8. Read the text and translate it into Ukrainian.

I submitted my PhD thesis to the Examining Board, and they summoned me for a viva, which is a usual procedure in our country. At the viva the candidate is questioned on the thesis and sometimes on other related topics. Unfortunately, after the viva, the examiners did not manage to come to a joint decision. They did not reject my thesis, but they did not accept it either. They referred it back, which means that the thesis has to be corrected. Thus I can’t get a university position so far, but I hope I’ll make it next time.

9. Translate the text into English.

Ось як зазвичай проводить свій день британський студент. Його робочі години тривають з 9.00 до 13.00. О 9-й годині він іде до наставника (т’ютора) або на лекції. Лекція в університеті триває 50 хвилин. Потім з 14.00 до 17.00 він займається фізичними вправами або спортом. З 17.00 до 19.00 працює у бібліотеці або в лабораторії. Після вечері, як правило, студент у Британії спілкується у молодіжному клубі, що знаходиться на території студентського містечка. Також студенти багато часу витрачають на участь у різних громадських та волонтерських рухах.

10. Role-play the following situations:

1. You are receiving your partners from the University of Oxford. They are ready to tell you about their Alma Mater and their students’ life. You ask your guests about British Universities and the system of higher education in Britain.

2. In pairs, discuss with your fellow-students the following questions:

a) Is it a good thing to leave home at the age of 18 and to go to study at a far away university? What are the advantages and disadvantages?

b) How do British universities differ from universities in our country? What do you like and dislike about the British system of higher education?

3. You are at a coffee party between lectures at London University. Be ready to ask British students about their way of life. (Questions to be likely asked: 1) Are the regulation rules very strict? 2) What are the rules? 3) How late can students stay out? 4) What is the tutor? 5) Must students observe the regulation of wearing a cap and gown? 6) Are the students fined for violation of the rules?, etc.)

4. You are invited to take part in the discussion about British Universities. Make a report on the history of British Universities; on students’ life there; on the system of education at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, on famous people who studied there, etc.

Text for home reading.

The Most Famous British Universities

The most famous universities in Great Britain are The University of Oxford, situated in the city of Oxford, which is the oldest university in the English-speaking world and Cambridge University, which are sometimes referred to collectively as Oxbridge. The two universities have a long history of competition with each other.

Both are collegiate universities, consisting of the university’s central facilities, such as departments and faculties, libraries and science facilities, and then 39 colleges and 7 permanent private halls (PPHs) at Oxford and 31 colleges at Cambridge. All teaching staff and degree students must belong to one of colleges or PPHs. These colleges are not only houses of residence, but have substantial responsibility for the teaching of undergraduates and postgraduates. Some colleges only accept postgraduate students. Only one of the colleges, St Hilda’s, Oxford where Margaret Thatcher was taught, remains single-sex, accepting only women although several of the religious PPHs are male-only.

Cambridge has produced more Nobel prize laureates than any other university in the world, having 80 associated with it, about 70 of whom were students there. It regularly heads league tables ranking British universities, and a resent league table by the Times Higher Education Supplement rated it sixth in the world overall and first for science.

The colleges and PPHs of Oxbridge are effectively institutions independent of the university itself and enjoy considerable autonomy. For example, colleges decide which students they are to admit, and appoint their own fellows (senior members). They are responsible for the domestic arrangements and welfare of students and for small group teaching, referred to as supervisions.

Other notable universities include colleges of the University of London, such as Imperial College, one of the strongest homes of science in the world, the London School of Economics and such newer groups as the Redbrick universities, built in Victorian times, such as the University of Manchester and Birmingham University.