2. Say which facts given in the text were new to you.

Text 5

Private and State Colleges and Universities

Harvard College was established in 1636, with the principal purpose of providing a literate ministry for colonial churches. It was a small institution, enrolling only 20 students in 1642 and 60 in 1660. It soon be­came more than a theological training school and es­tablished itself as a liberal arts college. The next insti­tution of higher learning established in the American colonies was the College of William and Mary, which opened in 1693 at Williamsburg, Virginia. Other col­leges were founded in the next century, but all of them remained small schools for long periods. Students en­tered at the age of 14 and remained until they were 18, and the curriculum, while rigidly academic and classic was by modern standards rather secondary in nature.

Private colle­ges and universi­ties were estab­lished in various states. The first state university was the Univer­sity of Virginia, founded in 1819. Some state uni­versities have lar­ge endowment fu­nds which pro­vide a substantial portion of their support. Other sources of income are stu­dent fees, gifts and endowments.

In general, higher education in the USA may be di­vided into two broad fields: liberal arts and professional. Each of these fields may be further subdivided into un­dergraduate and graduate levels. The liberal arts program, on the undergraduate level, may be a two-year junior college course, or a four-year course leading to a degree of Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science. The four-year course is usually subdivided into a lower division (which may be called the junior college), consisting of the two first years, and the upper division, which is the last two years. The first two years continue the general education and specialization begins in the third year.

1. Remember the words and word-combinations:

literate ministry — грамотные священнослужители

theological training school — школа богословия

endowment [in'daumənt] funds — фонды пожертвований.

2. Skim through the text and say which of its paragraphs gives the information about:

a) state universities,

b) the first institutions of higher learning in the country,

c) the two broad fields of higher education.

3. Find answers to the following questions in the text:

1) When was Harvard College established?

2) What was its original purpose?

3) Was it a big or small institution?

4) How many students studied at it at first?

5) What was the next institution of higher learning established in the American colonies?

6) Which was the first state university?

7) Which sources does the income of a state univer­sity come from?

8) Does a state university charge student fees?

9) What are the two fields of higher education in the USA?

10) What are further subdivisions of these fields?

Text 6

Colleges and Universities

American colleges and universities are either public or private, that is, supported by public funds or supported privately by a church group or other groups acting as private citizens although under a state charter.

A public institution is owned and operated by a go­vernment, either a state or a municipal government. The government appropriates large sums of money for the institution's expenses. Yet these sums are normally not suf­ficient to cover all expenses, and so the institution is partially dependent on student fees and on gifts.

A private institution receives no direct financial aid from any government, municipal, state or federal. The money used to pay the operating expenses has a threefold origin: tuition fees paid by the students, money given in the form of gifts for immediate use, and the income from invested capital in the possession of the institution and originally received by the institution in the form of the gifts to be invested with only the income to be spent.

Of the nation's nearly 1,900 institutions of higher learn­ing roughly one-third are state or city institutions. About 1,200 are privately controlled. Approximately 700 of these are con­trolled by religious groups. Less than half of these institutions are liberal art colleges and universities which stress the lan­guages, history, science and philosophy. The rest are profes­sional and technological schools and junior colleges.

A college is generally defined as an institution of higher learning which offers a course of instruction over a four-year period, and which grants a bachelor's degree at the conclusion of studies. As part of university, a college graduate is distinguish­ed from a graduate of professional school. However, the profess­ional schools in some universities are called colleges.

A college prepares the student for two things: either graduate study leading to master's or doctor's degree or a job immediately after graduation. A student who majors in business administration for example, may be fully prepared fop a career in business when he has finished college.

On the other hand, a student majoring in psychology often must do a great deal of graduate work before he is competent in this field.

Students are classified as freshmen, sophomores, jun­iors and seniors. A freshman is a first year student, a sophomore, a second year student, a junior, a third year student, and a senior, a fourth year student. All students who have graduated from the senior class and who con­tinue studying at a university are classified as advanced stu­dents or graduate students. Some graduate students receive grants which cover the cost of their education; a person on such a fellowship is called a university fellow.