Answer these questions

1. What are the three types of universities in Great Britain?

2. What is necessary to go on to higher education?

3. What grants do students receive?

4. Differentiate between the first, the second and the highest degrees given after the graduation from a university. What is necessary for getting these degrees?

5. What other institutions of higher education are there in Great Britain?

Read the text and try to understand all the details.

Differences in the organization of education in Britain and America lead to different terms. One crucial word, school, is used in overlapping but different ways. A place of education for young children is a school in both varieties. But the word school in B.E. is never used to refer to a university or other college of higher education.

A student graduates from an American high school; a pupil (never student) leaves a British secondary school. To graduate is possible only from a university or college in British usage; graduating entails taking a degree.

British universities have 3 terms; American universities have 2 semesters (or 4 quarters). Usually a British university student takes 3 years to get his degree; these are known as the first, second and final years. An American university student typically takes 3 or 4 years, known as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. While he is studying, the American majors in a particular subjects, but also takes electives. The British student usually takes a main and subsidiary subjects. The British term honours degree signifies that the student specializes in one main subject, perhaps with one subsidiary. The American student earns credits for successfully completing a number of self-contained courses of study, the credits eventually reaching the total needed to receive a degree.

The British student who has already taken the first degree (usually a B.A. or B.Sc. except in Scottish universities) is a post-graduate. The American equivalent is a graduate. In American universities those who teach are known as the faculty. In Britain they are the staff (academic staff).

Copy the table in your notebook and fill it in.

Speech Practice

Look through the dialogues given below and make up your own dialogue on the following situation: a foreign student wants to know as much as possible about the system of higher education in Russia.

-1-

– My name is Dmitry. I study at the Omsk Technical University.

– By the way, are the graduates of Russian universities or institutes given a degree?

– No, they are not. The system of scientific degrees in our country is different. The graduates are given diplomas, which are actually the same as the British first degree (degree of bachelor).

– Do students in Russia pay tuition?

– No, almost all forms of education in our country are free (of charge). Students of higher and secondary specialized education establishments get grants. Though nowadays there are a lot of new educational forms where tuition is paid by the students.

– What’s the course at Russian universities, institutes and academies?

– In most of higher education establishments it’s 5 years.

-2-

– Is there a system of further education in Russia for those adults who work after leaving school?

– For these people almost every university and institute has evening and extramural departments.

– Do such students attend lectures and if so, how often do they come?

– Students of the evening departments attend lectures four times a week. As to the extramural students, they have classes before examinations.

Discuss the following problems in two groups, one of them supporting the statements given below, the other – disproving them. Read pros and cons in the tables. Think of some more, which are important in your opinion.

1) It is necessary for a future engineer to study a foreign language.

2) If a young man has a family of his owns he had better enter an extramural faculty, not a full-time one.

To express your opinion:

I think…; Speaking for myself…; I believe…; I suppose…; I’m sure; In my opinion…

To agree with somebody:

Yes, I agree (with you); That’s true; I think so too; You are quite right.

To disagree with somebody:

On the other hand…; I don’t agree (with you); It’s not (entirely) true; I don’t think so.

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