1.Сomprehension questions:

1. How many terms do English schools have a year? 2. How long is a midterm break? 3. At what age do all schools assess children’s progress? 4. What is the system of marking? 5. What is set besides standard assessment tests? 6. What does GCSE include? 7. Who is AS designed for? 8. What is the GNVQ? 9. What are the three distinct levels of the GNVQ? 10. What exams must pupils take to enter university? 11. How many A levels do pupils need to go to university? 12. Are GNVQ vocational qualifications? What do usually pupils take? 13. What is the CPVE? 14. Until what age do children stay in primary cycle in Scotland? 15. What do they take at the age of 16? 16. Does school uniform differ from school to school in Great Britain? 17. What are the favourite colours for school uniform? 18. What rules must the pupils keep at school? 19. How can pupils be punished if they violate school regulations? 20. Is corporal punishment allowed? 21. What time does school usually begin? 22. What time are the classes over? 23. How long does a lesson last?

2. Give english equivalents:

Система оценок, расписание, семестр, Пасха, оценивать успеваемость детей, система проверки ученических работ, в процентах, сертификат о среднем образовании, экзамен по окончании, экзамен предусмотрен для, три разных уровня, базовый уровень, средний уровень, продвинутый уровень, сдать экзамен по французскому языку, объединять, носить школьную форму, основные правила и положения, нарушать правила, телесные наказания, урок длится, урок заканчивается.

3. Explain in english:

midterm break, internal tests, in grades, naught, pupils who are skills, rather than academically oriented, AS levels are the same standard as vocational qualifications, quite common, primary cycle, to be detained after school hours, to report to the headmaster, to name in school assembly, to be banned, to be abolished, to be allowed.

Text 3: Further and Higher Education. Types of Universities.

Further education has traditionally been characterized by part-time vocational courses for those who leave school at the age of 16. In all, about three million students enroll each year in part-time courses at further education (FE) colleges.

Further education is a broad term to cover education beyond the secondary stage. It includes vocational education, non-vocational education, recreational evening classes, and adult education. Further education colleges have strong ties with commerce and industry.

Most further education establishments are either maintained or aided from public funds, so the tuition fees are moderate. Some students are paid different awards and scholarships to help them cover tuition fees.

The courses in further education are different: full-time, sandwich (six months of full time study in a technical college and six months of supervised experience in industry), block release (on similar basis, but with shorter periods in college), day release (one day of attendance at a technical college a week during working hours)

Evening classes. There are also many business courses such as tourism, manufacturing, art and design and secretarial courses such as shorthand, typing, bookkeeping and so on. For the unemployed there are two forms of training schemes: employment training for people who have been out of work for a long time and Youth Training schemes for school-leavers who cannot find a job.

Adult education includes courses of non-vocational education for people over 18. Many of the courses are practical, but there are widespread opportunities for academic study. It was in 1873 that Extension courses were first provided by Cambridge University. Now all universities have Extra – mural Departments with its director and staff each.

In London there is the National Institute of Adult Education which serves as a centre of information, research, publication, cooperation and consultation for adult education.

In 1973 the Technician Education Council was set up for developing a unified system of courses of further education. The courses are of two levels: junior and senior. After completing junior courses (or Youth Training schemes) students get Ordinary National Certificate (ONC) or General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ). After completing senior courses, which demands two more years, one gets the Higher National Diploma (HND) approaching the standard of a university pass degree.

The system of higher education used to include universities and colleges of (higher) education. In 1965, colleges of education acquired university status and since 1980 they have gradually merged with other universities and polytechnics.

Universities offer three – and four-year degree courses, though a number of students take longer, including medicine, architecture and foreign languages (where courses include a year abroad). Colleges of higher education offer both two-year HND courses, as well as degree courses.

