Education in Great Britain

Nowadays there are about 12,000 students in Oxford and over 1000 teachers. Outstanding scientists work in the numerous colleges of the University teaching and doing research work in physics, chemistry, mathematics, cybernetics, literature, modern and ancient languages, art and music, psychology.

Oxford University has a reputation of a privileged school. Many prominent political figures of the past and present times got their education at Oxford.

The Oxford English Dictionary is well-known to students of English everywhere. It contains approximately 5,000,000 entries, and there are thirteen volumes, including a supplement.

Oxford University Press, the publishing house which produces the Oxford English Dictionary has a special department called the Oxford Word and Language Service.

Cambridge University started during the 13th century and grew until today. Now there are more than thirty colleges.

On the banks of the Cam'4 willow trees drown their branches into the water. The colleges line the right bank. There are beautiful college gardens with green lawns and lines of tall trees. The oldest college is Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284, and the most recent is Robinson College, which was opened in 1977. The most famous is probably King' s College" because of its magnificent chapel, the largest and the most beautiful building in Cambridge and the most perfect example left of English fifteenth-century architecture. Its choir of boys and undergraduates is also very well known.

The University was only for men until 1871, when the first women' s college was opened. In the 1970s, most col- leges opened their doors to both men and women. Almost all colleges are now mixed.

Мапу great men studied at Cambridge, among them Desiderius Erasmus", the great Dutch scholar, Roger Bacon", the philosopher, Milton, the poet, Oliver Cromwell", the soldier, Newton, the scientist, and Kapitza, the famous Russian physicist.

The universities have over а hundred societies and clubs, enough for every interest one could imagine. Sport is part of students' life at Oxbridge. The most popular sports are rowing and punting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cambridge.

 

The Cambridge Folk Festival. Every year, in summer, one of the biggest festivals of folk music in arrive in Cambridge for the Festival. Many of the fans put up their tents to stay overnight. The Cambridge Folk Festival is always very well organized and there is always good order. However, some people who live nearby do not like Festival. They say that there is too much noise, that too much rubbish is left on the ground, and that many of the fans take drugs. On the other hand, local shopkeepers are glad, because for them the Festival means a big increase in the number of customers. 

The second group of universities comprises various institutions of higher education, usually with technical study, that by 1900 had sprang up in new industrial towns and cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds. They got to be know as civic or ‘redbrick’ universities. Their buildings were made of local material, often brick, in contrast to the stone of older universities, hence the name, ‘redbrick’. These universities catered mostly for local people. At first they prepared students for London University degree, but later they were given the right to award their own degrees, and so became universities themselves. In the mid-20^th century they started to accept students from all over the country.

The third group consists of new universities founded after the Second World War and later in the 1960s, which saw considerable expansion in new universities. These are purpose-built institutions located in the countryside but close to towns. Examples are East Anglia, Sussex and Warwick. From their beginning they attracted students from all over the country, and provided accommodation for most of their students in site (hence their name, ‘campus’ universities). They tend to emphasise relatively ‘new’ academic disciplines such as social science and make greater use than other universities of teaching in small groups, often known as ‘seminars’.

Among this group there are also universities often called ‘never civic’ universities. These were originally technical colleges set up by local authorities in the first half of this century. Their upgrading to university status took place in two waves. The first wave occurred in the mid-1960s, when ten of them were promoted in this way.

Another thirty became ‘polytechnics’, in the early 1970s, which meant that along with their former courses they were allowed to teach degree courses (the degrees being awarded by a national body). Polytechnics were originally expected to offer a broader-based, more practical and vocational education than the universities. In the early 1990s most of the polytechnics became universities. So there are now 80 universities and a further 19 colleges and institutions of higher education in the UK. The country has moved rapidly from a rather elitist system to one which is much more open, if not yet a mass system of higher education.

Higher education in England and Wales is highly selective; i.e. entrance to British universities is via a strict selection process is based on an interview. Applications for first degree courses are usually made through the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS), in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. After the interview a potential student is offered a place on the basis of GCE A-level exam results. If the student does not get the grades specified in the offer, a place can not be taken up. Some universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge, have an entrance exam before the interview stage.

  This kind of selection procedure means that not everyone in Britain with A-level qualifications will be offered the chance of a university education. Critics argue that this creates an elitist system with the academic minority in society whilst supporters of the system argue that this enables Britain to get high-quality graduates who have specialized skills. The current system will be modified by the late 90s and into the 21^st century, since secondary system is moving towards a broader-based education to replace the specialized ‘A’ level approach. The reasons for this lie in Britain’s need to have a highly skilled and educated workforce, not just an elite few, to meet the needs of the technological era.

