Higher Education in Britain
Higher Education in Britain
Some
EXAMS
1 At the age of 16 school children pass:
- in England, Wales and Nr.Ireland GCSE exams
General Certificate of Secondary Education
The system of marks is from A to G
- In Scotland SCE exams
Scottish Certificate of Education
The system of marks is in numbers (number 1 is the best)
EXAMS
A levels are exams passed after completing a Sixth
Form College or a Sixth Form at the age of 18 in
England, Wales and Nr Ireland
SCE Highers are the Scottish equivalent of Alevels
Typically a student will pass three A-levels (10)
EXAMS
GNVQ (General National Vocational Qualification)
are courses and exams in job-related subjects
which are studied at the Colleges of Further
Education and are divided into five levels
The first level is equivalent to GCSEs, the third level
to A levels / SCE Highers
TYPES OF UNIVERSITIES
1 Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge)
1.1They are federations of semi-independent
colleges
1.2 Each college has its own staff known as
Fellows
1.3 The Fellows teach the students either one-toone or in small groups (tutorials and supervisions)
TYPES OF UNIVERSITIES
1.4 lecturers and lab works are organized at
university level
1.5 before 1970 all Oxbridge colleges were single-sex
1.6 nowadays the majority admit both sexes
OXFORD UNIVERSITY
TYPES OF UNIVERSITIES
2The Old Scottish Universities
- They are Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and St
Andrews
- St Andrews resembles Oxbridge
- Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen resemble civic
universities
- In all of them the pattern of education is closer to
the continental than to the English one
GLASGOW UNIVERSITY
TYPES OF UNIVERSITIES
3 The early 19th-century English universities
The University of London is the representative of this
group
Each college is almost a separate university
Colleges are non-residentinal
TYPES OF UNIVERSITIES
4 The Older Civic (Redbrick) Universities
4.1Used to be various institutions with a
technical bias
4.2 Appeared in main industrial cities (Leeds,
Birmingham, Manchester)
4.3 Were built of local material, often brick in
contrast to the stone ones
4.4 Prepared students for London University
Degree
4.5 Were given the right to award their own
degrees and became universities
LEEDS UNIVERSITY
TYPES OF UNIVERSITIES
5 The Newer Civic Universities (Aston, Salford)
5.1were originally technical colleges
5.2 in 1970es became polytechnics (were allowed to
teach degree courses
5.3 in 1990es most of them became universities
5.4 their notable feature is a sandwich course
TYPES OF UNIVERSITIES
6 The Campus University
6.1purpose-built institutions located in the
countryside but close to towns
6.2 East Anglia, Lancaster, Sussex
6.3 new academic disciplines are introduced such as
social studies
6.4 teaching in small groups known as seminars
SUSSEX UNIVERSITY
DEGREES
Bachelor Degree:
1 a Bachelor of Arts
2 a Bachelor of Science
Master Degree
1 a Master of Arts
2 a Master of Sciences
Doctorate
a Doctor of Philosophy