Universities and colleges in the UK

Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации

Муниципальное образовательное учреждение Гимназия №8

Р Е Ф Е Р А Т

по английскому языку

TRADITIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UK, OXBRIDGE

         Выполнил:

Учащийся 9 В класса

Рабова Галина Алексеевна

Научный руководитель –

преподаватель Милютина В.А.

Тверь, 2010

Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………….3

Chapter 1 Education in the UK…………………………………………………...4

1.1 System of education…………………………………………………………..8

1.2 Higher education…………………………………………………………….10

Chapter 2 Universities and colleges in the UK.....……………………………...11

2.1    New Universities…………………………………………………………..15

2.2    The Ancient Universities…………………………………………………..16

Chapter 3 Oxbridge....……………………………………………………………17

3.1 Oxford………………………………………………………………………..18

3.2 Cambridge…………………………………………………………………....27

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..35

Literature……………………………………………………………....................36

Appendix 1……………………………………………………………………….37

Appendix 2……………………………………………………………………….37

Appendix 3……………………………………………………………………….38

Appendix 4……………………………………………………………………….38

Appendix 5……………………………………………………………………….39

Appendix 6……………………………………………………………………….40

Introduction

The present work is titled “Traditions of Higher Education in the UK, Oxbridge” and is aimed at detailed description and analysis of English system of higher education by the example of two greatest English Universities: Oxford and Cambridge. I have chosen this theme, because it is interesting for me to learn more about foreign higher education and it is also very actual for young people.

The aim of my work is to get more information about higher education in the UK according to Oxbridge. I’ve chosen these two universities because they are famous all over the world, the oldest ones, and they give deep academic knowledge.

Nowadays education plays one of the most important roles in the life of modern and successful people.  It’s not a secret that good and profound education can help people to reach all the goals in life.

Today more and more young people choose education abroad. It’s widely known that education in Europe and in the USA is prestigious and diplomas of some European and western universities are highly appreciated in this country by employers. Good education became the synonym of good work and therefore- good life.

Chapter 1 Education in UK

Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England, and the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are responsible for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively. While the systems in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are more similar, the Scottish system is quite different.

Education in England is overseen by the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. At local level, local authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools.

Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16 (inclusive). Students may then continue their secondary studies for a further two years (sixth form), leading most typically to an A level qualification, although other qualifications and courses exist, including Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) qualifications and the International Baccalaureate. The leaving age for compulsory education was raised to 18 by the Education and Skills Act 2008. The change will take effect in 2013 for 17-year-olds and 2015 for 18-year-olds. State-provided schools are free of charge to students, and there is also a tradition of independent schooling, but parents may choose to educate their children by any suitable means.

Higher education typically begins with a 3-year Bachelor's Degree. Postgraduate degrees include Master's Degrees, either taught or by research, and Doctor of Philosophy, a research degree that usually takes at least three years. Universities require a Royal charterin order to issue degrees, and all but one are 'financed' by the state with a 'low' level of fees, though these are increasing, for home and European students.

Education in Northern Ireland differs slightly from systems used elsewhere in the United Kingdom, though it is more similar to that used in England and Wales than it is to Scotland. A child's age on 1 July determines the point of entry into the relevant stage of education unlike England and Wales where it is the 1 September. Northern Ireland's results at GCSE and A-Level are consistently top in the UK. At A-Level, one third of students in Northern Ireland achieved A grades in 2007, compared with England and Wales.

Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from other parts of the United Kingdom.

Traditionally, the Scottish system has emphasized breadth across a range of subjects, while the English, Welsh and Northern Irish systems have emphasized greater depth of education over a smaller range of subjects at secondary school level.

Following this, Scottish universities generally have courses a year longer (typically 4 years) than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK, though it is often possible for students to take more advanced specialized exams and join the courses at the second year. One unique aspect is that the ancient universities of Scotland issue a Master of Arts as the first degree in humanities.

The majority of schools are non-denominational, but as a result of the Education Act 1918, separate Roman Catholic state schools were also established. Catholic schools are fully funded by the Scottish Government and administered by the Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate. There are specific legal provisions to ensure the promotion of a Catholic ethos in such schools: applicants for positions in the areas of Religious Education, Guidance or Senior Management must be approved by the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, which also appoints a chaplain to each of its schools. There is also one Jewish state primary school.

Qualifications at the secondary school and post-secondary (further education) level are provided by the Scottish Qualifications Authority, which is the national awarding and accrediting body in Scotland, and delivered through various schools, colleges and other centers. Political responsibility for education at all levels is vested in the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Education and Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Departments.

State schools are owned and operated by the local authorities which act as Education Authorities, and the compulsory phase is divided into primary school and secondary school (often called high school). Schools are supported in delivering the National Guidelines and National Priorities by Learning and Teaching Scotland.

Inspections and audits of educational standards are conducted by three bodies: Care Commission inspects care standards in pre-school provision; Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education for pre-school, primary, education, further and community education; with the Scottish office of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA Scotland) responsible for higher education.

Education in Wales differs in certain respects from education elsewhere in the United Kingdom. For example, a significant number of students all over Wales are educated either wholly or largely through the medium of Welsh: in 2008/09, 22 per cent of classes in maintained primary schools used Welsh as the sole or main medium of instruction. Welsh medium education is available to all age groups through nurseries, schools, colleges and universities and in adult education; lessons in the language itself are compulsory for all pupils until the age of 16.

