Undergraduate Education in the usa: Types of Schools

Two main categories of institutions of higher learning are public and private. All schools get money from tuition and from private contributors. However, public schools are also supported by the state in which they're located. Private schools do not receive state funding. A third category is the proprietary (for-profit) school. These usually teach a par­ticular workplace skill. Some of these schools are quite expensive.

Schools can also be grouped by the types of programmes and degrees they offer. The three major groups are community colleges, 4-year colleges, and universities. Community colleges (sometimes called junior colleges) offer only the first 2 years of undergraduate studies (the freshman and sophomore years). They enroll about 5 million students a year. Most community colleges are public schools, supported by local and/or state funds. They serve two general types of students: those taking the first 2 years of college before they transfer to a 4-year school for their third and fourth (junior and senior) years and those enrolled in 1- or 2-year job-training programmes. Community colleges offer training in many areas, such as health occupations, office skills, computer science, police work, and automotive repair.

What is the difference between a college and a university? Size is only part of the ans­wer. Some colleges have a student body of just a few hundred, while some state universities serve more than 100,000 students on several campuses. A university is usually bigger than a college because the scope of its programmes is much greater. A university offers a wider range of undergraduate programmes plus graduate studies. Part of the responsibility of a university is to encourage its faculty and graduate students to do research to advance human knowledge. Colleges, on the other hand, are primarily undergraduate schools. They have no obligation to conduct research.

Many excellent colleges offer studies in the humanities, languages, mathematics, social sciences, and sciences. Liberal arts colleges generally do not offer degrees in engineering, business, journalism, education (teacher training), and many other specific vocations that a student can prepare for at a university.

Some colleges specialize in training students for one occupation (as agricultural colleges and teachers' colleges do). Many undergraduate institutions that are not called colleges also provide higher education in one specific occupation - for example, conservatories for music students, seminaries for students of religion, and fine arts schools for artists.

Taken from The U.S.A. Customs and Traditions by Ethel Tiersky and Martin Tiersky

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► II. Writing

Write an email to your English-speaking friend about the meeting you are going to organize. Include the following information:

• the approximate time of the meeting;

• the place and the circumstances;

• the information your friend is to prepare.

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► III. Speaking

Holidays are a time to spend with friends and family.

• What is your favourite holiday?

• How do your family and friends celebrate this holiday with you?

• Do you have any special traditions you share with your family?

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Examination Card #15

► I. Reading

Read the text. Write a short summary of it (5-6 sentences). Use your own words to express the main idea of the text.