Text 2 Higher Education in Great Britain

There are 46 universities, 30 polytechnics and numerous colleges in England and Wales. They all provide a wide range of courses from lower-level technical and commercial courses to advanced courses for those who want to get higher-level posts in commerce, industry and administration.

Of the 46 universities in Great Britain, 35 are in England, 8 in Scotland, 1 is in Wales and 2 are in Nothern Ireland. The leading universities in England are Oxford, Cambridge and London. English universities greatly differ from each other. They differ in date of foundation, history, tradition, general organization, methods of instruction, size, etc. British Universities are comparatively small. The approximate number is 7,000 - 8,000 students, most universities having under 3,000 students, some even less than 1,500 students.

The typical academic programme for university students is composed of a varying number of courses or subjects within a field of specialization. The academic activities for each subject fall into lectures, at which attendance is not always compulsory, seminars, tutorials, laboratory work and examination. They provide the means by which students prepare themselves in specialized field of knowledge.

Text 3 Higher Education in the USA

There are more than two thousand institutions of higher education in the United States with the number of students ranging from fewer than a hundred to 40,000 students. Young people who want to enter higher education must meet several requirements. They must have attended a high school for four years. And if their grades in high school are satisfactory, they are admitted to a university where they may take a Bachelor's degree after a four-year course of study. During the first two years certain courses in English, social science, natural science and so on must be completed before a student may begin an intensive study of his special field. Nearly all of Universities in the United States are coeducational. This means both men and women attend the same university.

University life provides a wide variety of recreational activities. Although a great deal of time must necessarily be devoted to study, students find time for recreation. There are football, basketball and baseball games, teas and dances, concerts, etc. Most recreation activities are not expensive for the student.