Since devolution, education policy in the four constituent countries of the UK has diverged: for example, England has pursued reforms based on diversity of school types and parental choice; Wales (and Scotland) remain more committed to the concept of the community-based comprehensive school. Systems of governance and regulation - the arrangements for planning, funding, quality-assuring and regulating learning, and for its local administration - are becoming increasingly differentiated across the four home countries. Education researcher David Reynolds claims that policy in Wales is driven by a "producerist" paradigm emphasizing collaboration between educational partners. He concludes that performance data do not suggest that Wales has improved more rapidly than England, although there are considerable difficulties in making these kinds of assessments.

1.1 System of education

In the vast majority of cases, pupils progress from primary to secondary levels at age 11; in some areas either or both of the primary and secondary levels are further subdivided. A few areas have three-tier education systems with an intermediate middle level from age 9 to 13.

State-funded nursery education is available from the age of 3, and may be full-time or part-time. If registered with a state school attendance is compulsory beginning with the term following the child's fifth birthday. Children can be enrolled in the reception year in September of that school year thus beginning school at age 4 or 4.5. Unless the student chooses to stay within the education system school attendance ends on the last Friday in June during the academic year in which a student attains the age of 16.

Under the National Curriculum system, all pupils undergo National Curriculum Tests (NCTs, or colloquially known as SATs) towards the ends of Key Stage 2 in core subjects, but not foundation subjects, where teacher assessment is used. They normally take GCSE exams in the last two years of Key Stage 4, but may take other Level 2 qualifications, such as GNVQ. Former tests at the end of Key Stage 3 were abandoned after the 2008 tests, when severe problems emerged concerning the marking procedures. Now at Key Stages 1 and 3, assessment is by teacher assessment against the National Curriculum Attainment Targets for all subjects. Test results for schools are published, and are an important measure of their performance.

Shrewsbury Sixth Form College in Shropshire.

Years 12 and 13 are often referred to as "lower sixth form" and "upper sixth form" respectively, reflecting their distinct, voluntary nature and situation as the A level years. Some independent schools still refer to years 7 to 11 as "first form" to "fifth form", reflecting earlier usage. Even more historically, this arose from the system in public schools, where all forms were divided into Lower, Upper, and sometimes Middle sections. Year 7 is equivalent to "Upper Third Form", Year 8 would have been known as "Lower Fourth", and so on. Some independent schools still use this way of counting the years.

1.2 Higher education

Pupils going to higher education or professional training usually take “A” level examinations in two or three subjects. Universities accept students mainly on the basis of their “A” level results, although they may interview them as well. In 1971 the Open University was stared, where these formal qualifications are not necessary. Nearly a quarter of all adult part-time students follow is degree courses on radio and television.

Undergraduate courses normally take three years of full-time study, although a number of subjects take longer, including medicine, architecture and foreign languages (where courses include a year abroad). They lead in most cases to Bachelor’s degree In Arts or Science There are various postgraduate degrees, including Master of Philosophy. The last two are awarded for research in Arts or sciences.

Degrees are awarded either by the institution itself, or by the Council for National Academic Awards, particularly in vocational areas. Students of law, architecture and some other professions can take qualifications awarded by their own professional bodies instead of degrees.

At present, students who have been accepted by universities or other institutions of higher education receive from their local authority, which covers the cost of the course, and may cover living expenses. Parents with higher incomes are expected to make a contribution. Until 1990 the grant did not have to be paid back, but now a system of loans has been introduced.

The most famous universities are Oxford and Cambridge, called “Oxbridge”. They are famous for their academic excellence.

Chapter 2 Universities and colleges in UK

All in all there are now seventy-nine universities in the United Kingdom, including the Open University. They van be roughly divided into three main groups:

1) the old universities;

2) the redbrick and civic universities;

3) the new universities.

The old universities are those founded before the year 1600: Oxford, containing about 30 separate colleges, dating back to the 12th century; Cambridge, with about 20 separate college, dating from the 13th century (until the 19th century, Oxford and Cambridge were the only universities in England); for Scottish Universities, dating from the 15th and 16th centuries: St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. For schools for the sons of the gentry, barred to all who were not members of the Church of England. Then in 1836 London University was founded non-deminational and non-residential, and today the largest university in the country. From the start the emphasis was more on the vocational and the specialist, a break with the Oxbridge emphasis on the arts or humanities. At London University colleges are teaching institutions and not residential units. One of the most interesting of these is the famous London School of Economics.

The redbrick universities include all the provincial universities of the period 1850-1930, which all started as university colleges preparing student for London degrees, but which now award degrees of their own: Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, Sheffield, Reading, Exeter.

The term “redbrick” is not used much today, but is useful for defining this group of universities which were all built in the favorite building material of the period – red brick. They are often called “civic” universities as they were founded on the  basis of funds provided the local municipal authorities.

The “new” universities re universities founded since the year 1945. Unlike Redbricks, which are situated mainly in large towns, the “new” universities are to be found in pleasant rural surroundings close to some culture centre of some antiquity, e.g., in Kent, where the university was set up near Canterbury, and in Essex, which has a university near Colchester, the oldest town in Britain.

Owing to their modernistic architecture they are sometimes referred to as the “plateglass” universities. They have introduced new degrees or courses of study, in an attempt to break away from the overspecialization of the past.

Two features of Oxford and Cambridge deserve to be noted. One is the college system whereby all students live in college during at least part of their course. The other feature is the tutorial system, whereby each student gets personal tuition once a week in his tutor’s own room.

Other colleges for further education include:

In England and Wales all new entrants to teaching must generally have taken a recognized course of teacher training. Courses are offered by most universities and by many polytechnics and other institutions of higher education. Non-graduate Certificate of Education.

