Higher Education in Great Britain.
For seven hundred years Oxford and Cambridge universities dominated the British education. Scotland had four universities, all founded before 1600. Wales only acquired a university in the 20th century; it consisted of four university colleges located in different cities. The first English university after Oxford and Cambridge (sometimes referred to as Oxbridge) was Durham in the North of England, founded in 1832. The University of London was founded a few years later in 1836.
During the 19th century institutions of higher education were founded in most of the biggest industrial cities, like Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield (sometimes called the Redbrick universities). At first they did not have full university status but were known as university colleges; since 1945, however, all have become independent universities, and in recent years a number of other universities have been founded.
In the middle 60s there was a further new development. Some of the local technical colleges maintained by local authorities had gained special prestige. By 1967 ten of these had been given charters as universities. Many of them are in the biggest cities where were already established universities.
British universities are roughly divided into three main groups: the old universities; the redbrick universities, which include all the provincial universities of the period 1850-1930, as well as London University; the new universities, founded after the Second World War. In the group of old universities Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest ones. These two universities differ greatly from all the others in general organization, methods of instructions, syllabuses, traditions, history, etc. They are based on colleges.
In Oxbridge, part of the teaching is by means of lectures and any student may attend any university lecture. At the beginning of each term (there are three terms in the Oxbridge academic year) a list is published showing all the lectures being given during the term within each faculty, and every student can choose which lectures he will attend, though his own college tutor will advise him which lectures seem likely to be more useful. Attendance at lectures is not compulsory, and no records of attendance are kept. Apart from lectures, teaching is by means of the “tutorial system”, which is a system of individual tuition organized by the colleges. Each teacher or Fellow in a college is tutor in his own subject to the undergraduates who are studying it. Each student goes to his tutor’s room once every week to read out an essay he has written, and for an hour he and the tutor discuss the essay. A student does not necessarily go only to his tutor but he may be assigned to another tutor in his own college or in another college when he is studying some particular topic which is outside the special interest of his own tutor. The course of study at a university lasts three or four years. In general Bachelor’s degree, the first academic degree, is given to the students who pass their examinations at the end of the course: Bachelor of Arts, for history, philosophy, language and literature, etc., Bachelor of Science or Commerce or Music. Bachelor’s degrees are at two levels, Honours and Pass. Honours degrees are first, second or third class, and usually only about 5 per cent of the students are placed in the first class.
All British universities are private, that is not state-controlled institutions. Each has its own governing council, including some local businessmen and politicians as well as a few academics. Students have to pay for their education, university hostel, examinations, books, laboratories, the use of libraries, etc.
Besides universities there are polytechnics, numerous colleges for more specialized needs, such as teacher training, agriculture, economy, art and design, and law; a few hundred technical colleges providing part-time and full-time education. The Polytechnics, like the universities, offer the first and higher degrees. The polytechnics and some colleges provide sandwich courses. It is such a type of education where there are alternate periods of full-time employment and full-time education. Sandwich courses were introduced after the war and they are very popular in Great Britain now.