2. Higher education in gb.

Compulsory school leaving age is 16. At the age of 16 children in the UK have the following options:

1- go to work

2- go to the 6th form or to the 6th College which is considered to be an intermediate stage btw the compulsory studying ahd higher education. At the end of the 6th form children will sit the GCSE A-level or AS level exam.

3- The following option is to go to the Colleges of Further Education where you can get some vocational training/ hairdressing, typing, etc.

4- The youth opportunities schemes, this scheme places young unemployed people with a business or an industry for 6 months so they can get experience.

At the age 18-19 young people can enter the establishments Higher Education leading to a degree or the Establishments of Further Education which do not aword a degree.

HE in GB is provided by universities, polytechnics and colleges of HE.

Universities fall into 4 broad categories: the ancient English foundations, the ancient Scottish one, the redbrich universities and ‘the plate glass’ one.

To the ancient English foundations refer to Cambridge and Oxford Universities founded in the 13th and 14th cent., which are considered to be the most famous and prestigious. Both universities grew gradually as federations of independent colleges. Attendance at lectures in Oxford and Cambridge is not obligatory. The basis of tuition is tutorial.

The ancient Scottish foundations are Glasgow, Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Aberdeen universities, founded in the 15th and 16th cent. They have strong links with European universities, provide 4-year undergraduate course, compared with the usual 3-year course in England and Wales.

Redbrich or ‘civil’ universities were established as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of Britain’s empire oversea because the demand for educated people greatly increased. They were sited in the industrial centres (Birmingham, Manchester). They were based more on the mass lecture system. The most famous one is London University.

With the expansion of HE in the 1960s many more ‘plate glass’ universities were established. After some initial enthusiasm for universities they had become less popular than older institutions.

Open University provides every person in the UK with the opportunity to study for a degree without leaving their homes.

Polytechnics provide a range of HE courses/ but their real purpose is to fill the gap btw University and Further Education. They combine academic studies which is the characteristic feature of HE and technical studies focused on practical work, a feature of FE Colleges of HE.

Further Education establishments fall into:

1 Lower level courses: Colleges of FE and Technical Colleges

2 Middle level courses: Colleges of Technology, Specialized Colleges (agricultural, printing)

One more type is “Tertiary College”. It is an amalgamation in one establishment both technical and academic areas (amalgamation of the 6th form and a technical college)

Characteristic features of the HE system in the UK:

1) “sandwich” course is the period of academic studies which is interrupted by a period of practical study:

‘+’ gives you a better idea of what you are going to do

‘-’ from economic point of view courses are longer, more tiresome and you pay more

2) tutorials rather than mass lecture system