Polytechnics (Polys) could be called the “comprehensives” of further education. They are study centers that offer a wide range of full-time or part-time courses for students of all ages (usually over 18). Courses lead to diplomas or to degrees awards by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA). Some 10 CATs (Colleges of Advanced Technology) where recently upgraded as full universities.

The Open University, originally called the “ University on the Air”, is open practically to everybody, making it possible for a great number of TV and radio, and partly by correspondence. There are also some classes in the evening and residential courses for two or three weeks in the summer. At the end of course,  successful students are awarded a university degree.

In England and Wales, if you study at Oxford or Cambridge, you have to belong to a college. Each college has its own living quarters, chapel, dining hall, library etc. , and is really a residential unit. This system of colleges going right back to the Middle Ages, is one of the chief characteristics of Oxbridge. It is unlike that of any other university, whether in Britain or America. In Order University, a student must apply to a college and become a member of the university through the college. The colleges are not connected with any particular study and are governed by 20 to 30 “fellows”. Each fellow of a college is a tutor (a teacher, often called a don). The university is like federation of colleges. The university arranges the courses, the lectures, and the examinations, and awards the degrees.

Degrees. In England and Wales, studying for the first degree normally takes 3 years. At the end of this course the successful student is awarded a Bachelor’s degree, usually a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BSc). In English and Walsh Universities a mast’s degree (MA or MSc) is awarded after a further period of study, except at Oxford and Cambridge where it is possible to buy an MA twelve years after graduating as a BA.

A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) and other higher degree, n equivalent of the British BA (only after four years of study).

Administration. In England and Wales the Chancellor is usually the nominal head of the university. The professional head of the university is the Vice-Chancellor, who in most cases is an academic body of professional rank.

The Senate is the principal academic body of the university, responsible for academic policy, teaching, examinations and discipline. Academic work is the responsibility of faculties, each of which is head by Dean. A faculty consists of a number of departments and the head of department is usually a professor. The position of “reader” is usually reserved for senior members of the staff with strong research interests. Senior lecturers and lecturers are responsible for much of the teaching by the department.

2.1    New Universities

Nine of ten new universities were founded in direct response to the enormous increase in demand for higher education. In a complete break with the past they were established as a matter of government policy as brand-new, completely autonomous universities. Richly endowed with superb estates (200 acres was regarded as the minimum) by the local authorities which were only too happy to have the prestige of university on their doorsteps, the new universities have been able to experiment with every facet and at every stage of their development. So they are all unique in what they teach and in the philosophy and policy behind their non-academic life. But there are some common threads in their development; faculties composed heterogeneous collection of highly individualistic departments are, for example, out; schools or boards of studies with intergraded development of their sub-disciplines are in. Several have adapted the Oxbridge collegiate s but on the Durham system principle (i.e., the university admits students) to create manageable communities in readiness for the day when the university becomes, as it is intended most of them will, very large.

2.2 The Ancient Universities

Oxford and Cambridge share worldwide fame for scholarship, antiquity, architecture and elegance, and their most outstanding characteristics is the collegiate system.  The colleges are self-governing teaching bodies, each electing and paying their own staff (“fellows” or “dons”) and selecting their own students (applications are made to colleges, not to the university). Weekly tutorials for individuals or small groups arranged by the colleges are the main teaching method.       The university provides lectures – which are optional – and central facilities like labs and libraries. Oxbridge teaching has been hardly touched by the vogue amongst younger universities for a comparative approach to undergraduate studies, and students are still taught analytically, being judged less by what they know than by their critical attitude to what they have discovered. They benefit from comprehensive copyright-deposit libraries, plus good college and departmental libraries, and though terms are only eight weeks long, vacation reading is required. Social life centers largely round the college-based Junior Common Rooms and in neither university is there a central Students Representative Councils. The famous Oxbridge Unions are primarily private debating societies with some club facilities attached. The colleges, with traditions such as eating in hall and staircase servants, combine an intimate community with a cross-section of university life-but they are segregated and can be claustrophobic. Most students live in colleges, lodgings must be approved by college authorities, and undergraduates seldom get permission to live in flats.

Chapter 3 Oxbridge

Oxbridge- the two universities, which for seven hundred years have dominated British education, and which have preserved an antique way of life in the midst of the 20th century. Their prestige and wealth is perpetuated by the large numbers of their alumni who themselves control corporate wealth. They still hold their own in centers of power. Oxford and Cambridge in 1970 still provided twenty-six of the thirty permanent secretaries, 250 of the 630 members of Parliament. Ten members of Harold Wilson’s cabinet were at Oxford and fourteen members of Ted Heath’s 1971 cabinet of seventeen were at Oxford and Cambridge. In the world of communications-particularly in serious newspapers, television current affairs and satire-Oxbridge men have a special hold, and al kinds of in-groups love to write about each other. Te eighteen thousand students of Oxbridge make up, as viewed from the outside, one of the most elite elites in the world.

Oxford is older than Cambridge, more worldly, more philosophical, classical and theological (eight professors o theology to two of engineering), and with a special flair for self-congratulation and public relation. Cambridge is more isolated, more theatrical, more scientific. Cambridge has a more self-contained intellectual class, fortified by the tradition of intermarried Darwins, Kryneses, Wedwoods, and more student trouble. But compared with the others, these two stone cities, with their quadrangles, cloisters, damp staircases and punts, look very alike. Much of their attraction depends on the individual tutors, the peculiar range of lectures, the sense of being an international centre, exposed to some of the best minds in the world. But much, too, depends on the social climate-the unchanging calendar of boat races, college balls and summer frolics. From outside, Oxbridge might appear as a citadel which can only be stormed by the cleverest invaders; but from the inside it looks curiously as it always has, with its surface of pageantry, idleness and sport.

