4. British universities

British universities are open to everyone. The university makes you an offer; for example it will give a place if an applicant gets at least one grade A and two Bs. The offer depends on market forces; for popular, high-prestige courses, the university will ask very good A-level results.

The number of students on a particular course (for example, Economics at Cardiff University) is strictly limited. The system does not allow students to follow full-time courses in a casual way, having a job or living in another town as they study. Students are quiet closely monitored, and have to see their teachers regularly. Consequently, drop-out and failure rates are low.

The negative side of the system was that, compared with other countries, a rather small percentage of British school-leavers actually went on to university. But there has been a dramatic improvement; the number has doubled over the last 20 years. One explanation of this is that in the 1980s many polytechnics and higher education colleges were given university status. As a result, many cities now have two universities – an old one and a new one. For example, in Bristol there is Bristol University and the University of the West of England; in Oxford there is Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University.

Officially, all universities in the country are equal in status. But they differ greatly in reputation and public image. In general, the older a university is, the higher its status. So the most prestigious are the ancient ones – Oxford and Cambridge – followed by long-established ones such as London, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Some of this is just based on tradition and snobbery. In fact, each university has strengths and weaknesses, and sensible students make their choices according to their particular needs and priorities.

About half of British students go away to university, rather than attend the one closest to home. This is an expensive thing to do; the government used to give grants (money to live on during studies), whereas now students have to borrow money or get their parents to pay. But still many students find that combining study and family life is impossible.

British universities are very popular with overseas students. There are about 70,000 – mostly from Africa, the Arab world and Far Eastern countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. The Erasmus programme arranges exchanges (from three months to one year) in 24 countries including all the members of the European Union. In fact, the UK is the most popular destination, receiving over 25 per cent of all Erasmus students.

5. Student’s life

On first coming up as a fresher, the student has rooms in his college allotted to him. Rent and size of rooms vary, but as a rule he has a comfortable sitting-room and a separate bedroom.

A student who takes his work seriously will read or attend lectures from 9 (or 9.30) till the midday meal (lunch) at 1, then take vigorous exercise of some sort on the playing fields or the river till tea at about 4.30 or 5, then do some more work till dinner at 7 and after dinner, perhaps attend a meeting of some college society, or spend a social evening with friends or get some more reading done. Once a week, at least, he will spend an hour with his tutor, who will criticize and discuss his work. Undisciplined students are fined or “grated”, that is, not allowed to go out for a given time, or “sent down” for good, or rusticated (dismissed for term).

Much of the student’s time is given to working in the library. Each college has its own library but Oxford is famous for its Bodleian Library – one of the oldest and most important libraries in the country. It is copyright library (has the right to claim a copy of all British publications), second in importance to the British Library.

Socializing is the important part of the student’s life. The universities have over a hundred societies and clubs, enough for every interest one could imagine. Apart from the university clubs, each college has anything up to 20 societies, some of them of great antiquity. These are only open to members of the college and may be very expensive. Many are dining or drinking clubs, others are essay societies, debating clubs and so on.

While many evenings are usually devoted to attending societies, afternoon are given up to numerous sports. One of the most famous sporting events in Oxbridge is the Boat Racing annually held at Easter time. The teams of oxford and Cambridge, each consisting of eight rowers, row four and a half miles along the river Thames in London. Crowds of people line the banks to watch the race and thousands more watch it on TV.

The year is divided into three terms of only eight weeks each: Michaelmas Term (autumn term), Hillary term (winter term), and Trinity term (spring term) and long summer vacation lasting four months from June till mid October. A long holiday is a relic from medieval times when scholars had to bring in the harvest. Nowadays vacations are regarded not as the rest time, but the time for independent work. Students are given tasks in reading, studying literature, writing essays.

In his first term the student decides in which final honour schools he intends to read. There are 14 from which to choose. Having made his decision he is put under a tutor who directs his studies through his academic career, which may be 3-4 years, according to the subject which the student is reading.

After 2-3 terms the student takes his first exams prelims. It is a first public examination and it is a test to see if he is capable of taking “finals”. He may have more than one shot at prelims but if he fails constantly his college may request him to make room for a more able student. Prelims over, he reads for finals. In between are collections – term exams at the end of each term and mods 9moderations) – at the end of the 5^th term. It is the first public exam for the Bachelor’s degree in some subjects. Final honour schools (“finals”, “schools”) include writing 11 three-hours papers and also viva voice exam which may be exhaustive or merely formal. In two months the undergraduate learns his fate is awarded his degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS). In Scotland “Master” is used for first degree. Oxbridge, as well as most universities, award degrees in 5 categories: First Class Honours (only 5%), Upper second, Lower Second, Third Class and Pass. The First Class Honours are of considerable prestige and professional value. The Pass degree standard is a safety-net, its standard is very low even in Oxbridge.

The degree of PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is given for a thesis, which is an original contribution to knowledge. It is common for both humanities and science: PhD in Physics, English, History, Chemistry, etc.