3. Higher Education Colleges

Most of the colleges were originally established by religious foundations to train teachers for schools, but they now offer a wide variety of other courses, mainly at degree level (Bachelor and BTEC-HND Higher National Diploma).

4. Colleges of Education (Teacher-Training Colleges) resulted in the 1970s from the integration of teacher training outside universities with the rest of further education. As well as teaching qualifications, they generally provide other degree and diploma courses, and so are similar to polytechnics and universities, although usually much smaller in size.

4.B Fill in the blanks with suitable words and phrases given below.

education subject training university postgraduate

secondary-school theoretical educational term teaching

tutorials demonstration teaching aids teaching methods lectures

A student at a College of Education in Britain studies (1) _______________ parallel to his special subject courses. An English (2) ______________student, who wishes to take up school teaching, first of all studies his (3)_______________ and having obtained a first degree, usually the B. A. or B. Sc, takes a 4)_______________diploma course at a university Department of Education. This course is exclusively concerned with (5)______________him as a teacher, usually as a (6)______________teacher.

The first six weeks of (7) ______________are chiefly taken up with lectures and

(8) ______________on the theory of education, (9)______________psy­chology, the history and sociology of English education, and (10)______________. The students are also given a course on the use of (11) ______________. They are also able to watch (12) ______________lessons in various schools. Then their first lull-time (13) ______________practice begins. Next term is also divided between (14)______________and practical work. In the summer term there are a few weeks of (15) ______________and tutorials, followed by examinations in May.

5. There has always been a competition between Universities to find out who ranks first. The article below outlines different aspects of this on-going fight to be the best. Single out the facts which account for:

a) Oxford’s rise in a ranking scale of Universities in Britain

b) the rise of the provincial British University

c) the widening gap between the new and the old British Universities

What other essential factors can be taken into consideration in university rankings? Can your university demonstrate international competitiveness and be ranked among the top twenty European universities? Why? Why not?

Note: The traditional Oxbridge uniform is blue (Oxford blue - dark blue, Cambridge blue – light blue). See also: Dark Blues – members of the sports team of Oxford and Harrow, Light Blues – of Cambridge and Eaton.

Oxford wins the battle of the blues

by John O'Leary

For the first time since the Times university rankings among 97 Universities began, Cambridge has been knocked off the top of the league.

The first change of leadership in nine years of the Times ranking of universities sees Oxford take over at the top by the slimmest of margins. Only three points out of 1,000 separate Oxford from Cambridge – practically a dead heat in a table of aggregated scores. Extra spending on student facilities closed the gap between the two, but a new scoring system that takes account of the mix of subjects at each university makes the final difference.

The result carries echoes of the first ever table, which had the light blues on top by a fraction of a point. Since then, the size of Cambridge's lead has varied, but its supremacy has never been seriously challenged. Nor would it have been this year, under the previous system. So tight are the margins at the top of the table that Oxford would have dropped to third, as it did three years ago, with Imperial College London regaining second place. But differences in the mix of subjects and the way in which they are grouped give Oxford the edge.

Science-dominated universities have generally been at an advantage in university league tables, particularly where degree classifications are concerned: science and engineering subjects tend to award more firsts than the arts and social sciences. By "benchmarking" groups of subjects, as Government advisers do in their own performance indicators, the table is better able to compare like with like.

Another factor in Oxford's rise this year is a more realistic reflection of the university's spending on student facilities. As at Cambridge, many services are provided by the colleges, rather than the university centrally. Consequently, Oxford had registered some of the lowest scores of any university in this category, although its facilities were among the best. The Higher Education Statistics Agency accepted a new formula which was enough in its own to overturn Cambridge's lead. At the heart of Oxford's success, however, is a consistent run of high scores across the nine measures in our ranking. The university was in the top two on four of the measures, and had the largest number of academics in departments rated internationally outstanding in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise.

The other university with most cause for celebration is fourth-placed Bath, which emerges as the top provincial university for the first time. In four years, it has risen from 15th in the table, benefiting particularly from high spending on student facilities and one of the lowest drop-out rates. Bath leads a group of universities established in the 1960s that have overtaken longer-established market leaders. However, the presence of Imperial College and the London School of Economics in the top five underlines the continuing strength of the University of London.

St Andrews is the top university in Scotland, overtaking Edinburgh for the first time and maintaining its place in the top ten. Cardiff remains top in Wales, despite slipping five places down the table.

The new universities are again confined to the bottom half of a ranking that places them at a disadvantage in terms of entry qualifications and research. Many of the former polytechnics pride themselves on their open-entry policies to extend access to higher education, while they have only relatively recently received equal treatment in research funding. However, the latest research assessments have served to widen the gap between new and old institutions generally.

Abridged from The Times