3.1 Oxford

The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University or simply Oxford) is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back as the 11th century. The University grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. In post-nominals the University of Oxford was historically abbreviated as Oxon, although Oxf is nowadays used in official University publications.

Most undergraduate teaching at Oxford is organized around weekly essay-based tutorials at self-governing colleges and halls, supported by lectures and laboratory classes organized by University faculties and departments. League tables consistently list Oxford as one of the UK's best universities, and Oxford consistently ranks in the world's top 10.

The University is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the Coimbra Group, the League of European Research Universities, International Alliance of Research Universities and is also a core member of the Europaeum. It forms part of the 'Golden Triangle'of British universities. For more than a century, it has served as the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, which brings students from a number of countries to study at Oxford as postgraduates or a second bachelor's degree.

The University of Oxford does not have a clear date of foundation. Teaching at Oxford existed in some form in 1096.

The expulsion of foreigners from the University of Paris in 1167 caused many English scholars to return from France and settle in Oxford. The historian Gerald of Wales lectured to the scholars in 1188, and the first known foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland, arrived in 1190. The head of the University was named a chancellor from 1201, and the masters were recognized as a universities or corporation in 1231. The students associated together, on the basis of geographical origins, into two “nations”, representing the North (including the Scots) and the South (including the Irish and the Welsh). In later centuries, geographical origins continued to influence many students' affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. Members of many religious orders, including Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Augustinians, settled in Oxford in the mid-13th century, gained influence, and maintained houses for students. At about the same time, private benefactors established colleges to serve as self-contained scholarly communities. Among the earliest were William of Durham, who in 1249 endowed University College, and John I de Balliol, father of the future King of Scots: Balliol College bears his name. Another founder, Walter de Merton, a chancellor of England and afterwards Bishop of Rochester, devised a series of regulations for college life; Merton College thereby became the model for such establishments at Oxford as well as at the University of Cambridge. Thereafter, an increasing number of students forsook living in halls and religious houses in favour of living at colleges.

The new learning of the Renaissance greatly influenced Oxford from the late 15th century onward. Among University scholars of the period were William Grocyn, who contributed to the revival of the Greek language, and John Colet, the noted biblical scholar. With the Reformation and the breaking of ties with the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Recusant scholars from Oxford fled to continental Europe, settling especially at the University of Douai. The method of teaching at the university was transformed from the medieval Scholastic method to Renaissance education, although institutions associated with the university suffered loss of land and revenues. In 1636, Chancellor William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, codified the university statutes; these to a large extent remained the university's governing regulations until the mid-19th century. Laud was also responsible for the granting of a charter securing privileges for Oxford University Press, and he made significant contributions to the Bodleian Library, the main library of the university.

In 1605 Oxford was still a walled city, but several colleges had been built outside the city walls. (North is at the bottom on this map.)

The university was a centre of the Royalist Party during the English Civil War (1642–1649), while the town favorite the opposing Parliamentarian cause. From the mid-18th century onward, however, the University of Oxford took little part in political conflicts.

An engraving of Christ Church, Oxford, 1742.

The mid nineteenth century saw the impact of the Oxford Movement (1833–1845), led among others by the future Cardinal Newman. The influence of the reformed model of German university reached Oxford via key scholars such as Benjamin Jowett and Max Müller.

Administrative reforms during the 19th century included the replacement of oral examinations with written entrance tests, greater tolerance for religious dissent, and the establishment of four women's colleges. Twentieth century Privy Council decisions (such as the abolition of compulsory daily worship, dissociation of the Regius professorship of Hebrew from clerical status, diversion of theological bequests to colleges to other purposes) loosened the link with traditional belief and practice. Although the University's emphasis traditionally had been on classical knowledge, its curriculum expanded in the course of the 19th century to encompass scientific and medical studies.

The mid twentieth century saw many distinguished continental scholars, displaced by Nazism and Communism, relocating to Oxford.

The list of distinguished scholars at the University of Oxford is long and includes many who have made major contributions to British politics, the sciences, medicine, and literature. More than forty Nobel laureates and more than fifty world leaders have been affiliated with the University of Oxford.

As a collegiate university, Oxford's structure can be confusing to those unfamiliar with it. The university is a federation: it comprises over forty self-governing colleges and halls, along with a central administration headed by the Vice-Chancellor. The academic departments are located centrally within this structure; they are not affiliated with any particular college. Departments provide facilities for teaching and research, determine the syllabuses and guidelines for the teaching of students, perform research, and deliver lectures and seminars. Colleges arrange the tutorial teaching for their undergraduates. The members of an academic department are spread around many colleges; though certain colleges do have subject alignments (e.g. Nuffield College as a centre for the social sciences), these are exceptions, and most colleges will have a broad mix of academics and students from a diverse range of subjects. Facilities such as libraries are provided on all these levels: by the central university (the Bodleian), by the departments (individual departmental libraries, such as the English Faculty Library), and by colleges (each of which maintains a multi-discipline library for the use of its members).

There are 38 colleges of the University of Oxford and 6 Permanent Private Halls, each with its own internal structure and activities. All resident students, and most academic staff, must be members both of a college or hall, and of the university. The heads of Oxford colleges are known by various titles, according to the college, including warden, provost, principal, president, rector, master or dean. The colleges join together as the Conference of Colleges to discuss policy and to deal with the central University administration. Teaching members of the colleges (fellows and tutors) are collectively and familiarly known as dons (though the term is rarely used by members of the university itself). In addition to residential and dining facilities, the colleges provide social, cultural, and recreational activities for their members. Colleges have responsibility for admitting undergraduates and organizing their tuition; for graduates, this responsibility falls upon the departments.

