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HIGHER EDUCATION IN
GREAT BRITAIN
There are about 30 universities in Great Britain. Many of them
have engineering departments.
A university consists of a number of departments: divinity,
medicine, arts (philosophy), law, music, natural science,
economics, engineering, agriculture, commerce and education.
After three years of study, a student may proceed to a Bachelor’s
degree and later to the degrees of Master and Doctor.
The leading universities in England are: Oxford, Cambridge
and London. English universities greatly differ from each other.
They differ in the date of foundation, history, tradition, general
organization, internal government, methods of instruction, ways
of student life, size, etc. Each university has its own problem,
each looks at them in its own way.
The oldest and most famous universities in England are
Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford University was established in
1249. Like London it is international because people from many
party of the world come to study at one of the twenty seven
men’s colleges or at one of the five women’s colleges that are at
the university. They join the university “family” that has more
than 9000 members.
The first college at Cambridge, Peterhouse, was founded in
1284 and now there are twenty-four. A number of well-known
scientists.
The teachers are commonly called “dons”. Part of the teaching
is by means of lectures organized by the university. Apart from
lectures teaching is carried out by tutorial system, for which these
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two universities have always been famous. This is a system of
individual tuition organized by the colleges. Each student goes to
his tutor’s room once every week to read and discuss an essay
which the student has prepared.
Speaking about education in Great Britain it should be
mentioned that not many children from the working class families
are able to receive a higher education as the fees are rather high
(about 1000 pounds a year). The cost of education depends on the
college and speciality which one chooses.
Oxford and Cambridge are rather far from London and other
large cities. Therefore the students have to live in the university
hostel or in a private room and the rent is very high. Besides,
special fees are taken for books, for laboratory work, teaching
aids, etc.
Some students get scholarship but the number of these
students is comparatively small.
So it is not easy to get a higher education in Great Britain if
one does not choose his parents carefully.
OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE
The story of Cambridge University begins in 1209 when
several hundred students and scholars arrived in the little town of
Cambridge from Oxford. These students were all churchmen and
had been studying in Oxford at that city’s well-known schools. It
was a hard life at Oxford for there was constant trouble between
the townsfolk and students. Then one day a student accidentally
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killed a man of the town. The Major arrested three other students,
who were innocent, and by order of King John they were put to
death by hanging. In protest all the students moved elsewhere,
some coming to Cambridge and so the new university began. As
was the custom then, they had joint themselves into a
“Universitas” or Society: the word “University”, like word
“College”, means originally a society of people with a common
employment; it was only later that it came to be associated with
scholarship.
The life in Cambridge and Oxford was strict. The students
were forbidden to play games, to sing (except church music), to
hunt or fish or even to dance. Books were very scarce and all the
lessons were in the Latin language. The students studied
Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric.
These two universities are well known not only because they
are oldest universities in the United Kingdom, but because the
standard of teaching there is very high.
Oxford and Cambridge are most highly thought of. But the
cost of education at those universities is so high that only the sons
of the wealthiest classes can afford to attend these universities,
they try London and after it the newer universities.
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THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
The USA is located in the central part of North America. Its
area is 9,363,200 square kilometres. The population of the USA is
over 228 million. The history of the United States goes back as
for as the beginning of the 17
th
century when the major European
powers – Spain, England, France, Portugal and Holland began to
expand their territories.
The first English settlement was established in 1607 and by the
end of the 17
th
century all British colonies with the exception of
Georgia had been organized. The local people of the American
continent experienced all the methods of aggression, colonialism,
racism and exploitation. The struggle of the local population for
their freedom was in progress for many years but it was unequal.
At the beginning of the 18
th
century the British succeded in
consolidating and the group of young colonies grew under the
English rule until the Revolutionary war of 1775 – 1783 made
them independent. Since then the young capitalist state began to
develop at a high rate. The United States is a Federal Union of 50
states now. Its basic law is the Constitution adopted in 1789
which defines the structure and the method of national
government and lists its rights and fields of authority.
Under the Constitution the federal government of the United
States is divided into three main branches: the executive, the
legislative and the judicial.
The executive branch, which includes the Prezident,
Vice-Prezident and the Prezident’s Cabinet is responsible for
administrating and executing the laws. The Prezident and
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