6. Read Text 9b and answer the following questions.

1. What are the types of higher educational institutions?

2. What courses do colleges of higher education offer?

3. What is a degree?

4. Is there any difference between the terms “a student” and “an undergraduate”?

5. What is a tutorial?

6. Can everyone who gets A-levels go to university?

7. What are the highest and lowest grades?

8. Why do most British students prefer studying away from home?

9. Do British students have to pay for their study at colleges and universities?

10. How are students awarded grants?

11. Why are more students dropping out, failing to finish their courses?

12. Why is the British government very enthusiastic about in-house training schemes?

13. Are there any forms of training schemes for those who are unemployed?

14. Can students in Britain choose which university they go to?

7. Explain the meaning of the following words and expressions and reproduce the context in which they are used.

To offer a degree course, to get a qualification, to pass final exams, to be awarded a degree, to study for a degree, a tutorial, a lecturer, competition, fierce, to apply to a university, to take an A-level, to be independent, to earn money, to get a grant, to borrow, to pay back, rent, to study full-time, to release, a training scheme, employment, to be unemployed.

8. Say whether you agree or disagree with these statements. Give your reasoning. Use the introductory phrases from the previous Units.

1. Most big towns in Britain have only colleges of higher education.

2. Universities only offer four-year degree courses.

3. When you pass your final examinations, you are awarded a degree.

4. Undergraduates have very few tutorials.

5. There is no competition to get into colleges or universities.

6. Students apply to universities immediately after they pass their A-level.

7. If the university is prestigious, it asks for higher A-level results.

8. British students don’t like to study away from their home towns.

9. A student can be awarded a grant if his/her parents earn a little.

10. Students don’t often work during the holidays.

11. Some companies don’t allow their employees to study at higher educational institutions.

12. You have no chance to study if you are unemployed.

9. Put the following headings in a logical order according to the Text.

1. The ways undergraduates pay for their studies.

2. The types of classes undergraduates go to.

3. The forms of training schemes for the unemployed.

4. Preference for studying away from home.

5. The courses universities and colleges offer.

6. Combining work with studies.

7. The requirements for getting into a university or a college.

8. Grants.

9. University degrees.

10. The British government’s attitude to in-house training schemes.

10. Read Text 9b again. Give a brief outline of the information each paragraph contains.

TEXT 9C

Oxford University

1. Oxford University is one of the two oldest and most respected universities in the UK. It is situated 100 km of London in the city of Oxford.

2. The University’s origins can be traced to the early 12th century. It was modelled on the University of Paris, with initial faculties of theology, law, medicine and liberal arts.

3. Oxford is a collegiate university. It consists of about 35 separate colleges. Colleges are self-governing institutions consisting of a head and fellows. Each has its own hall, chapel, library, and endowments.

4. The university has 16 faculties including medieval and modern European languages and literature, agricultural science, social studies and others.

5. The usual course for a bachelor’s degree is 3 years, but in classics and chemistry it is four. Final examination takes place in June, and students are classified. No further examination is required for a master’s degree, which is taken on the payment of the necessary fees seven years after matriculation.

6. Oxford houses the Bodleian Library and the Ashmolean Museum. The Oxford University Press, established in 1478, is one of the largest and most prestigious university publishers in the world.

7. Oxford University is considered to give a very high standard of education, and is known to be a difficult place for students to be accepted to study in. Oxford University graduates often become powerful and successful members of British society, and many of the leading people in professions such as law, politics, and the civil service have traditionally been “Oxford-educated”, though this is beginning to change. Oxford and Cambridge Universities are sometimes criticized for the fact that about half their students come from public schools (expensive private schools), even though most British children do not attend these schools. Some people also think of Oxford and Cambridge colleges as too old-fashioned, traditional, and elitist, and regard them as not really understanding how ordinary people think and live.

Notes:

1. a collegiate university [kэ’li:dζэt] – университет, объединяющий несколько самостоятельных колледжей

2. a fellow – член совета колледжа

3. matriculation [mэ,trikju’lein] – зачисление в университет

4. the Bodleian Library [‘bodliэn] – Бодлианская библиотека Оксфордского университета; вторая по значению в Великобритании после Британской библиотеки (British Library); имеет около 5 млн. томов; основана в 1598 г.; названа по имени основателя Томаса Бодли (Thomas Bodley)

5. the Ashmolean Museum [æ’mэuliэn] – музей Ашмола; музей и библиотека древней истории, изящных искусств и археологии при Оксфордском университете; основан в 1683 г.; назван по имени основателя Элиаса Ашмола (Elias Ashmole)