Undergraduate teaching is centered on the tutorial, where 1–4 students spend an hour with an academic discussing their week’s work, usually an essay (humanities, most social sciences, some mathematical, physical, and life sciences) or problem sheet (most mathematical, physical, and life sciences, and some social sciences). Students usually have one or two tutorials a week, and can be taught by academics at any other college—not just their own—as expertise and personnel requires. These tutorials are complemented by lectures, classes and seminars, which are organized on a departmental basis. Graduate students undertaking taught degrees are usually instructed through classes and seminars, though there is more focus upon individual research.

The university itself is responsible for conducting examinations and conferring degrees. The passing of two sets of examinations is a prerequisite for a first degree. The first set of examinations, called either Honour Moderations ("Mods" and "Honour Mods") or Preliminary Examinations ("Prelims"), are usually held at the end of the first year (after two terms for those studying Law, Theology, Philosophy and Theology, Experimental Psychology or Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology or after five terms in the case of Classics). The second set of examinations, the Final Honour School ("Finals"), is held at the end of the undergraduate course. Successful candidates receive first-, upper or lower second-, or third-class honours based on their performance in Finals. An upper second is the most usual result, and a first is generally prerequisite for graduate study. A "double first" reflects first class results in both Honour Mods. and Finals. Research degrees at the master's and doctoral level are conferred in all subjects studied at graduate level at the university. As a matter of tradition, bachelor's degree graduates are eligible, after seven years from matriculation and without additional study, to purchase for a nominal fee an upgrade of their bachelor's degree to a "MA" or Master of Arts. All MAs were members of Convocation and until 1913 all resident members of Convocation were members of Congregation. MAs, as members of Convocation, elected the Chancellor and Professor of Poetry, but recently Convocation has been widened to consist of all graduates.

The academic year is divided into three terms, determined by Regulations. Michaelmas Term lasts from October to December; Hilary Term from January to March; and Trinity Term from April to June.

Within these terms, Council determines for each year eight-week periods called Full Terms, during which undergraduate teaching takes place. These terms are shorter than those of many other British universities. Undergraduates are also expected to prepare heavily in the three holidays (known as the Christmas, Easter and Long Vacations).

Internally at least, the dates in the term are often referred to by a number in reference to the start of each full term, thus the first week of any full term is called "1st week" and the last is "8th week". The numbering of the weeks continues up to the end of the term, and begins again with negative numbering from the beginning of the succeeding term, through "minus first week" and "noughth week", which precedes "1st week". Weeks begin on a Sunday. Undergraduates must be in residence from Thursday of 0th week.

Oxford has more then 100 libraries nearly 40 of which make up the Bodleian library system. Oxford's central research library is the Bodleian, founded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1598 and opened in 1602. With over 11 million volumes housed on 120 miles (190 km) of shelving, it is the second-largest library in the UK, after the British Library. It is a legal deposit library, which means that it is entitled to request a free copy of every book published in the UK. As such, its collection is growing at a rate of over three miles (five kilometres) of shelving every year.[ Its main central site consists of the Radcliffe Camera, the Old Schools Quadrangle, the Clarendon Building, and the New Bodleian Building. A tunnel underneath Broad Street connects the buildings. There are plans to build a new book depository in Osney Mead, and to remodel the New Bodleian building  to better showcase the library’s various treasures (which include a Shakespeare First Folio and a Gutenberg Bible) as well as temporary exhibitions. Several other libraries, such as the Bodleian Law Library, Indian, Radcliffe Science Library and the Oriental Institute Library, also fall within the Bodleian’s remit.

As well as the Bodleian, there are a number of other specialized libraries in Oxford, such as the Sackler Library which holds classical collections. In addition, most academic departments maintain their own library, as do all colleges. The University’s entire collection is catalogued by the Oxford Libraries Information System, though with such a huge collection, this is an ongoing task. Oxford University Library Services, the head of which is Bodley’s Librarian, is the governing administrative body responsible for libraries in Oxford. The Bodleian is currently engaged in a mass-digitisation project with Google.

Oxford maintains a number of museums and galleries in addition to its libraries. The Ashmolean Museum, founded in 1683, is the oldest museum in the UK, and the oldest university museum in the world. It holds significant collections of art and archaeology, including works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Turner, and Picasso, as well as treasures such as the Scorpion Macehead, the Parian Marble and the Alfred Jewel. It also contains "The Messiah", a pristine Stradivarius violin, regarded by some as one of the finest examples in existence. The Ashmolean reopened in November 2009, after a £49m redevelopment, doubling the display space as well as providing new facilities.

The Museum of Natural History holds the University’s anatomical and natural history specimens. It is housed in a large neo-Gothic building on Parks Road, in the University’s Science Area. Among its collection are the skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops, and the most complete remains of a dodo found anywhere in the world. It also hosts the Simonyi Professorship of the Public Understanding of Science, currently held by Marcus du Sautoy.

Autumn in the Walled Garden of the Botanic Garden.

Adjoining the Museum of Natural History is the Pitt Rivers Museum, founded in 1884, which displays the University’s archaeological and anthropological collections, currently holding over 500,000 items. It recently built a new research annexe; its staff have been involved with the teaching of anthropology at Oxford since its foundation, when as part of his donation General Augustus Pitt Rivers stipulated that the University establish a lectureship in anthropology.

