A FEW WORDS ABOUT HIGHER EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN (part one)

There are different kinds of educational institutions in Great Britain: universities, colleges (residential and non-resident), university extra-mural departments, evening departments at colleges, etc.

There are at present about forty universities in Great Britain; practically every big city of the country has a university. Its function is to give the highest type of education and training to its students, to make them able to carry out scientific work. A University graduate leaves with the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, Science, Engineering, Medicine, etc. Later he may continue to take the Master's Degree by thesis or research and if he becomes a good specialist in the subject, the Degree of Doctor is open to him.

A University usually consists of some Colleges, which are a part of the University. They provide training and give degrees to their students.

Each student must regularly come to see his tutor. They discuss different questions and problems, and the student must tell his tutor everything about his studies. A student writes essays and papers on the subject which he is studying and submits them regularly to his tutor for correction and discussion. Only Oxford and Cambridge Universities have this system of education.

As the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge are residential (i. e. the students have to live in one of the University hostels or in a private room) they are smaller than most of the colleges of other universities, for example the University of London. London University provides instructions mainly by means of lectures. Full-time students attend these lectures while the students of extramural department come to London only to sit for their examinations.