I. Ответьте на вопросы:

1. What forms of academic activities are there?

2. How long does the course of study last?

3. What is the first academic degree?

4. For whom was the Open University set up?

5. What other types of educational establishments are there?

II. Say whether the following statements are true according to the text:

1. Students must attend all lectures.

2. Students gain their knowledge through lectures, discussions and independent study.

3. Тhе course of study at the Open University lasts 6-8 years.

4. Most university students live at home while they study.

III. Задайте вопросы к имеющимся ответам.

1. Tutorials ensure in-depth understanding of the subject.

2. Bachelor's degree is given to the students who pass their examinations.

3. The Open University was set up in 1971.

4. Besides universities there are numerous colleges for more specialised needs.

IV. Закончите предложения:

1. There are weekly Open University lectures...

2. It takes six or eight years...

З. Оnе who gets a degree way have... .

YEAR 1, TERM 1

VARIANT 6

OXFORD

1. Oxford is one of the world known centres of education and learning in Britain. It is not modern city. When we walk alone it’s clean streets we see at once that this is an ancient town. It is about eight hundred years old.

2. There are buildings of different architectural styles there. But there is no contrast in their size and material, because nearly all of them are built of the same soft grey limestone and have the same arrangement.

3. There are many students in the streets in their traditional black gowns. At Oxford University no students may call on a tutor or attend a lecture without his or her gown, therefore the students wear them in all weather, or carry them over arm or shoulder.

4. A British university consists of a number of colleges. The lectures and examinations for the whole body of students are arranged by the university authorities. The colleges provide for residence and tutoring which means personal instruction of the students by the Don.

5. A Don is a college instructor who directs the studies of undergraduates, not more then four in number at a time.

6. The tutorial system of education has many advantages. The tutor is a great help to his students: he decides what lectures he must attend, recommends them books for reading, discusses and criticises their written work and knows all about their discipline inside and outside the college. The disadvantage lies in the fact that there are many tutors with a reactionary outlook foreign way of thinking of the young generation. By means of personal contact the tutor may influence the political and social ideas of the students over his control.

7. How do the undergraduates live at Oxford? There are resident and non-resident students living in lodgings which are inspected by the college administration.

8. Let us go up the narrow- old wooden staircase at St. John's College, along a corridor and look into a room for 2 students.

9. Both of them, as the majority of the students body, are sons of rich parents. Years ago both their fathers and grandfathers studied at the same college and occupied the same room. Now their sons and grandsons live there, spend as much time on sport, wine and pleasure as their fathers did, and are members of the same club.

10. Since the boys are out we can have a good look at their lodging. The room is square, smallish but cosy. There is a table, 2 or 3 chairs, a pair of armchairs and a bookcase full of books. The floor is covered with a soft carpet. On the wall there are pictures, landscapes and family photographs. A bright fire is burning in the fireplace. In one corner there stands some sports equipment.

11. At all British Universities there are good sporting grounds for jumping, boxing, skating, running, playing football, golf and others games; but since the colleges don't provide the students with sports equipment sport is the privilege only of the rich who have means for buying all that is necessary for any kind of sport.

12. Our next visit was to the residence of one of the poorer young men who belongs to the minority of the student body. He is a non-resident student, the son of a small bookkeeper. His parents belong to the average English people with average means. Since the cost of study at Oxford is very high they can give their son a full higher education only at the cost of strict economy in personal comfort and pleasure. The boy lives in lodgings. His room is not so comfortable and cosy as that of the richer students: it is smaller in size and pleasure. The boy lives in lodgings. His room is not so comfortable and cosy as that of the richer students: it is smaller in size and quite plain: there are no armchairs here; no carpet, no pictures, no sports equipment. The boy is one of the lucky ones; since his work is above the average he receives a stipend from the education committee of his home-town and all the study opportunities of an Oxford student. At the end of the year he will graduate from the University and have to earn his living. But getting employment is often a difficult problem even for Oxford graduates. The cause is that unemployment is increasing; one can't choose a job according to one's qualification. Architects, doctors, lawyers, humanists are often unemployed for, months; they are ready to accept any job at any salary: playing in a jazz band; selling cinema tickets, working at a restaurant. Such are the conditions of study at Oxford, which make progressive students struggle for a truly democratic education system.