Undergraduate courses normally take three years of full-time study which leads in most cases to a Bachelor degree in Arts, Science or Education (BA, BSc, BEd). Undergraduates, students who study for degrees, go to large formal lectures, but most of the work takes place in tutorials: lessons in groups of ten or more when the students discuss their work with the lecturer. Students have three terms of about ten weeks in each year. At the end of each term, students take their term examinations or collections. The course of study results in final examinations that may include writing up to 11 three-hour papers and an oral examination. In two months the undergraduate learns his fate and is awarded his first degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BSc). In Scotland “Master” is used for a first degree. The bachelor degree is normally classed, with about 5% normally gaining a First (First Class Honours), about 30% gaining an Upper Second, perhaps 40% gaining a Lower Second, and the balance getting either a Third Class, a Pass or failing.

There are various postgraduate one or two-year research courses leading to a degree of Master of Philosophy (PhM). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is awarded for some original research in Arts or sciences on completion of a three –year- period of work and a thesis. It is the first level of the so-called higher doctorate and is common for both humanities and sciences. The second level includes a Doctor of Science degree, Doctor of Divinity degree, Doctor of Civil Law degree, Doctor of Laws degree, Doctor of Letters/Literature degree, and Doctor of Medicine degree depending on the field of study of a postgraduate student.

Students of law, architecture and some other professions can take qualifications awarded by their own professional bodies instead of degrees.

Uniformity of standards between universities is promoted by the practice of employing outside examiners for all examinations. The general pattern of teaching is similar throughout Britain – a combination of lectures, small group seminars or tutorials with practical classes where necessary.

Only 25% of the student population goes on to higher education. Competition to get into one of Britain’s universities is fierce and not everyone with A levels is admitted. Students usually need three A levels with high grades to go to university. Grades at A level go from A, the highest one, to E. One university may require higher A level grades than another. Most universities require two Bs and one C (BBC) grades.

Students apply to universities months before they take A levels. The students are given a personal interview and then the universities decide which applicants they want. They offer them a place which depends on A level results. The more popular the university, the higher the grades it will ask for.

Over 90% of full-time students receive grants to assist with their tuition, cost of living, books, transport and socializing. But parents with higher incomes are expected to make a contribution. Until 1990 the grants did not have to be paid back, but now a system of loans has been introduced.

Universities fall into five broad categories: the medieval English foundations, the medieval Scottish ones, the nineteenth-century “redbrick” ones, the twentieth-century “ plate-glass” ones, and finally the previous polytechnics. They are all private institutions, receiving direct grants from central government.

1. “Oxbridge” or “Camford” universities are the oldest, the most prestigious and privileged universities in the United Kingdom. Founded as early as 1168 (Oxford) and 1209 (Cambridge), both universities grew gradually, as federations of independent colleges, most of which were founded in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. There are about 40 colleges in Oxford and 30 in Cambridge. For centuries, these universities were only for men. Only in 1871 the first college for women was opened in Cambridge while by the same time there were 5 colleges for women. Now, almost all colleges are co-educational. The college system at Oxbridge is unlike that at any other university in Britain. Both Oxford and Cambridge are self-governing collegiate residential universities, subjected to no external control except that of Parliament. Their governing bodies are Congregation and Convocation. Congregation consists of all doctors and masters who are active in the University, in all about 1000. Convocation is a body with a little real power (about 14000 members). Congregation elects Hebdomadal Council (Oxford) or Council of Senate (Cambridge) which initiates all legislative and by a system of committees does all the work necessary for the smooth running of the University. The Chancellor (the head of the University) is elected for life. He acts as a formal head and is not paid. The chief academic and administrative officer is the Vice-Chancellor who is responsible for the running of the University. Officers maintaining order in the university are known as proctors. They are elected for one year from the younger Fellows of the colleges in rotation. Each college is a self-governing independent body within the University. It is governed by its Master and its Fellows, of whom there are usually 20 or 30. Teaching is based on the tutorial system, i. e., a system of individual tuition organized by the Colleges. Each Fellow is a tutor in his/her own subject to the undergraduates who are studying it. Each student goes to his/her tutor’s room once every week to read out an essay s/he has written, and for an hour they discuss it. The tutor also directs the student’s reading, advises him/her what lectures to attend and keeps an eye on his/her progress.

