Higher education

Before the 12th century most people were illiterate. Reading and writing skills were not considered important or necessary. Monasteries were centres of education, and priests and monks were most educated people. But with the development of such sciences as medicine and law, organizations of general study called universities appeared in Italy and France. A university had four faculties: Theology (the study of religion), Canon Laᴡ (church laws), Medicine and Art, which included Latin grammar, rhetoric (the art of making speeches), Logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.

In the middle of the12th century a group of professors from France came to Britain and founded schools in the town of Oxford in 1168. It was the beginning of the first English universities. A second university was formed in 1209 in Cambridge. Towards the end of the 13th century colleges appeared around the universities, where other subjects were studied.

Getting an education in those times was very difficult. Printing had not yet been invented, and all the books were hand-written. That's why books were rare and very expensive. Only the richest people could afford buying books. If a man had twenty or thirty books, people said that he had a great library. Special rules existed for handling books. You were not to touch books with dirty hands or put them on the table at meal times. In almost any monastery you could find one or two or more monks spending hours every day copying books.

Printing was invented in the middle of the 15^th century in Germany, by Johann Gutenberg. To England it was brought by William Caxton.

In his early youth Caxton was an apprentice to a company of London merchants. Later he lived in Flanders where he worked as a hand-copier of books for the royal family. He was a learned man and did translations from French into English. When he was on business in Germany, he learned the art of printing. In 1476, when Caxton returned to England, he set up the first English printing press in London. Two years later, a second printing press was set up in Oxford. During the next fifteen years Caxton printed 65 works, both translations and originals.

Today there are 89 universities in Britain, compared with only seventeen in 1945. They fall into four broad categories: the ancient English foundations, the ancient Scottish ones, the ‘redbrick’ universities, and the ‘plate-glass’ ones.

13th — 14th c.c. the ancient English universities (Oxford and Cambridge)

15th — 16th c.c. the ancient Scottish universities (St Andrews, Glasgow,

Aberdeen, Edinburgh)

19th c. ‘redbrick’ universities in the industrial centres (Birmingham, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool, Bristol)

20th c.: the 60s the 90s - ‘plate-glass’ universities (Sussex, Kent, East Anglia) former polytechnics adopted a university title.

All British universities are private institutions. Each has its own governing council, including some local business people and local politicians as well as a few academics. The state began to give grants to them 60 years ago. Students have to pay fees and living costs, but every student may obtain a personal grant from local authorities of the place where he lives. This is enough to pay his full costs, including lodging and food but the amount depends on the parents’ income. If the parents do not earn much money, their children will receive a full grant which will roughly cover all the expenses.

Students studying for first degrees are known as “undergraduates”. New undergraduates in some universities are called “freshers”. They learn a new way of studying which is different from that of school. They have lectures, there are regular seminars, at which one of the students reads a paper he or she has written. The paper is then discussed by the tutor and the rest of the group. The students also see a tutor alone to discuss their work and their progress. Such tutorials take place once a week.

The Bachelor’s degree. After three or four years (depending on the type of the university) the students will take their finals. Those who pass examinations successfully are given the Bachelor’s degree: Bachelor of Arts (BA) for History, Philosophy, Language and Literature and sometimes Social Studies or Theology; or Bachelor of Science (BSc) or Commerce or Music. About 15% of students who start at universities leave without obtaining a degree, some of them after only one year.

The Master’s degree. The first postgraduate degree is normally that of Master: Master of Arts (MA); Master of Science (MSc). In most universities it is only in the science faculties that any large numbers of students stay to do postgraduate work.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the highest degree. It is given for some original research work which is an important contribution to knowledge.

Applications for universities are handled centrally through UCCA (the Universities Central Council on Admissions; an official body in Britain which receives and deals with people’s requests to study for degrees at universities) on a form on which you can choose up to five university courses. Your school or college will supply you with a form — or you can get one direct from UCCA. The form will contain information on your achievements, academic and other. One of your school or college tutors will attach a confidential comment, including the grades they expect you to get.

UCCA then copies the form to the admissions tutor of each course listed. The tutor will either reject, give firm acceptance, or make a conditional offer. The conditional offer means you will have to get certain grades before finally being accepted. You may well be invited to the university for an interview before the offer is made. The tutor’s decision is sent back to you through UCCA.

Interviews and less formal Open Days are a chance for you to see the university, meet students and staff, and ask questions. All this will help you decide whether you have made the right choice.

Selectors know that academic qualifications do not tell the whole story — which is why so much extra information is included on the UCCA form. Evidence of your commitment may be so strong that you will be offered entry at grades lower than you expect to get. Usually, selectors will make an offer above the minimum required by the university.

By the spring following application, you must make up your mind about accepting offers. You can accept one unconditional offer, or two conditional ones. In the second case, your final choice is made after the results come out.

When the results are out, if you have got the grades asked you can be sure of your place. But you may find you have just failed to get the required grades. In this case you should contact the admissions tutor directly. The tutor may decide to accept you anyway. If not, then you may still get a place through ‘clearing’. Under this procedure candidates apply for places on courses which still have vacancies.

The most famous universities in Britain are Oxford and Cambridge. They are the two oldest English universities and they both have a long and eventful history of their own.

