I.Higher Education
Out of more than three million students who graduate from high school each year, about one million go on for “higher education”. It is not easy to enter a college at a leading university in the United States. Such a college may accept only one out of every ten who apply. At present there are over 3,300 different institutions of higher education in the USA with more than 12 million students.
American institutions of higher education include: Junior Colleges, Colleges of Liberal Arts, Specialized Institutions and Universities.
1. Junior Colleges. These institutions of higher education offer two-year programmes beyond the secondary school level. Courses are divided into two programmes, one leading to a transfer to a four-year college at the end of two years, the other usually leading to a profession (shop work, office work, etc.) at the completion of the junior college.
2. A Four-Year College is generally defined as an institution of higher learning that offers courses of instruction over a four-year period and grants a bachelor’s degree at the conclusion of studies. Of the four-year institutions 28 percent are public, and 72 percent are private, but most of the students, about 80 percent, study at public institutions of higher education, because tuition fees here are much lower.
3. Colleges of Liberal Arts. They train 25% of specialists. Their programmes are aimed at providing a broad education base in philosophy, science and culture. Course work is often organized so that students may choose a specialization in one particular field during the third and fourth years of the programme. Some of these colleges are private, others are run by the state.
The students are known as the freshmen, the sophomores, the juniors and the seniors. Candidates for BA (Bachelor of Arts) should do Latin, Greek, history, philosophy, at least 1 modern European language, English, political economy. A Bachelor of Science (BS) is a degree in sciences such as chemistry and physics. A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is in the creative fields such as sculpture and painting.
A college prepares the student for two things: either for graduate (Br. post-graduate) study leading to a master’s or doctor’s degree, or a job immediately after graduation.
4. Specialized Institutions are theological schools, art schools, teacher training colleges and other specialized institutions that emphasize intensive concentration in a speciality.
5. Universities are scattered all over the USA. There are over 200 of them, some belonging to “Ivy League” and called “Ivy League Universities”. The name Ivy League comes from the ivy that grows on the old buildings of the colleges. This name came about when first universities were founded. The founders wanted those universities to look like English ones and they planted ivy to give them the look of ages.
This name “Ivy League” is also spread on those who went through this kind of universities. These north-eastern universities include Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania. Harvard and Yale are rather like Oxford and Cambridge in England. These institutions are very expensive, with high tuition fees, although scholarships are available to help students who cannot pay for themselves.
Every state in the US maintains at least one university. Programmes in them are often adapted to serve local needs.
The best universities are: California University (they do a lot of linguistic research there), Michigan University (maths, nuclear and chemical research), University or Illinois, State University of New York and some others.
The university campus in the US with the most students is Ohio State University at Columbus which has about 60000 students (campus is the land on which a college or university stands). Many universities have more than one campus. The system with the most students, the California State University system, includes 20 universities and has a total of about 350000 students. The State University of New York is the second biggest system in the US.
The academic year is usually of 9 months duration, or two semesters of 4 and a half months each. Classes usually begin in September and end in July. During one term a student studies 4 or 5 different subjects. The students’ progress is evaluated through oral or written tests, term or course papers or a final examination in each course.
A distinctive feature of American universities is the separation of graduate from undergraduate education. There are two degrees: Master’s and Doctor’s. The most common Master’s degree programme represents a minimum of 1 year, sometimes 2 or even 3 of study in a certain field in cooperation with his adviser. This is not, however, considered to be a research degree, but rather preparation for the PhD, which is the highest degree confirmed by in American graduate school. The candidate for the Degree of PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is usually required to pass examinations in 1 or 2 subordinate subjects, to possess a reading knowledge of French and German, and to submit the dissertation which contains the results of his research.
Members of the faculty or the instructional staff at universities are classified or ranked. The highest rank possible is that of full professor. The next 3 ranks are associate professor, assistant professor and instructor.