The Museum of the History of Science is housed on Broad St in the world’s oldest-surviving purpose-built museum building. It contains 15,000 artifacts, from antiquity to the 20th century, representing almost all aspects of the history of science. In the Faculty of Music on St Aldate's is the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, a collection mostly comprising of instruments from Western classical music, from the medieval period onwards. The Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in the UK, and the third-oldest scientific garden in the world. It contains representatives from over 90% of the world’s higher plant families. Christ Church Picture Gallery holds a collection of over 200 old master paintings.

In the subject tables of the Times Good University Guide 2008, Oxford is ranked as the top university in the UK with Cambridge as the second.] Oxford is ranked first in Politics, Physiological Sciences, English, Fine Art, Business Studies, Middle Eastern and African Studies, Music, Philosophy, and also Education and Linguistics which it shares first with Cambridge. Oxford comes second after Cambridge in a further seventeen subjects. The University then takes three third-places and an equal-third, as well as a fourth, fifth, and equal-sixth place in one subject each.

In the Guardian's subject tables for institutions in tariff-band 6 (universities whose prospective students are expected to score 400 or more tariff points) Oxford took first place for Anatomy and Physiology, Anthropology, Biosciences, Business and Management Studies, Earth and Marine Sciences, Economics, English, Law, Materials and Mineral Engineering, Modern Languages, Music, Politics, Psychology, and Sociology. Oxford came second to Cambridge in Geography, Archaeology, Classics, History, History of Art, Mathematics, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies. Oxford came second in General Engineering, and third in Fine Art, General Engineering and Physics; fourth place in Chemistry and Medicine; second place in Computer Science and IT.

In the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities, Oxford was ranked 10th in the world and second in Europe. In the 2010 QS World University Rankings Oxford University dropped a place to sixth in the world (while Cambridge University came first), falling from fifth (alongside Imperial College London) in the 2009 THE - QS World University Rankings (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings). It had been consistently in the top five since the rankings began in 2004. In 2009 it had been ranked second in the world for arts and humanities, third in life sciences and biomedicine, third in social sciences, and fifth in natural sciences. Oxford also came second in the world in terms of graduate employability.

Oxford is one of four UK universities that belong to the Coimbra Group, one of four UK universities that belong to the League of European Research Universities, and one of three UK universities that belong to both. It is the only UK university to belong to the Europaeum group.

Oxford University is the setting for numerous works of fiction. Oxford was mentioned in fiction as early as 1400 when Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales referred to a "Clerk [student] of Oxenford": "For him was levered have at his beddes heed. Twenty books, clad in blak or reed, of Aristotle and his philosophy. Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrie". As of 1989, 533 Oxford-based novels had been identified, and the number continues to rise. Famous literary works range from Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh, to the trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, which features an alternate-reality version of the University. Sir Humphrey Appleby, GCB, KBE, MVO, MA (Oxon) attended the fictional Baillie College in Yes Minister, and The Complete Yes Minister book's introduction, dated September 1919, was written from the equally fictitious Hacker College, presumably named for Sir James (or Lady) Hacker, Minister for Administrative Affairs in Yes Minister and Prime Minister in Yes, Prime Minister, MP for Birmingham South-East.

3.2. Cambridge

The University of Cambridge (informally Cambridge University or simply Cambridge) is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second oldest university in both England and the English-speaking world and the seventh oldest university globally. In post-nominals the university's name is abbreviated as Cantab, a shortened form of Cantabrigiensis (an adjective derived from Cantabrigia, the Latinised form of Cambridge).

The university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge that was formed, early records suggest, in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute with townsfolk. The two "ancient universities" have many common features and are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In addition to cultural and practical associations as a historic part of British society, the two universities have a long history of rivalry with each other.

Academically, Cambridge ranks as one of the world's top universities. Cambridge now ranks first place in the world according to the QS university rankings, ahead of Harvard and Yale, and contends with Oxford for first place in UK league tables. Affiliates of the University have won more Nobel Prizes than those of any other institution in the world - with 88 Nobel Laureates as of October 4, 2010 - the most recent one being Robert G. Edwards for the prize in physiology or medicine. The University is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the Coimbra Group, the League of European Research Universities and the International Alliance of Research Universities. It forms part of the 'Golden Triangle' of British universities.

Cambridge's status was enhanced by a charter in 1231 from King Henry III of England which awarded the ius non trahi extra (a right to discipline its own members) plus some exemption from taxes, and a bull in 1233 from Pope Gregory IX that gave graduates from Cambridge the right to teach everywhere in Christendom.

After Cambridge was described as a studium generale in a letter by Pope Nicholas IV in 1290, and confirmed as such in a bull by Pope John XXII in 1318, it became common for researchers from other European medieval universities to come and visit Cambridge to study or to give lecture courses.

Cambridge's colleges were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself. The colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels. The hostels were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garret Hostel Lane.

Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse in 1284, Cambridge's first college. Many colleges were founded during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but colleges continued to be established throughout the centuries to modern times, although there was a gap of 204 years between the founding of Sidney Sussex in 1596 and Downing in 1800. The most recently established college is Robinson, built in the late 1970s. However, Homerton College only achieved full university college status in March 2010, making it the newest full college (it was previously an "Approved Society" affiliated with the university).

In medieval times, colleges were founded so that their students would pray for the souls of the founders. For that reason they were often associated with chapels or abbeys. A change in the colleges’ focus occurred in 1536 with the Dissolution of the Monasteries. King Henry VIII ordered the university to disband its Faculty of Canon Law and to stop teaching "scholastic philosophy". In response, colleges changed their curricula away from canon law and towards the classics, the Bible, and mathematics.