The independence of Britain’s educational institutions is most noticeable in universities. They make their own choices of who to accept on their courses and normally do this on the basis of a student’s A-level results and an interview. Those with better exam grades are more likely to be accepted. Virtually all degree courses last three years, however there are some four-year courses and medical and veterinary courses last five or six years. The British University year is divided into three terms, roughly eight to ten weeks each. The terms are crowded with activity and the vacations between the terms – a month at Christmas, a month at Easter, and three or four months in summer – are mainly periods of intellectual digestion and private study.

The courses are also ‘full-time’ which really means full-time: the students are not supposed to take a lob during term time. Unless their parents are rich, they receive a state grant of money, which covers most of their expenses including the cost of accommodation. Grants and loans are intended to create opportunities for equality in education. A grants system was set up to support students through university. Grants are paid by the LEA on the basis of parental income. In the late 80s (the Conservative) government decided to stop to increase these grants, which were previously linked to inflation. Instead, students were able to borrow money in the form of a low-interest loan, which then had to be paid back after their course had finished. Critics argue that students from less affluent families had to think twice before entering the course, and that this worsened the trend which saw a 33% drop in working-class student numbers in the 1980s.

Students studying for the first degree are called undergraduates. At the end of the third year of study undergraduates sit for their examinations and take the bachelor’s degree. Those engaged in the study of arts such subjects as history, languages, economics or law take Bachelor of Arts (BA). Students studying pure or applied sciences such as medicine, dentistry, technology or agriculture get Bachelor of Science (BSc). When they have been awarded the degree, they are known as graduates. Most people get honours degrees, awarded in different classes. These are: Class I (known as ‘a first’), Class II, I (or ‘an upper second’), Class II, II (or ‘a lower second’), Class III (‘a third’). A student who is below one of these gets a pass degree (i.e. not an honours degree).

Students who obtain their Bachelor degree can apply to take a further degree course, usually involving a mixture of exam courses and research. There are two different types of post-graduate courses – the Master’s Degree (MA or MSc), which takes one or two years, and the higher degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), which takes two or three years. Funding for post-graduate courses is very limited, and even students with first class degrees may be unable to get a grant. Consequently many post-graduates have heavy bank loans or are working to pay their way to a higher degree.

The university system also provides a national network of extra-mural or ‘Continuing Education’ Departments which offer academic courses for adults who wish to study – often for the sheer pleasure of study – after they have left schools of higher education.

One development in education in which Britain can claim to lead the world is the Open University. It was founded in 1969 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire and is so called because it is open to all – this university does not require any formal academic qualifications to study for a degree, and many people who do not have an opportunity to be ‘ordinary’ students enroll. The university is non-residential and courses are mainly taught by special written course books and by programmes on state radio and television. There are, however, short summer courses of about a week that the students have to attend and special part-time study centers where they can meet their tutors when they have problems.

As mentioned above, the British higher education system was added to in the 1970s, which saw the creation of colleges and institutions of higher education, often by merging existing colleges or by establishing new institutions. They now offer a wide range of degree, certificate and diploma courses in both science and art, and in some cases have specifically taken over the role of training teachers for the schools.

There are also a variety of other British higher institutions, which offer higher education. Some, like the Royal College of Arts, the Cornfield Institute of Technology and various Business Schools, have university status, while others, such as agricultural, drama and arts colleges like the Royal Academy of Dramatics Arts (RADA) and the Royal college of Music provide comparable courses. All these institutions usually have a strong vocational aspect in their programmes, which fills a specialized role in higher education.

 

 -  Education in Britain is compulsory and free for all children between the ages of 5-16. About 93 percent of all children are educated in state schools and the rest attend private schools. Primary school. Schoolchildren attend a primary school for 6 years (5 to 11 years). When students transfer to Secondary School at the age of 11, they do not take any examination, but their reports are sent on from the Primary School. Secondary School. Most children – over 80 percent – go to a comprehensive school. “Comprehensive” means all-inclusive. They admit pupils of all abilities. Pupils in all state in schools in England and Wales study 10 main subjects, among them: English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Art, Music, Physical Education, Information Technology. Religious education is also taught. Attainment tests are given at the ages of 7, 11 and 14. At the age of 16 students sit the exams in as many subjects as possible. Weak students may only sit for three or four subjects. Better students take ten subjects. At the age of 16 about two thirds of these pupils leave school and get jobs. About one-third stay on at school until the age of 18, preparing themselves for higher education. The 6th Form. More ambitious pupils continue to study in the 6th form. They stay on at school for one or two years to prepare themselves for university. They have only three or four main subjects, which are necessary to pass the advanced level exams at the age of 18. The school year is divided into three terms with the intervals between them during Christmas and Easter holidays lasting about two weeks each and summer holiday which is usually six weeks long. All kinds of out-of-class activities are part of school life in Britain. Most schools have very good libraries which students use for reference work.