Adjectives

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HIGHER EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN

PART I

There are 90 universities and 70 other higher education institutions in Great Britain: polytechnics and numerous colleges for more specialized needs, such as colleges of technology, technical colleges, colleges of arts and agricultural colleges in England and Wales.

They all provide a wide range of courses from lower-level technical and commercial courses through specialized courses of various kinds to advanced courses for those who want to get higher-level positions in commerce, industry, and administration, or take up one of a varietyofprofessions. University degree courses are generally taken for three, four or even five years.

University teaching combines lectures, practical classes and small group teaching in either seminars or tutorials. In a lecture a student is one of a large number of students. He listens to the lecturers, takes notes, but asks no questions.Ina seminar he raises problems and discusses them with his fellow students under the direction of one of the teachers. In a tutorial he is accompanied by only a handful of students and discusses his personal academic problems with a teacher.

The study may be full-time and part-time. Full-time education includes sandwich courses in which the periods of full-time study alternate with full-time practical work and training in industry. These days full-time and sandwich courses now are an important part of higher education in England and Wales.

A degree is an academic qualification awarded at most universities and colleges upon the completion of a higher educational course (a first degree) or a research project (higher degrees). If students pass their final exam at the end of a three-year course, they get their first degree. Students with a first degree become Bachelors of Arts or Science, and can put B.A. or B.Sc. after their names. If they want to go a step further and become Master of Arts or Science, they have to write an original paper, or thesis, on some subject based on a short period of research, usually soon after graduation. If students wish to become academics and perhaps teach in a university, then they will work for a higher degree, a Doctor of Philosophy — aPh.D. For this they will have to carry out some important research work.

The most famous universities in Britain are Oxford and Cambridge. They are the two oldest English universities and are regarded as being academically superior to other universities and as giving special privilege and prestige.