As Cambridge moved away from Canon Law so too did it move away from Catholicism. As early as the 1520s, the continental rumblings of Lutheranism and what was to become more broadly known as the Protestant Reformation were making their presence felt in the intellectual discourse of the university. Among the intellectuals involved was the theologically influential Thomas Cranmer, later to become Archbishop of Canterbury. As it became convenient to Henry VIII in the 1530s, the King looked to Cranmer and others (within and without Cambridge) to craft a new religious path that was different from Catholicism yet also different from what Martin Luther had in mind.

Nearly a century later, the university was at the centre of another Christian schism. Many nobles, intellectuals and even common folk saw the ways of the Church of England as being all too similar to the Catholic Church and moreover that it was used by the crown to usurp the rightful powers of the counties. East Anglia was the centre of what became the Puritan movement and at Cambridge, it was particularly strong at Emmanuel, St. Catherine's Hall, Sidney Sussex and Christ's College. They produced many "non-conformist" graduates who greatly influenced, by social position or pulpit, the approximately 20,000 Puritans who left for New England and especially the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Migration decade of the 1630s. Oliver Cromwell, Parliamentary commander during the Civil War and head of the English Commonwealth (1649–1660), attended Sidney Sussex.

As an institution with such a long history, the University has developed a large number of myths and legends. The vast majority of these are untrue, but have been propagated nonetheless by generations of students and tour guides.

A discontinued tradition is that of the wooden spoon, the ‘prize’ awarded to the student with the lowest passing grade in the final examinations of the Mathematical Tripos. The last of these spoons was awarded in 1909 to Cuthbert Lempriere Holthouse, an oarsman of the Lady Margaret Boat Club of St John's College. It was over one metre in length and had an oar blade for a handle. It can now be seen outside the Senior Combination Room of St John's. Since 1909, results were published alphabetically within class rather than score order. This made it harder to ascertain who the winner of the spoon was (unless there was only one person in the third class), and so the practice was abandoned.

Each Christmas Eve, BBC radio and television broadcasts The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. The radio broadcast has been a national Christmas tradition since it was first transmitted in 1928 (though the festival has existed since 1918). The radio broadcast is carried worldwide by the BBC World Service and is also syndicated to hundreds of radio stations in the USA. The first television broadcast of the festival was in 1954.

Cambridge is a collegiate university, meaning that it is made up of self-governing and independent colleges, each with its own property and income. Most colleges bring together academics and students from a broad range of disciplines, and within each faculty, school or department within the university, academics from many different colleges will be found.

The faculties are responsible for ensuring that lectures are given, arranging seminars, performing research and determining the syllabi for teaching, overseen by the General Board. Together with the central administration headed by the Vice-Chancellor, they make up the entire Cambridge University. Facilities such as libraries are provided on all these levels: by the University (the Cambridge University Library), by the departments (departmental libraries such as the Squire Law Library), and by the individual colleges (all of which maintain a multi-discipline library, generally aimed mainly at their undergraduates).

All students and many of the academics are attached to colleges, where they socialise. It is also the place where students may receive their small group teaching sessions, known as supervisions. Each college appoints its own teaching staff and fellows in each subject; decides which students to admit, in accordance with university regulations; provides small group teaching sessions, for undergraduates (though lectures are arranged and degrees are awarded by the university); and is responsible for the domestic arrangements and welfare of its own undergraduates, graduates, post-doctoral researchers, and staff in general.

The University of Cambridge currently has 31 colleges, of which three, Murray Edwards, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish, admit women only. The other colleges are now mixed, though most were originally all-male. Darwin was the first college to admit both men and women, while Churchill, Clare and King's colleges were the first previously all-male colleges to admit female undergraduates in 1972. Magdalene was the last all-male college to become mixed in 1988. Clare Hall and Darwin admit only postgraduates, and Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish, St Edmund's and Wolfson admit only mature (i.e. 21 years or older on date of matriculation) students, including graduate students. All other colleges admit both undergraduate and postgraduate students with no age restrictions. Colleges are not required to admit students in all subjects, with some colleges choosing not to offer subjects such as architecture, history of art or theology, but most offer close to the complete range. Some colleges maintain a bias towards certain subjects, for example with Churchill leaning towards the sciences and engineering, while others such as St Catharine's aim for a balanced intake. Costs to students (accommodation and food prices) vary considerably from college to college. Others maintain much more informal reputations, such as for the students of King's College to hold left-wing political views, or Robinson College and Churchill College's attempts to minimize its environmental impact.

There are also several theological colleges in Cambridge, including Westcott House, Westminster College and Ridley Hall Theological College, that are affiliated to the university and are members of the Cambridge Theological Federation.

The principal method of teaching at Cambridge colleges is the supervision. These are typically weekly hour-long sessions in which small groups of students – usually between one and three – meet with a member of the university's teaching staff or a doctoral student. Students are normally required to complete an essay or assignment in advance of the supervision, which they will discuss with the supervisor during the session, along with any concerns or difficulties they have had with the material presented in that week's lectures. Lectures at Cambridge are often described as being almost a mere 'bolt-on' to these supervisions. Students receive between one and four supervisions per week, depending upon their subject. This pedagogical system is often cited as being unique to Cambridge and Oxford (where "supervisions" are known as "tutorials")

The concept of grading students' work quantitatively was developed by a tutor named William Farish at the University of Cambridge in 1792.

In addition to the 31 colleges, the university is made up of over 150 departments, faculties, schools, syndicates and other institutions. Members of these are usually also members of one or more of the colleges and responsibility for running the entire academic programme of the university is divided amongst them.

