The system of higher education in the usa american colleges and universities

Basically, American higher education developed its own pattern by the adaptation of the university tradition of England and the university tradition of the Continent.

The first universities were developed by private charitable organizations, many of which were religious. The private universities are still very important. Of the nation’s nearly 1,900 four-year institutions of higher learning, 1,200 are privately controlled. All higher educational establishments charge fees. It costs a lot of money to study there.

The system of higher education in the United States comprises three categories of institutions:

1) the university, which may contain:

a) several (four-year) colleges for undergraduate students seeking a bachelor’s degree;

b) one or more graduate schools for those continuing in specialized studies beyond the bachelor’s degree to obtain a master’s or a doctoral degree;

2) the technical training institutions at which high school graduates may take courses ranging from six months to four years in duration;

3) the two-year college, from which students may enter many professions or may transfer to four-year colleges.

The American college is an institution which has no counterpart in Europe. These are two-year colleges offering a range of technical vocational and life adjustment courses. They do not award degrees and are therefore well down the hierarchy of higher education institutions. Some degree of equality is to be maintained, however, as many of them offer two-year courses, which lead to credits towards a four-year bachelor’s degree after the transfer to a degree-awarding institution.

Bachelor’s degree courses are typically four-years long, with credits given for courses successfully completed. Successful completion is assessed on course work, prepared essays and possibly final examination. The credit system of assessment is general in the education system.

The methods of instruction in the universities are lectures, discussions and work in laboratories. The academic year is usually of nine months duration, or two semesters of four and a half months each.

Students are classified as freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. A special feature of American college and university life is numerous students’ unions, fraternities and sororities.

Vocabulary exercises:

1. Pronounce correctly:

To assess, a freshman, a junior, a senior, to get a degree, equality, to maintain, a sorority, to found, to award, undergraduate, a sophomore, to acquire, a feature, charitable.

2. Translate the words in bold type in the text into Russian.

III. Give the English equivalents of the following words and word combinations and make up 5 own English sentences:

Студент университета, студент первого курса, студент-второкурсник, студент предпоследнего курса, студент последнего курса, степень бакалавра, степень магистра, присуждать ученую степень, выпускник университета, профессиональный, оценивать, выпускной экзамен, высшее образовательное учреждение.

IV. Complete the text using the following words and word combinations: term, to read, lectures, a question, students, to teach, a book, audience, a lecturer, to take notes:

Lectures start on the first Monday of … . Lecturers are sometimes … in fasion, … as such are never in fashion. Why … when you could as well read it all in a book? The … is unanswerable. Not, of course, that there always is a … . Not that, if there is, you always … it.

Lecturers in general hate lectures as much as … . That is why they lecture so badly. Nobody has ever … them how to lecture well. On the first Monday the … has his largest audience for the term. Where there are a hundred young men and women today, there will, in eight-week time, be no more than five or six, and then perhaps no … at all.

(By D. Balsden)

V. Make up 5 questions to the text, ask them to your groupmates and let them answer them.

6. Are the following statements true or false?

1. Harvard College was named for Puritan minister Tom Harvard.

2. It was founded in 1630.

3. Harvard has educated seven US presidents, military leaders, and dozens of literary and intellectual figures.

4. Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the USA.

5. From 1960 women graduated from both Harvard and Radcliffe, and in 1990 Harvard was absorbed by Radcliffe.

7. Find information in the text to prove the following statements:

1. There is no national system of higher education in the United States.

2. The American college has no counterpart in Europe.

3. The credit system of assessment is general in the educational system of the USA.

4. The first universities were developed by private organizations.

VIII. Make up a plan to the text and write out the key words for each point of your plan.

IX. Retell the text as if you were a student of Harvard University (See Appendix 1).

8. Project work (See Appendix 1):

   1. The role of universities in modern society.

   2. New trends in university education.

   3. American colleges and universities.

   4. Problems of higher education in the Great Britain, the USA and Russia.

   5. University students of the XXI^st century, qualities and qualifications.

XI. Read the following dialogue in pairs and then make up your own one using the new words and expressions of the text:

Nelly: May I introduce myself? I am Nelly. What’s your name?

Helen: My name is Helen. Are you a student?

Nelly: Yes, I am. I am a sophomore. I study at California University.

Helen: I am a third-year student of the Moscow City Pedagogical University.

Nelly: Did you enter the University straight from school?

Helen: No, I didn’t. After finishing school I worked in the kindergarten. Then I entered the evening department of our University.

Nelly: I see. You studied your speciality at the University and continued to work, didn’t you?

Helen: Yes, I did. But now I am a full-time student.

Nelly: You shouldn’t work to make your living, should you?

Helen: I don’t work now because I get a state scholarship. I think you get a state grant too.

Nelly: Yes, I do. But still I have to work after classes to pay for studies.

Helen: Do you have to pay much?

Nelly: Oh, yes! I have to pay for taking examinations, for attending lectures, for borrowing books from the library.

Helen: Is it right that a student of the university is to pay much money for studies?

Nelly: That’s right. I’m afraid I’ll have to give up my studies and look for a job. You know we get state scholarships only for months of studies, we don’t get any grants during vacations. My parents are farmers. They can’t help me. What are your plans for the future?

Helen: I’m going to continue my studies at the University.

XII. Organize a round- table discussion “Problems of higher education in Russia, the UK and the USA”: choose a leader (a chairman), divide into 3 groups – one delegation is from Moscow State University, the second – from Oxford and the third – from Harvard University, prepare a report about your University according to the following plan (See Appendix 1):

1. The system of education:

• the structure of the system of higher education;

• subjects studied;

• lectures, practical classes, tutorials;

• an academic year;

• an examination session;

• facilities (libraries, laboratories, computers, etc.).

2. Description of the higher educational establishment the delegation represents.

3. Students’ life.

Find out the similarities and differences between these three countries. These questions will help you:

1. Is it difficult to get a place in a higher educational establishment of a certain country?

2. Who enjoys privileges when entering a higher educational establishment? Why?

3. Do all school-leavers have equal chances of entering institutes and universities?

4. Are there any preparatory departments?

5. What types of higher educational establishments can you name in each country?

6. What is the difference between institutes and universities?

7. What are the curricula of universities and institutes in both the countries?

8. In what way is higher education of young people in Great Britain as well as in Russia carried out?

13. Write a business letter to the president of any country on the topic: “What would I like to improve in the system of education in Russia (Great Britain, the USA)?” (not less than 20 sentences) (See Appendix 2).