Cambridge university

Cambridge is situated at a distance of 70 miles from London; the greater part of the town lies on the left bank of the river Cam crossed by several bridges.

Cambridge is one of the loveliest towns of England; it is not a modern industrial city and looks much more like a country town.

It is very green presenting to a visitor a series of beautiful groupings of architecture, trees, gardens, lawns' and bridges. The main building material is stone having a pinkish colour which adds life and warmth to the picture at all seasons of the year. The dominating factor in Cambridge is its well-known University, a centre of education and learning, closely connected with the life and thought of Great Britain. Newton, Byron, Darwin, Rutherford and many other scientists and writers were educated at Cambridge. In Cambridge everything centers on the University and its colleges.

The oldest college is Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284. The most recent is Robinson College, which was opened in 1977. The most famous is probably King's, because of its magnificent chapel. Its choir of boys and undergraduates is also very well known.

The University was exclusively for men until 1871 when the first women's college was opened. Another was opened two years later and a third in 1954. In the 1970s, most colleges opened their, doors to both men and women. Almost all colleges now are mixed, but it will be many years before there are equal numbers of both sexes. Until today there are more than twenty colleges in Cambridge.

There is a close connection between the University and colleges, though they are quite separate in theory and practice.

Each college has its own building, its own internal organization, its own staff and students. In order to enter the university, one must first apply to a college and become a member of the university through the college. The colleges are not connected with any particular study. Students studying literature, for example, and those trained for physics may belong to one and the same college.

However the fact is that one is to be a member of a college in order to be a member of the University. The colleges are governed by twenty or thirty "fellows". Fellows of a college are "tutors" (teachers, often called "dons"). Each tutor has 10-12 students reading under his guidance. Tutors teach their own subject to those students in the college who are studying it, and they are responsible for their progress.

Every college is governed by a dean. Discipline is looked after by proctors and numerous minor officials called "bulldogs".

The University is like a federation of colleges. It arranges the courses, the lectures and the examinations, and grants the degrees.

A college is a group of buildings forming a square with a green lawn in the centre. An old tradition does not allow the students to walk on the grass: this is the privilege of professors and headstudents only. Most of the colleges, however, allow visitors to enter the grounds and courtyards. The most popular place from which to view them is from the Backs, where the college grounds go down to the river Cam.

Students study at the University for four years, three terms a year. Long vacation lasts about three months. There are many libraries at Cambridge; some of them have rare collections of books. In one of them among the earliest books by Shakespeare and other great writers one may see an early description of Russia by an Englishman on diplomatic service there (in 1591) and a Russian reading book of the seventeenth century.

Task 3. Read & translate the text.

OXFORD

As well as belonging to Oxford University, every student also belongs to a college. This gives you the resources of a large university with the benefits of living in a small community. Colleges and the University have separate responsibilities, which collectively contribute to the experience of an Oxford education.

The Colleges

The thirty-six colleges are independent, self-contained and self-governing. There are also seven Permanent Private Halls, which were founded by different Christian denominations; some still retain a religious character, see p. 166. Twenty-eight colleges and all seven halls admit students for undergraduate degrees, some 10,400 in all in a student body of 14,600. They are described in more detail in the Colleges section. These also admit graduate students: six other colleges are for graduates only one, All Souls, Fellows only, and one, Rewley House, specializes in part-time and continuing education. Each college has a governing body consisting of its Fellows, the teaching staff of the college, who elect their own Head of House.

Colleges and halls select their own students, so you should address any questions you have about admissions to the Oxford Colleges Admissions Office, and not to the University. Colleges provide accommodation (for at least two years), meals, common rooms, libraries, sports and social facilities, and pastoral care. The college is much more than a hall of residence, however. It also provides teaching through the tutorial system which plays an essential role in all Oxford courses. Most colleges teach most courses, (the Courses section of this Prospectus gives details of any exceptions), so that you will have the opportunity to meet students and Fellows from many fields within the college community.

College Teaching - The Tutorial

A tutorial is a weekly meeting of one or two students with the tutor to whom they are assigned for their subject. Your principal tutor will also belong to your college: he or she will arrange teaching with other tutors, not necessarily in the same college, in specialized subjects. Most college tutors also hold University lecturerships and give lectures open to Members of all colleges.

In the tutorial, you present the result of a week's work, based on your reading of the various sources suggested by your tutor the week before. This might be in the form of a formal essay, or the solution to a problem. The tutorial is an opportunity for you to put forward your own ideas, and to develop them through discussion. The success of the tutorial method depends on active co-operation between yourself and your tutor: you must be ready to risk giving your own opinions, and also to accept frank criticism and advice. The object of the tutorial method is to develop the habit of independent thought, a quality essential to an academic career but also much sought after by employers.

The University

The University, in the narrower sense of the central institution, provides the curricular framework within which college teaching takes place, as well as a wide range of resources for teaching and learning in the form of libraries, laboratories, museums/computing facilities and so on.

The University determines the content of the courses, sets examinations, and awards degrees. Oxford's courses, whether they are in a single subject or a combination of subjects, are structured to develop an understanding of your chosen field over a period of three or four years. In the sciences, most have a broad-based first year with elements common to several related courses, allowing for some change of direction early on: however, it is not possible to put together an Oxford degree from distinct course modules, as at some other universities.

Working Through the Course

Each term the University, through the various faculties, organizes an extensive programme of lectures for students from all colleges. Your college tutor will advise you as to which lectures will be most appropriate for you to attend at the particular stage you have reached. Science students follow compulsory practical courses in the laboratory, organized by the University science departments.

The Oxford term lasts only eight weeks, which means that each is spent working intensively for tutorials and attending lectures and practical classes During vacations you will undertake the wider, more leisurely reading which is essential to all courses. But despite the intensive character of each term's work, students still find time to take full advantage of the opportunities the University offers for other activities -athletic, cultural or social.

Assessment and Examinations

Students on each course have to pass two examinations, known as the First and Second Public Examination. The first ('Prelims' or 'Mods') is usually taken during the first year (the exact time varies between subjects). The Second Public Examination ('Finals') which is classified and upon which your degree is awarded, follows at the end of your final year. It consists of a series of written papers taken over a couple of weeks; in some courses a short thesis or project, prepared during the final year, may be taken in addition or instead of one of the papers. Between examinations your tutor will monitor your progress through your work for weekly tutorials, but this assessment does not count towards your degree. Your tutor is therefore your ally in preparing for examinations, rather than your judge.

To get the most out of an Oxford course you need to enjoy working and thinking independently, exploring ideas and arguments as much as facts. Oxford's systems or ensuring the quality of its teaching, like those of all UK universities, are regularly audited by the Higher Education Quality Council. The first report on Oxford was published in 1993. Copies can be obtained from the HEQC, 344-354 Grays Inn Road. London .WC1X 8BP. The Higher Education Funding Council for England publishes regular reports on the quality of education in English universities and colleges including Oxford. A list of the subjects at Oxford on which reports are available can be obtained from schools, public libraries and careers offices, or from the Oxford Colleges Admissions Office. Copies of the reports can be obtained from the Admissions Office, or directly from the HEFCE, Northavon House. Coldharbour Lane. Bristol BS16 1QD.