Translate the text with the dictionary. University Education in Great Britain

Higher education, consisting of degree and equivalent courses, has experienced a dramatic expansion. One in three young people now enters higher education compared with one in six in 1995.

There are some 170 universities and higher education institutions which enjoy academic freedom. First degree courses are mainly full time and usually last three years, with longer courses in subjects such as medicine. Universities offer courses in a wide range of subjects.

Higher education is largely financed by public funds although students who have begun their studies since September 1998 make a contribution of up to ₤1,000 towards their tuition fees. This contribution is means-tested, so that tuition is free for students from lower income families.

The maintenance grant has been replaced by a maintenance loan. This applies to students who have started since September 1998. The loan is partly means-tested, so that only students from lower income families are given the full loan.

Large numbers of people come to Britain from other countries to study. About 270,000 overseas students attend publicly funded higher and further education institutions in Britain.

Further education has traditionally been characterised by part-time vocational courses for those who leave school at the age of 16 but need to acquire a skill, in the manual or technical field.

Higher education has also undergone a massive expansion. In 1995 only 573,000, i.e. 16 per cent of young people were given full-time higher education. Ten years later the number was 1,150,000, no less than 30 per cent of their age group.

Oxford and Cambridge, founded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries respectively, are the most famous of Britain’s universities. Today “Oxbridge”, as the two together are known, educate less than one-twentieth of Britain’s total university student population. But they continue to attract many of the best brains, partly on account of their prestige, but also on account of the beauty of many of their buildings and surroundings.

Both universities grew gradually as federations of independent colleges, most of which were founded in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In both universities, however, new colleges are periodically established, for example Green College, Oxford (1979) and Robinson College, Cambridge (1977).

Scotland boasts four ancient universities: Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Andrews and Aberdeen, all founded in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

2. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form.

A. How many languages … (you/speak)?

B. How many languages do you speak?

1. What time … (the bank/close) in Britain? 2. I have a car but I … (not/use) it very often. 3. What … (you/do)? I am a naval architect. 4. Where … (your father) come from? He … (come) from Scotland. 5. I don’t understand the word “wonderful”. What … “wonderful” … (mean)? 6. if you need money, why … (you/not/get) a job? 7. Most people … (not/work) on Sundays.