Higher and further education
IN GREAT BRITAIN
About one-third of British school-leavers receive post-school education. About 20% of 18- and 19-year-olds enter full-time course (degree or other advanced courses higher than A level). These courses are provided in universities, polytechnics, Scottish central institutions, colleges of higher (HE) and further (FE) education, and technical, art and agricultural colleges.
Full-time courses normally also include "sandwich" courses in which the period of full-time study in college is broken by a period, or periods, of industrial training, thus, a four-year course might consist of the first two years in college, followed by a year in industry and a final year in college.
In addition, there is a great number of part-time students of whom some were released from work with pay by their employers, normally for one full day a week or the equivalent in half-days.
Higher education in Britain is provided by universities, polytechnics and colleges of higher education which offer courses leading to a degree.
In the year of 2000 there were seventy-two universities in Britain. They fall into four broad categories:
@ the ancient English foundations
@ the ancient Scottish ones
@ the "redbrick" universities
@ the "plate-glass" ones.
They are all private institutions, receiving direct grants from central government.
Oxford and Cambridge, founded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries respectively, are easily the most famous of Britain's universities. Today "Oxbridge", as the two together are known, educate less than one tenth of Britain's total university student population. But they continue to attract many of the best brains, and to mesmerize a greater number, partly on account of their prestige but also on account of the seductive beauty of many of their buildings and surroundings.
Both universities grew gradually, as federations of independent colleges most of which were founded in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In both universities, however, new colleges have been established, for example Green College, Oxford (1979) and Robinson College, Cambridge (1977).
Today the population of Oxford, the older of the two, is about 115,000, of whom approximately 14,400 are university students (about 72% of them undergraduates). The University has no campus per se, but consists of a federation of 36 independent colleges and five "halls". For its part, the University provides central libraries, laboratories and services; meets a major part of the total bill for academic salaries; establishes the staffs of the various faculties and through them prescribes the curricula, conducts examinations and awards degrees. It also publishes the schedule of lectures to be given each term by professors, tutors and eminent visiting academics. The colleges, on the other hand, choose their own students and provide them with tutors, pay for the upkeep of their own buildings and maintain their own libraries, sports teams, traditions and specialities, and their own, sometimes very considerable, financial resources. Colleges are relatively small.
Attendance at lectures in Oxford and Cambridge is not obligatory. The basis of tuition is the tutorial, for which students are required to meet with their tutor once or twice a week, individually, or perhaps with one or two other students for every tutorial, a student in the arts or social sciences will prepare a written essay in which a case must be argued. The system, which builds on strong motivation and encourages independent thought and work, is the hallmark of Oxbridge education. Although traditionally renowned for the study of the arts, Oxbridge are now also two of the world's great scientific universities (over 40% of their students pursue degrees in science). Tutorials for the sciences may involve essays or working through problems with one's tutor, but students must also spend long hours on practical work in the laboratories.
Oxford and Cambridge demand outstanding talents in their students, yet they are no longer an exclusive preserve of the social elite. Today over forty per cent of their students arrive from state-funded schools. The ratio of applicants to available places is about 3:1. Nevertheless, although now open to all according to intellectual ability, Oxbridge retains its exclusive, narrow and spell-binding culture. Together with the public school system, it creates a narrow social and intellectual channel from which the nation's leaders are almost exclusively drawn.
The problem is not the quality of education offered either in the independent schools or Oxbridge. The problem is cultural. Can the products of such exclusive establishments remain closely in touch with the remaining 95 per cent of the population? If the expectation is that Oxbridge, particularly, will dominate the controlling positions in the state and economy, is the country ignoring equal talent which does not have the Oxbridge label?
Scotland boasts four ancient universities:
¶ Glasgow
¶ Edinburgh
¶ St.Andrews
¶ Aberdeen
all founded in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the Scottish lowlands greater value was placed on education during the sixteenth and later centuries than in much of England. These universities were created with strong links with the ancient universities of continental Europe, and followed their longer and broader course of studies. Even today, Scottish universities provide four-year undergraduate courses, compared with the usual three-year courses in England and Wales. In the nineteenth century many "civic", or "redbrick" universities were established to respond to the greatly increased demand for educated people as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of Britain's overseas empire. Many of these were sited in the industrial centres, for example Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Bristol.
They were based more on the mass lecture system than were Oxford and Cambridge. Today apart from lecture courses the teaching in most British universities is done in laboratories or in tutorial groups for three or four students, or seminars for about ten.
Out of this group London University became especially renowned. It was established in 1836 by the union of two colleges: University College and King's College. Later many other colleges, schools and institutes were added, and London University is now the largest in Britain. It is the only University which awards external degrees.
With the expansion of higher education in the 1960s many more "plate-glass" universities were established, some named after counties or regions rather than old cities, for example Sussex, Kent, East Anglia and Strathclyde. After some initial enthusiasm for them, they had become less popular by the 1980s than the older institutions.
There is also a highly successful Open University, which provides every person in Britain with the opportunity to study for a degree, without leaving their home. It is particularly designed for adults who regret missed opportunities earlier. It conducts learning through correspondence, radio and television, and also through local study centres.