A 'School' in the University of Cambridge is a broad administrative grouping of related faculties and other units. Each has an elected supervisory body – the 'Council' of the school – comprising representatives of the constituent bodies. There are six schools:

                    Arts and Humanities

                    Biological Sciences

                    Clinical Medicine

                    Humanities and Social Sciences

                    Physical Sciences

                    Technology

Teaching and research in Cambridge is organised by faculties. The faculties have different organizational sub-structures which partly reflect their history and partly their operational needs, which may include a number of departments and other institutions. In addition, a small number of bodies entitled 'Syndicates' have responsibilities for teaching and research, e.g.Cambridge Assessment, the University Press, and the University Library.

The Cambridge University Student Union is the overall Student Union organisation. However, the Cambridge Union serves as a focus for debating. Drama societies notably include theAmateur Dramatic Club (ADC) and the comedy club Footlights, which are known for producing well-known show-business personalities. Student newspapers include the long-established Varsity and its younger rival, The Cambridge Student. In the last year, both have been challenged by the emergence of The Tab, Cambridge's first student tabloid. The student-run radio station, CUR1350, promotes broadcast journalism.

The Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra explores a range of programmes, from popular symphonies to lesser known works. Membership of the orchestra is composed of students of the university and it has also attracted a variety of conductors and soloists, including Wayne Marshall, Jane Glover, and Nicholas Cleobury.

The academic year is divided into three terms, determined by the Statutes of the University.Michaelmas Term lasts from October to December; Lent Term from January to March; and Easter from April to June.

Within these terms undergraduate teaching takes place within eight-week periods called Full Terms. These terms are shorter than those of many other British universities.Undergraduates are also expected to prepare heavily in the three holidays (known as the Christmas, Easter and Long Vacations).

In the last two British Government Research Assessment Exercise in 2001 and 2008 respectively, Cambridge was ranked first in the country. In 2005, it was reported that Cambridge produces more PhDs per year than any other British university (over 30% more than second placed Oxford).[  In 2006, a Thomson Scientific study showed that Cambridge has the highest research paper output of any British university, and is also the top research producer (as assessed by total paper citation count) in 10 out of 21 major British research fields analyzed. Another study published the same year by Evidence showed that Cambridge won a larger proportion (6.6%) of total British research grants and contracts than any other university (coming first in three out of four broad discipline fields).

The university is also closely linked with the development of the high-tech business cluster in and around Cambridge, which forms the area known as Silicon Fen or sometimes the "Cambridge Phenomenon". In 2004, it was reported that Silicon Fen was the second largest venture capital market in the world, after Silicon Valley. Estimates reported in February 2006 suggest that there were about 250 active startup companies directly linked with the university, worth around US$6 billion.

In 2009, the marketing consultancy World Brand Lab rated Cambridge University as the 50th most influential brand in the world, and the 4th most influential university brand, behind only Harvard, MIT and Stanford University.

Conclusion

Having written this work I knew that the system of education in the United Kingdom is many-sided, qualified and prestigious, especially higher education. There are also a lot of advantages and disadvantages, for example: high level of teaching stuff, old traditions (Academic dress is still commonly seen at Oxford; until the 1960s students wore it at all times. Other traditions and customs vary by college), higher education in the UK is paid.

We can say that higher education is another important stage of system. There are a lot of universities in the UK, one of the most prestigious are Cambridge and Oxford or Oxbridge. These two universities, have dominated British education for seven hundred years, and have preserved an antique way of life in the midst of the 20th century. The University of Oxford does not have a clear date of foundation. Teaching at Oxford existed in some form in 1096. The university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge that was formed, early records suggest, in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute with townsfolk. They are very much alike, but they are different. Only Oxbridge has its own “university” words (Don- a fellow or tutor of a college or university, etc.), museums and uniform.

The approval of the pro-founded education in Oxbridge is a lot of well-known people, who graduated these universities. Oxbridge produced international leaders saints, and Archbishops of Canterbury, a lot of writers, some pioneers of the scientific revolution, contemporary scientists, composers, actors. Most famous are :John Maynard Keynes, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, King George VI, Stephen Hawking, Charles Darwin, Oscar Wilde, Margaret Thatcher , Tony Blair.

After detailed analysis of education system in the UK from the system of  education to history of ancient universities we can say that people in the UK still remember old traditions and also invent new transformations in education.

Literature

Books:

ЮБ. Голицынский “Great Britain”: пособие по страноведению для старших классов гимназий и школ с углублённым изучением английского языка – издательство « КАРО» ,1999 год, город СПб.

В.Р. Куприянова, И.В. Арнольд, М.А. Боровик, В.В. Бурлакова, К.А. Сиповская “A book of Britain”: учебное пособие для студентов институтов и факультетов иностранных языков – издательство «Просвещение», 1977 год, город Ленинград (СПб).

Е.Л. Занина “95 устных тем по английскому языку”: учебное пособие для школьников, абитуриентов и всех изучающих английский язык – издательство «АЙРИС РОЛЬФ», 1997 год, город Москва.

О. А. Леонович “Страноведение Великобритании”: учебное пособие для студентов лингвистических вузов и факультетов – издательство «УНИВЕРСИТЕТ книжный дом», 2005 год, город Москва.

Н.В. Фёдорова “Discussing Education in Great Britain”: пособие по страноведению Великобритании для студентов лингвистических вузов и факультетов – издательство «ВЫСШАЯ ШКОЛА», 1987 год, город Москва.

Sites:

http://www.ox.ac.uk/

www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.cam.ac.uk/

Appendix 1

The University of Cambridge is an institute of higher learning in the United Kingdom

Appendix 2

The University of Cambridge

Appendix 3

The University of Oxford

Appendix 4

Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Appendix 5

Oxford Matriculation 2003

Appendix 6

The table describes the most common patterns for schooling in the state sector in England

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