Reading Practice Text 1

1. Read the text to yourself and try to understand what it is about.

2. Scan through the text. Note all the words and phrases you don’t know. Look them in the English-Russian dictionary.

3. Find the sentience where the Passive Voice is used.

Academic Degrees

An academic degree is a title awarded by a college or university for successfully completing a course of study, or for a particular attainment. Earned degrees are bestowed for completion of courses of study; honorary degrees recognize a certain attainment, not necessarily connected with an educational institution.

Degrees of various types and levels are currently conferred by almost 2,500 institutions of higher education in the United States, as well as by the principal universities in foreign countries. During the first two centuries of higher education in the United States (since 1642) few academic degrees were used, but during the last century, and particularly since 1900, they have multiplied along with the expansion of university curricula and specialized fields.

4. Say what information was new for you. Comment on it. Text 2

1. Read the text and answer the question: Where and when was the first degree conferred?

Development Of Degrees

Academic degrees have been in use for about 800 years; the first one recorded was the Doctor of Civil Law conferred by the University of Bologna (Italy) in the middle of the 12^th century. This was followed by the Doctor of Canon Law and Doctor of Divinity and, in the 13^th century, by doctorates in medicine, grammar, logic, and philosophy. The use of degrees spread from Bologna to the other European Universities. Originally the doctor’s (from Latin doctor, ‘teacher,’ from docere, ‘to teach’) and master’s degrees were used interchangeably, each indicating that the holders were qualified to teach, and the titles of Master, Doctor, and Professor were synonymous. On the other hand, the bachelor’s or baccalaureate degree (from Latin baccalaureus, a bachelor of arts) was used to indicate the entrance upon a course of study preparatory to the doctorate or mastership, and not achievement. Gradually, however, it came to mean successful completion of one level of study preparatory to a higher degree.

The use of academic degrees spread to British Universities from the Continent and was extensively developed, especially at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. It is necessary to mention that Oxford and Cambridge Universities are the most famous and prestigious universities in the world. Students from many countries try to have opportunity to study there because the diplomas are highly qualified everywhere. Even students from our country study in these universities.

2. Make sure you understand the following words and phrases:

1) academic;

2) interchangeably;

3) to spread;

4) to indicate;

5) holder;

6) extensively;

7) on the other hand.

3. Read the text again and finish the sentence:

Gradually the bachelor’s degree came to mean successful completion of one level of study preparatory to … .

4. Choose the right answer:

Degrees spread in the following way:

a) British Universities; University of Bologna; European Universities.

b) American Universities; European Universities; British Universities.

c) University of Bologna; European Universities; British Universities.

Text 3

1. Memorize the following words and phrases:

Bachelor’s degree – степень бакалавра

under designation – присваиваемый

in frequency – по частоте

business administration – управление бизнесом

to estimate – устанавливать

beyond – помимо

to represent – представлять, означать

2. Read the text without the dictionary:

Types Of Degrees

Bachelor’s degree

The bachelor’s degree, usually representing completion of a four-year course of study on a collegiate level, is the oldest and best-known academic degree, particularly under the designation of Bachelor of Arts. Some varieties of bachelor’s, or baccalaureate degree is currently offered by about 750 institutions, most of which offer a Bachelor of Arts degree. Next in frequency and availability is the Bachelor of Science, of which the most frequent variety is the Bachelor of Science in Education. Other baccalaureate degrees offered by a large number of institutions are Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Divinity, and Bachelor of Home Economics. Most institutions offer more than one variety of baccalaureates, but about one tenth report use of the Bachelor of Arts only, regardless of the particular curriculum completed.

Currently about 900,000 baccalaureate degrees are awarded annually, about 46 percent to women. It is estimated that more than 12 million degrees have been conferred to date.

Master’s Degree

The earned master’s degree in general represents one year of work beyond the baccalaureate, but in a few institutions or in a few fields it requires two years of graduate work. The most frequently awarded master’s degrees are Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Education, Master of Business Administration, Master of Music, and Master of Fine Arts. The Master of Philosophy degree is conferred on those who have completed all requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree except the doctoral dissertation. About 45 varieties of Master of Arts and 40 varieties of Master of Science degrees are reported. Currently 317,000 individuals receive the master’s degree annually, about 47 percent of them women. Nearly 3 million master’s degrees were awarded from 1880 to 1972.

Doctor’s Degree

The doctor’s degree represents the most advanced earned degree conferred by U.S. institutions, or indeed by those of any country. In the academic sense, a doctor is an individual in any faculty or branch of learning who has attained to the highest degree conferred by a university. Doctor’s degrees in the United States are of two distinct types professional or practitioner’s degrees, and research degrees.

The former represent advanced training for the practice of various professions, chiefly in medicine and law. The principal ones are Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Dental science of Dental Surgery, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy, and Doctor of Jurisprudence. These degrees carry on implication of advanced research.

Quite different in character are the research doctorates representing prolonged periods of advanced study, usually at least three years beyond the baccalaureate, accompanied by a dissertation designed to be a substantial contribution to the advancement of knowledge. The most important of these is the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.), which no longer implies knowledge of philosophy, but which represents advanced research in any major field of knowledge. In the early 1970’s 240 graduate schools offered it. It was first awarded by Yale University in 1861 to three young men. It was modeled on the doctorate conferred by German universities. For more than half a century prior to 1861, young men desiring the most advanced training in scholarship attended the principal German and occasionally other European universities to secure their Ph. D’s.

Second in importance and much more recent as a research degree is the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) currently offered by 108 institutions. It was first awarded by Harvard in 1920, but was preceded by the equivalent Doctor of Pedagogy first conferred by New York University in 1891. The only other earned doctorates of the research type currently conferred by 10 or more institutions are the Doctor of the Science of Law and the Doctor of Business Administration.

At present doctorates of the research type are earned by about 28,000 individuals annually, of which about 14 percent are women. Microfilm copies of about two thirds of the dissertations written for these degrees are available at a modest price.

Abstracts of them are published in the monthly issues of Dissertation Abstracts.