Unit 2 Universities in Great Britain

Vocabulary notes

law - закон, юриспруденция

engineering - техника

commerce - торговля

tutor - руководитель

provide - обеспечивать

equal - равный

full-time students - студенты дневного отделения

applied sciences - прикладные науки

chiefly - главным образом

by means of - с помощью...

instruction - обучение

attend - посещать

essentially - в основном

digestion - отдых

undergraduate - студент

dean - декан

proctor - проктор, инспектор студентов

grant degrees - присуждать звание, учёную степень

to devote - посвящать

observation - наблюдение

to extend - продолжаться

experience - опыт

noble - благодарный scholar - учёный curriculum - программа assert - оценивать judgement – суждение

Text 1

Read the text and be ready to speak about education in Great Britain.

Higher education in great brit an and some aspects of british university life

The structure of higher education in Great Britain is very complex. There are four main types of higher educational institutions: universities, colleges of advanced technology, technical colleges and teacher-training colleges.

A university consists of a large number of faculties: medicine, art, philosophy, law,

music, natural sciences, economics, engineering, agriculture, commerce, education and theology. The course of study at the University generally lasts 3-4 years.

Of all British Universities Oxford is the oldest because its history goes back to the 12^th century. Cambridge University was founded in the 13^th century. These two universities are considered the best in Great Britain as the standards of teaching are very high there. Both universities fire the most "aristocratic" ones in Britain. The cost of living and education there is higher than at any other University. In general, higher education in Great Britain is paid.

The system of education at these universities is rather unusual: the teaching is based on lectures and the so-called tutorial system. It means that each student has a teacher or a tutor who plans his work. The tutor recommends the student to attend some lectures if they are interesting for his work Each week some students come to see their tutor and he discusses with them the work which they have done.

Each academic year has three terms (from 8 to 10 weeks each) with vacations between two terms.

Colleges of advanced technology are in status equal to universities' and in fact they are technological universities. They provide their students with higher technical education.

Technical colleges train specialists in one of the fields of national economy, for example, food technology, heating, ventilation, refrigeration, engineering, etc.

As to teacher-training colleges, they provide the country with highly educated teachers for schools, colleges, and universities.

There are 46 universities in Britain, including the Open University, compared with 17 in 1945. During the 1960s eight new universities were founded, and ten of the old technical colleges were converted into universities.

The English universities can be divided into three main groups:

1. The old universities: Oxford and Cambridge (or "Oxbridge").

2. Civic universities (or "Redbrick"): Birmingham, Bristol. Durham. Exeter. Hull, Keele, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Notting­ham. Reading, Sheffield and Southampton.

3. The new universities. These universities were founded after I960. Sussex(at Brighton), York, East Anglia(at Norwich), Essex(at Colchester), Lancaster, Warwick(at Coventry), Kent(at Canterbury) and some others. Scotland has four old universities (St, Andrews, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, all dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) and four new ones, Strathclyde (Glasgow), Heriot-Watt (Edinburgh), Dundee, and Stirling. The federated University of Wales comprises seven constituent institutions. In Northern Ireland there is the Queen's University of Del fast and the new University of Ulster in Coleraine.

Of the full-time students now attending English Universities three quarters are men, and one quarter women. Nearly half of them are engaged in the study of arts subjects such as history, languages, economics or law, the others are studying pure or applied sciences such as medicine, dentistry, technology, or agriculture.

The University of London, for instance, includes internal and external students, the latter coming to London only to sit for their examinations. Actually most external students at London University are living in London. The colleges in the University of London are essentially teaching institutions, providing instruction chiefly by means of lectures, which are attended mainly by day students. The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, however, are essentially residential institutions and they mainly use a tutorial method which brings the tutor into close and personal contact with the student. These colleges, being residential are far smaller than most of' the colleges of the University of London.

Education of University standard is also given in other institutions such as colleges of technology and agricultural colleges, which prepare their students for degrees or diplomas in their own fields.

The three terms into which the British University year is divided are roughly eight to ten weeks. Each term is crowded with activity, and the vacations between the terms - a month at. Christmas, a month at Easter, aid three or four months in summer - are main periods of intellectual digestion and private study.

Notes to the text.

college of advanced technology - технологический колледж

университетского типа;

tutorial system - система прикрепления студентов к отдельным

преподавателям;

theology - богословие.