The first colleges were founded in the 12-13th centuries. Both universities are similar in the high quality of teaching, traditions, very rich libraries, wonderful university laboratories, and the important scientific work which is carried out there. Oxford and Cambridge are regarded as being academically superior to other universities and as giving special privilege and prestige. Today ‘Oxbridge’ educate less than one tenth of Britain’s total university student population.

Oxford

Oxford University was created in the first years of the thirteenth century when students expelled from the Sorbonne in Paris came to Oxford city monasteries to study. Like Cambridge, Oxford University is a group of independent colleges. There are now 34. The church used to dominate Oxford, and until the nineteenth century all dons (university teachers) had to remain unmarried.

Merton College and New College. For centuries the title of Oxford’s oldest college has been claimed by Merton. It received its first students in 1270. The college remained by far the largest and grandest in Oxford until New College was founded in 1379. To ensure that the students had a thorough early education New College was linked to a grammar school, now Winchester College, from which it took all its students. To this day New College is internationally known for its choir.

Christ Church is Oxford’s grandest college. Its chapel is Oxford Cathedral. The choir is world famous. King Henry VIII created Christ Church, uniting the college with the cathedral in a single foundation (1546). The gateway in the form of a domed tower was built by Sir Christopher Wren. Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) taught mathematics at Christ Church. The story which he told Dean Liddel’s daughter Alice and her two sisters became Alice in Wonderland. 18 Prime Ministers were graduates from Christ Church.

Cambridge

Cambridge University consists of a group of 32 independent colleges. The first students came to the city in 1209 and studied in the schools of the cathedral and monasteries. The first college, Peterhouse, opened in 1281. At that time colleges were places for the students to live and they went to study at a single school in the city. Over the years, the colleges became independent and provided their own places to study. Today Cambridge is famous for the quality of its scientific research.

King’s College was founded by Henry VII in 1441. Scholars from the school he founded at Eton a year before had their university education in his college at Cambridge. Currently, members of the college come from every kind of school and widely varying backgrounds.

King’s College Chapel is simply the grandest and most beautiful building in Cambridge. Stone, wood and glass combine with music to provide an unforgettable experience under Rubens’ Adoration of the Magi.

Emmanuel. The many men who emigrated to the New World included 35 educated at Emmanuel — more than from any other Cambridge college. Among them was John Harvard. He emigrated in 1637 and at his death (1638) left half his estate and his library to a college to be established at New Town (later named Cambridge in memory of the University that had educated so many of the early immigrants) — the future Harvard University. A memorial plaque to John Harvard, presented by members of Harvard University, can be seen in Emmanuel chapel.

Trinity College, a combination of intellectual distinction, architectural splendour and immense wealth, gives Trinity pre-eminence amongst the colleges of Cambridge. In 1546 Henry VIII united two colleges to create a new college that would rival Christ Church in Oxford. Trinity College is the largest in the Oxbridge.

Many of the leading intellectuals including some twenty-eight Nobel prizewinners were educated here.

The books in the Wren Library are the College collection as it was in 1820 with a small number of later additions. One of the newest is the original manuscript of A.A.Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh.

Milne and his son, Christopher Robin, were both Trinity men. There is also a first edition of Newton’s Principia Mathematica containing his own margin corrections for the second edition.

COLLEGES AND INSTITUTES OF HIGHER EDUCATION

What are the colleges and institutes of higher education? Most people could name a university. But how many could name a college or institute of higher education, or appreciate their role in the higher education sector alongside the universities? Too often there is confusion between colleges of Higher Education and colleges of Further Education.

Briefly, there are 55 HE colleges and institutes throughout England and Wales. They give degrees, diplomas, certificates and postgraduate awards which are welcomed by employers nationally and internationally. They range from specialist colleges (many of which are leaders in their field) to large, multi-campus establishments. They are particularly known for teacher training, the links with local business and the community, and the vocational content, quality and professionalism of the courses.

Being smaller in size than universities, HE colleges and institutes also have the advantage of greater flexibility. The range of courses and subject combinations is very broad; traditional single-subject courses are offered, together with a vast range of technical, professional and postgraduate qualifications.

Further education (FE) in Britain is for people over 16 taking courses at various levels up to the standard required for entry to higher education. Courses are run by further education colleges, many of which also provide higher education courses.

Many further education courses are vocational, ranging from lower-level technical and commercial courses to more advanced courses for those aiming at higher level jobs in business, administration and the professions. Most colleges also offer non-vocational courses, including GCSEs and GCE A-levels.

Colleges have strong links with universities and other higher educational institutions, and these links can enable students to progress from the further education college into an advanced stage of a degree course at university.

The Open University

The Open University (OU) offers degrees for people who do not have a formal education and qualifications, or who are older and do not want to enrol at a university or college. Students study and write essays at home and then post them off to a tutor for marking. BBC2 and Radio 5 broadcast teaching programmes and lectures early in the morning and late at night on weekdays, and on Saturday and Sunday mornings. There is a summer school of one week every year when students can meet each other and their tutors. Each student must do a year’s foundation course in a variety of subjects before specializing in a particular course. Most courses take six years and students get a number of credits for each year’s work. The OU was founded in 1969 and started its first course in 1971. About 120, 000 people have enrolled since then.