Lectures are organized by the University. Individual College Fellows may also be appointed as university lecturers or professors. Attendance of lectures is not compulsory. Besides lectures, the university organizes examinations, awards degrees, provides laboratories and equipment, libraries and the like. The colleges, on the other hand, are responsible for the tutorials and students’ accommodation. Also, admissions to Oxford and Cambridge are controlled by the Colleges. The Colleges currently have about 10 candidates for every one place, so the competition is fierce.

2) Medieval Scottish Universities are Glasgow, Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Aberdeen, all founded in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These universities were created with strong links with the ancient universities of continental Europe, and followed their longer and broader course of studies. Even today, Scottish universities provide four-year undergraduate courses, compared with the usual three-year courses in England and Wales.

3) “Redbrick(“civic”) universities were founded mostly in the nineteenth century and are called so because they were built of red brick stone. They are now granted fully independent status. Among them there are Queen’s university in Belfast, universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Hull, Keel, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, and the Federal University of Wales.

These universities are also headed by the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, but they are not entirely self-governing as their Councils include representatives of outside bodies. They draw most of their students from their locality. So few of these universities are residential and nearly all are non-collegiate (except for London University, which is composed of largely autonomous colleges, and the University of Wales, which has colleges in different Welsh towns.

Redbrick universities are divided into faculties, the number and type differing from university to university. Each faculty consists of a number of departments, dealing with separate subjects. The teaching is organized in departments and is based on a set of lecturers. The Head of the department is usually a Professor. Then comes Reader, a university teacher of a rank immediately below a professor, but the main teaching grade throughout the university world is lecturer, a person lower in rank than a reader.

Civic universities have always placed emphasis on technology of the industries of their regions. Thus, besides courses in arts and sciences, they also give courses in agriculture, business, metallurgy and so on.

4) “Plate-glass” universities were mostly established in the 1960s. They are called so because their buildings have large plate-glass windows. Most of them took the names of the counties they were located in: East Anglia, Essex, New university of Ulster and so on. Like Oxbridge, they are residential, and some of them are collegiate, e.g., the University of East Anglia. Their courses aim to provide the benefits of specialized and general subjects. They also offer courses resulting in a degree.

5) Polytechnics, formerly Colleges of Advanced Technology, differ from universities in the main purpose: their orientation was predominantly vocational. Their emphasis is much more on teaching than on research, though they offer courses in both arts and sciences. The difference in the standard is reflected in the cost of education, which in polytechnics is by more than one third or even half lower. Until 1988, polytechnics were administered by local authorities. In 1988, the Education Reform Act established the Universities Funding Council (UFC) for disbursing government money to universities. Polytechnics were made independent of local authorities and are now funded by UFC. In 1992, polytechnics acquired university status.

In addition to these five categories of universities, there are a large number of special higher education institutions in the realm of the performing and visual arts. For example, there are four leading conservatories: the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. There are a large number of art colleges, of which the most famous is the Royal College of Art. Other colleges cater for dance, film -making and other specialist areas of artistic study.

There is also a highly successful Open University, which provides every person in Britain with the opportunity to study for a degree, without leaving his or her home. It was initiated in 1963 by Harold Wilson, the then Prime Minister, but opened in 1971. It is a non-residential university, which provides different courses using a combination of TV and Radio broadcasts, correspondence (distance) courses, personal tuition, summer schools, a network of viewing and listening centres. Its fees are not very high. Students have to write some preparatory tests and they are admitted on a “first come, first served” basis. They are of all ages and backgrounds. Each student of the Open University gets help and support of his/her tutor/counselor with whom he meets and corresponds regularly and whom he can telephone in case of any difficulty. There are meetings at which students get to know each other forming “self-help” groups. These groups meet in each other’s homes to discuss assignments.

The standards of the Open University degrees are the same as those of other universities. The degrees are awarded on a system of credits for each course completed. It takes 6-8 years to get a degree. Only 1% of its registered members get qualification degree or diploma. Approximately one in every 16 students graduating from UK universities is from the Open University.

EXERCISES