1. Answer the questions.

1. What was Stephen Leacock?

2. On what subjects are there no courses of lectures at Oxford?

3. Who is a key figure at Oxford?

4. How do students learn all they know?

5. How does a tutor do it according to students?

6. In what way does the tutor operate according to Leacock?

7. What does he need for the active operation of his intellect?

8. On what disciplines is there general emphasis in the American and

Canadian Universities and colleges: on applied (прикладные) or fundamental (теоретические) disciplines?

9. What is Leacock's attitude to these subjects?

10. Does he find them necessary for university education?

11. How do the students understand the work of a tutor?

2. Speak about.

a. lectures at Oxford according to Leacock and according to Oxford student

b. Oxford in comparison with American and Canadian Universities

c. Leacock's point of view on education

Text 4

Read the text and be ready to speak about the University of London.

The university of london

If one is walking in the theatre district of London's West End near Leicester Square and Piccadilly, and wanders along Tottenham Court Road toward Euston Station, on the skyline one sees an arresting sight — a towering, whitish, blunt-ended monolith among needle-like church towers. R's impossible not to stop and stare at it, this — London's tallest office building, the twenty-some storey library tower of Senate House¹, University of London. It's this university I want to tell you about, hoping that some day you yourself will come to London and complete my description.

But to begin at the beginning. In the early nineteenth century Oxford and Cambridge were the only two universities in England. The cost of education at these universities was so high that only the sons of the wealthier classes could afford to attend. But more restrictive still were the religious tests; only Church of England members could attend. It was to overcome these limitations that in 1827, in Gower Street, London, a non-denominational college, "University College" was founded. Its first years were years of struggle for survival against hostile forces of Church and State. The "godless" college was opposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Robert Peel and the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington², who in 1831 opened a rival institution, — King's College.

In 1836 these two institutions, University College and King's through a typically English compromise joined forces. Each retained the control of its own internal organisation, faculty, and teaching; a separate body the University of London, was created to "conduct the examination of and to confer degrees upon, their students". Thus was born the University of London. In the early years a candidate for a University of London degree was forced to attend either University College or King's.

The long reign of Victoria³ saw many and rapid changes in the University. Medical schools of the various teaching hospitals, Bedford College for women, Imperial College of Science and Technology, and many other schools and colleges became a part of the federal university. The famed" London School of Economics was a new-comer in 1895.

To-day the University has much the same form of organisation adapted to accommodate its increased size and complexity. It is governed by a Vice-Chancellor, a Court, and a Senate. The Senate composed of representatives of the constituent colleges and schools, nominees of the crown, the London County Council,"* certain professional bodies and graduates, is the supreme academic authority. The Court, also a broadly representative body, allocates to the colleges money derived from the national government and the London County Council, fin brief, the University of London is a federation of colleges, each largely independent, and the whole independent of the British Parliament in academic matters.

The "Department of Extra-Mural Studies”⁵ enrolls nearly 12,000 persons. There are in London four faculties of Theology, thirteen of Arts, thirty-one of Medicine, ten of Science, etc. At present there are ten "Institutes" of which the Institute of Education is one. About one-fifth of the university students in the United Kingdom are at the U. of L.

University buildings and hostels are scattered the length breadth of London.

In many ways the University has departed from the traditions of Oxford and Cambridge. London was the first to abolish religious tests, to admit women in England for degrees, grant degrees without residence.

The cap and gown are missing in classes here but the tradition of scholarship is strong.

Notes to the text.

1. Senate House - главное здание университета

2. The Duke of Wellington - герцог Веллингтонский, полководец

3. Victoria - английская королева Виктория

4. The London Country Council - муниципальный совет Лондона

5. Department of Extra-Mural Studies - отделение заочного обучения