15. The system of higher education in Great Britain

There is a broad choice of post-school education in Britain. In addition to universities, there are also different types of colleges, such as colleges of technology, art, etc. These institutions provide more work-oriented courses than universities. Some of these courses are part-time. If a student is a worker, he may be given for his studies one day a week or more by his employer. British students on full-time courses receive no grants or loans from the government. They have to work part-time to support themselves if the support of their families is inadequate.

Universities in Britain enjoy complete academic freedom. They can choose their own staff and decide which students to admit, and what and how to teach, and which degrees to award (first degree is called Bachelor’s degree). They are mainly government-funded. The only totally-independent university in Britain is the University of Buckingham.

There is no automatic admission to university, as there are only a limited number of places (around 100,000) available each year. Candidates are accepted on the basis of their A-level result. Usually all degree courses are full-time and last three years. Medical and veterinary courses last for five years.

Graduates can apply to take a further degree course. There are two different types of post-graduate courses – the Master’s degree (MA or MSc – Master of Arts or Master of Science). This takes one or two years. The higher degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) takes two or three years.

16. Prominent people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

Queen Elizabeth I, the last of the Tudor monarchs, was the daughter of Henry VIII. She received an excellent classical education, and could read Latin and Greek, spoke French and Italian fluently.

People rejoiced when Elizabeth became queen after her elder sister Mary’s death in 1558. Elizabeth was an intelligent, courageous and determined woman. People often called her Good Queen Bess.

Elizabeth made her first task the settlement of England’s religious affairs. She wanted to stop religious struggle. The queen tried to gradually spread Protestant religion, without offending the Catholics too much.

During Elizabeth’s reign England became a great sea power. English sailors Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh made raids on the Spanish colonies in America and captured Spanish ships that carried treasure from the New World to Spain.

In 1588, the Invincible Armada was defeated. It was a great victory for England.

The Elizabethan age was one of the greatest periods of English literature. Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were only a few of the many writers who created their great works at that time.

Elizabeth’s court became a centre of culture for English musicians, poets, scholars and artists. The English were proud of their country and their queen.

17. A “typical” British family life

The English are a nation of stay-at-home. “There is no place like home”, they say. And when the man is not working he is at home in the company of his wife and children and busies himself with the affairs of the home. “The Englishman’s home is his castle”, is a saying known all over the world. And it is true.

A “typical” British family used to consist of mother, father and two children. Nowadays, the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. There are a lot of one-parent families. Society is now more tolerant of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents.

The people are living longers, and many old people live alone following the death of their parents. There are many households which consist of only one person or one person and children.

Members of the family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their home town to work, and so the family becomes scattered. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions.

In general, each generation becomes independent of parents in establishing its own family unit.

Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work.