Comprehension check. Read the text again and write a list of all the benefits mentioned in the text that higher education might provide

Speaking and discussion.

§ Are the ideas of the text similar to yours?

§ Which of them do you personally think are the most important ones?

§ What arguments would you give to a person who thinks that higher education is no longer necessary to find a good job and that getting a university degree is a waste of time and money.

 

 

Text B

BAUMAN MOSCOW STATE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY (BMSTU)

6.Useful vocabulary:

to be famous for	быть известным / славиться
to be enrolled	быть зачисленным
to be good at Maths	хорошо разбираться в математике
to be technically minded	быть склонным к техническим наукам
to be interested in physics	интересоваться физикой
to take courses in	изучать курсы
area of interest	специализация
to conduct research	проводить исследование
state-of-the-art facilities	современное оборудование
to attend regular lectures	посещать занятия по расписанию
according to the schedule	согласно расписанию
to assess achievements	оценивать успеваемость
to complete assignments	выполнять задания
extracurricular activities	внеаудиторная работа
compulsory hours of sport	обязательные занятия спортом
to provide with on-campus accommodation	обеспечивать университетским жильем

Before Reading. In groups discuss what you know about the history and significant stages of the development of the university you are going to study at? What is your university famous for? What are the achievements of its alumni?

Reading. Read the text and write a list of top ten facts about BMSTU.

Part 1. General Information.

There are hundreds of universities and higher institutions in Russia. Moscow and St` Petersburg State Universities, Higher School of Economics, Moscow Medical Academy, Institute of Physics and Technology are among top universities. Bauman Moscow State University (BMSTU) ranks high among them.

BMSTU is one of the oldest and biggest technical universities in our country. It was established in 1830 and in 1868 reorganized into Imperial Moscow Technical School (IMTS).The main purpose of IMTS was to “educate construction engineers, mechanical engineers and industrial technologists”. IMTS was considered the best machine-building educational institution in Russia. A lot of outstanding scientists taught at IMTS: D. Mendeleev, N. Jukovskiy, P. Chebychev, S. Chaplygin, A. Yershov, D. Sovetkin, F. Dmitriev, A. Letnikov, A. Gavrilenko.

In the 20th century it was renamed to Moscow Higher Technical School (MHTS). It continued training engineers for machine and instrument building. It gained a high reputation both in this country and abroad. Lots of progressive ideas and unique inventions originated here: Russia`s first gas mask, helicopter, gas-turbine locomotive, electronic computer, the world`s first kinescope, jet liner, nuclear power plant, and lunar exploration vehicle. Its pedagogical and scientific progress is strongly associated with the names of well-known Russian scientists who graduated from MHTS, such as Andrey Tupolev, Shukov, Sergey Korolev, Nicholay Dollezhal, Alexander Tselikov, Sergey Lebedev.

In 1989 BMSTU became Russia`s first technical university and has since been invariably ranked first in the popularity ratings among technical higher schools. It trains highly qualified engineers for different fields of national economy and industry. Nearly 200.000 engineers have graduated from BMSTU: government officials, chief designers, CEOs of big enterprises, cosmonauts.

Today BMSTU is a large research and educational facility, its 19 faculties are training about 20000 future specialists in mechanical engineering, instrument making, power supply and conservation, biomedical technologies, engineering business and management, information theory and control systems, and others. All training courses involve advanced teaching methods in basic sciences, general engineering subjects and professional skills. The aim of each course is to provide comprehensive engineering education through lectures, seminars, hands-on field and laboratory work, and online learning. The university is equipped with research centers and modern laboratories where students can develop their research skills and creative abilities.  

Research in cutting-edge areas of science and technology is being carried out at BMSTU. Its teachers and students take part in conversion programs, defining the priorities for new areas of development. BMSTU cooperates with a number of industrial, educational and cultural institutions. Today BMSTU is conducting 90 considerable scientific programs in different fields.

9.Reading and speaking. Read the second part of Text B about student’s life at BMSTU and find the answers to the following questions:

1) What subjects do you have to be good at to successfully study at BMSTU?

2) What type of classes do you have and how is your university course organized?

3) How long does the course of study last and what degrees do the graduates of BMSTU get?

4) What opportunities do the graduates of BMSTU get?