Nearly a quarter of all adult part-time students follow its degree courses on radio and television. Most course work is run by part-time tutors (many of whom are lecturers at other universities); these are scattered around the country and meet students to discuss their work at regular intervals. There are short residential summer courses. The students are of all ages, some of them retired. They may spread their studies over several years, and choose their courses to suit their individual needs and preferences.
Polytechnics in England and Wales provide a range of higher education courses, up to doctoral studies. (In Scotland there are similar institutions.) But their real purpose was to fill the gap between university and further education work, providing an environment in which equal value was placed on academic and practical work, particularly in order to improve Britain's technical and technological ability. The polytechnics produce excellent quality, but by aspiring to provide the same kind of courses as universities, they have not entirely succeeded in their purpose.
Polytechnics are funded in a similar way to universities Polys' hope this will give them an opportunity to enjoy equality and equal standing with universities. In recent years many of them were upgraded to university level.
Each university course has a quota of new students which ought not to be exceeded, so entry to each course is in effect competitive. Good "A"-level results in at least two subjects are necessary to get a place at a University. However, good exam passes alone are not enough. Universities choose their students after interviews, and competition for entry to the best institutions is really fierce.
A central clearing house for admissions, the Universities Central Council on Admissions (commonly known as UCCA), helps to cope with the excessively complex problem of multiple applications. Anyone wanting to enter a university gets an application form from UCCA on which an applicant may enter applications for up to five courses indifferent universities. All universities issue prospectuses describing their courses. Polytechnics have much the same entry system.
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). The academic year is divided into three eight or ten-week terms and at the end of each term most undergraduates "go down" for the vacation. On completing the course of three or four years the undergraduates sit their "finals" or degree examinations and are awarded their "first" degree that of Bachelor of Arts or of Science (BA or BS).
The bachelor degree is normally classed, with about 5 per cent normally gaining a First, about 30 per cent gaining an Upper Second, perhaps 40 per cent gaining a Lower Second, and the balance getting either a Third, a Pass or failing.
There are various post-graduate degrees. On completion of post-graduate work, usually a one- or two-year course involving some original research students may obtain Master of Arts or of Science (MA or MSc) degree. Some students continue to complete a three-year period of original research for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Depending on the degree they are studying for the students are called undergraduates, graduates and postgraduates.
Over ninety per cent of full-time students receive grants from their Local Education Authorities to assist with their tuition, lit 1990 the government, while still providing tuition fees, froze the grant for cost of living expenses and set up a new system whereby students were to take out loans to help meet their living costs. The loans are designed to supplement the grant and are available to UK students attending undergraduate and diploma level courses of at least one year's duration.
It is very unusual for university students to live at homeland parents usually approve of the move, and see it as a necessary part of becoming an adult. Most freshmen (or freshers) live in a Hall of Residence on or near the college campus, although they may move out into a rented room in their second or third year, or share a house with friends (they may say that they live in "lodgings" or "digs" then).
Full-time and part-time students in universities, polytechnics and colleges are members of Students' Union, which is part of the National Union of Students. The Students' Union (S.U.) is a welfare organization which provides help, information and advice on aspects of University and student life. It holds guides, leaflets, magazines and maps, it provides information on travel and insurance, sells books, provides refreshments, organizes entertainment and other1 recreational activities and lends help and advice on any matter it can. The Students Union normally funds clubs and societies of all kind which are typical of undergraduate life at a university. There may be social clubs and a host of religious, philosophical, political, historical, artistic, musical and literary clubs.
Further education is education in technical colleges, further education colleges, colleges of art and various other institutions which do not award degrees. The term describes a widely differing set of institutions.
The majority of the lower level courses, relating mainly to apprenticeship schemes and qualifications are provided in Colleges of Further Education or Technical Colleges. Middle level courses are also offered in Technical Colleges with those having a good share of more advanced work being called "Colleges of Technology". Polytechnics may have both degree and non-degree courses. But there are a number of specialized colleges such as the London College of Printing and the National College of Agricultural Engineering. Very few of the broad divisions here are clear cut, there is much overlapping.
One of the major areas of "overlap" that has occurred during the past ten years or so has been between the school system and Further Education. There has been a growing provision of "Sixth Form" level studies in Colleges of Further Education and Technical Colleges during this period and almost all of the "non-advanced" technical colleges now offer a broad spread of subjects for the GCE Advanced Level ("A" level) examinations. Many sixth form students seem to prefer the more adult atmosphere of the Technical College to that of the school. A few Local Education Authorities have decided, partly because of this existing trend and partly for reasons of economy, that all the post-sixteen education in certain areas - both technical and academic - should be amalgamated in one establishment; such amalgamated institutions are called "Tertiary Colleges".
Whatever the type of establishment and its range of educational provision, most of the local inhabitants will probably refer to it as "the Tech". The Tech has played an important part in British educational history and its role will be no less important in the future.
Lecture 4:
Population of the UK: Ethnic Composition, National and Linguistic Differences
The English nation was formed as a result of the amalgamation of the native population (the Celts) and the invaders (the Anglo-Saxons, the Danes, the Normans).
Growth of Population:
Since 1801 censuses have been held every 10 years in the British Isles.