Read and render the text “Higher Education in Great Britain”.

When higher education of Great Britain is being spoken about the University education is generally meant. But in fact there is a considerable amount of past-school education, including part-time as well as full-time studies carried on in technical colleges teacher training colleges, art colleges, institutes of adult education and so on.

Higher education, consisting of degree and equivalent courses, has experienced a dramatic expansion. The number of higher education students in Britain almost doubled between 1979 and 1993 to 1.5 million, so that today around 30 percent of young people enter full-time higher education.

There are some 90 universities, which enjoy academic freedom. Every University is autonomous and responsible to its governing body. The regulations differ from University to University. While there are similarities between them, they all differ from Oxford and Cambridge, where are a number of separate colleges, each with their own regulations and courses of studies. The new, so-called ”red-brick” Universities are divided into various faculties: Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Social and Economic Studies, etc.

University degree courses are generally being taken for three, four or even five years. University teaching combines lectures practical classes and small group teaching in either seminars or tutorials. The last is a traditional feature of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

First degree courses are mainly full time and usually last three years, with longer courses in subjects such as medicine. Universities offer courses in a broad range of academic and vocational subjects, including traditional arts subjects, the humanities, and science and technology. The government encourages young people to choose degree courses in subjects, or combinations of subjects, that provide the knowledge and skills required by a technologically advanced economy .

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1236