queens), bishops, nobles, guilds and rich widows, they attracted powerful patrons and large endowments of land and money. Such wealth, plus natural discrimination, led the colleges to use the best architects – whether unknown Tudor masons, Sir Christopher Wren or Powell and Moya – to create beautiful buildings that reflect perfectly 700 years of British architectural heritage. It is a heritage symbolised by the soaring windows and fan vaults of King's College Chapel.
As the colleges grew so too did the University with its own fine buildings: the Old Schools (1350), the Senate House (1722-30), The Pitt Press (1833), and the University Library (1934). The Fitzwilliam Museum (started in 1834) is only the grandest and most renowned of several excellent University museums.
And the wheel of change continues to turn: Cambridge is no longer a sleepy university cum market town. It is a bustling city of over 109,000 people in the vanguard of the high-technology revolution. It is a city with many good shops (the extraordinary variety and quality of the bookshops is a debt undoubtedly owed to the University), international conferences, and exciting festivals each summer.
(Adapted from the Internet sites)
6.2 Read the text to know more about the Open University.
The Open University
The university that calls itself "the Open University" suggests that all other universities are closed. And this is true, because they are closed to everyone who does not have the time, the opportunity or the qualifications to study there. For these people, who missed the chance of going to a conventional university, "the Open University" was set up in 1967.
Most of its students work at home or in full-time jobs and can study only in their free time. They need to study about ten hours a week. As the university is truly "open", there are no formal entry requirements (none of the usual "A" Level examinations are asked for), and students are accepted on a "first come, first served" basis. This is one of the most revolutionary aspects of the university.
Its students are therefore of all ages and come from very different backgrounds. Some, such as teachers, want to improve their qualifications. Others, like retired people or mothers whose families have grown up, are at the Open University because they now have time to do something they have always wanted to do.
Returning to "school" is difficult for most students, for they have forgotten - or never knew - how to study, to write essays, and to prepare for exams. In addition to all the reading and writing assignments, students have got a lot of watching and listening to do, for there are weekly O.U. lectures broadcast on BBC television and radio.
To keep people from just giving up or collapsing under all of this work, each student gets the help and support of his own tutor/counsellor, whom he meets regularly and can telephone in any crisis or difficulty. At the meeting, students get to know other students on the course and join with them into "self-help" groups. These groups meet in each other's homes to discuss the texts and assignments; here too they find support and stimulation.
As an "Open University" student, the nearest you get to ordinary university life is at the summer schools, which you must attend in the first year. You spend a week at a college or university, taking courses, having discussions, and working hard in an exciting atmosphere. They discover that they have begun to master the skills and discipline of university study.
By the time the exams come in October, you feel much more confident and optimistic about your return to student life. Your final mark is based on the exam and the written assignments done during the year. If you pass - and most people do - you have gone one credit towards the six that you need for a degree. At the usual rate of a course a year, it will take you six (or eight) years to get your degree.
(Adapted from the Internet sites)
6.3 Read the text to know more about Oxford University.