At the word "Englishman" the majority represents an intelligent professor a la Sherlock Holmes, dressed in a top hat and checkered coat. This stereotype did not arise by chance. The fact is that the education of Great Britain is considered one of the best in the whole world. English universities prepare students for special programs aimed primarily at gaining the ability to independently work with new information. Graduates of universities in the UK become qualified professionals in demand anywhere in the world. That is why a huge number of applicants, representatives of several dozen developed countries, are striving to get into universities in England.
From session to session ...
The main emphasis in the educational program of Great Britain is placed on the student’s ability to independently master the material. Unlike Russia, lectures are not given much attention. The schedule may consist of ten full-time classes per week. Accordingly, most of the information remains for free study. However, you should not think that such a system is easier: students spend all the time outside the university walls in libraries. It is worth noting that all educational resources for students are provided for free.
English universities differ from Russian universities in the form of education itself. For example, they hold only one session per year, and there are no intermediate exams at all. But there is no time to relax anyway: the session is organized in such a way that in one day there can be up to four exams in various disciplines. And if in our country the option to "learn in a night" may work, then here it is out of the question. The possibility of retaking is also very limited, therefore, to be successful, you need to be able to independently organize your training throughout the year.
Attempt at writing
So that the student does not relax, a special system of writing essays is introduced in the UK - free-style essays. Each week, the student is required to take the author's work on the topic studied. The essay is written not only by representatives of humanitarian fields. Physicians, mathematicians, builders, physicists - everyone should be able to correctly express their thoughts on paper. And if it doesn’t work out, you need to study, because without passing these works the university cannot be finished.
Writing an essay in English universities consists in self-study of the material and the presentation of thoughts related to it on paper. Bachelor students write up to three essays per week. The volume of each of them is about 9000 words, which corresponds to approximately fifteen pages of text. In order to write an essay that meets all the requirements, you should read approximately 500 pages of educational literature. Thus, in one week a student reads about one and a half thousand pages of a scientific text, assimilates new material and writes 45 pages of an essay. For students, the library becomes a home.
Education system in England
Despite all the difficulties, applicants dream of getting into higher education in England. But this is not so simple. The problem is the education system in the UK itself. The British receive compulsory secondary education at the age of 16, after which they can choose between secondary vocational and higher education. In the second case, the student is sent to a two-year college for a special program that includes several specialized subjects and prepares the student for study at a university. At the end of this program, an exam is written, according to the results of which the Briton enters the university. Thus, the equivalent of secondary education in England is considered to receive a certificate for the eleventh grade and two years of study at a Russian university.
English University: Admission
Before entering an English university, a student is required to undergo a special educational program in the UK itself. Which one, biennial or annual, each one decides for himself. Both of them prepare the student for learning, tighten the level of language proficiency, introduce the student knowledge assessment system. Also, schoolchildren study subjects relevant to the chosen specialty. At the end of training, everyone passes the exam, which determines the possibility of admission.
Documents for admission
The applicant should prepare for the financial side of the issue. Education at English universities costs at least ten thousand pounds a year - this is about eight hundred thousand Russian rubles. If you can not afford to pay such a sum for several years to a future student, you can resort to the help of international funds that provide grants and scholarships. There is no guarantee of receiving money , but you can increase your chances. For this, active scientific, social and educational activities should be conducted. All this is included in the package of documents for the selection committee:
- Exam Results.
- A summary in which scientific papers, reports or presentations should be presented.
- A list of five universities into which an applicant would like to go to study, ranked by priority.
- Written recommendation from college.
Names of English Universities
When the funding problem is solved, the exams are passed, and the level of English is close to ideal, you can think about which university to apply for. It is worth considering that, as in Russia, the list of universities is limited to five universities. That is, from the variety of educational institutions, you need to choose the five best. For this, it is necessary to carefully study each university, to understand what kind of specialists it is preparing, what are the living conditions and student learning.
First English University
The oldest of the universities in the UK is Oxford University. It is considered the most famous English language university in the world. The university has been carrying out educational activities since about the end of the eleventh century. During this time, Oxford graduates became:
- 40 Nobel Prize winners;
- 25 British Prime Ministers;
- 6 kings;
- 12 saints;
- about fifty Olympic winners;
- About twenty managers of hundreds of leading businesses in the world.
Among the most famous graduates of Oxford University are John Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, as well as Margarit Thatcher, Clive Staples Lewis, Felix Yusupov, Tony Blair and others. The quality of education at Oxford is provided by 3,000 teachers of the highest categories. Of these, 70 are members of the Royal Society, more than a hundred are members of the British Academy. Now Oxford University is considered the most prestigious university in the world.
Technical English Universities
At the initial stage of choosing a university, it is easiest to decide on the direction of study. If in a school or in the first two courses of a Russian university, the student was given easier technical disciplines, such as mathematics and physics, then it is worth stopping at getting the appropriate education. The best technical universities in England, and indeed the whole world, are rightfully considered to be the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which are popularly called the "Oxbridge". These universities are primarily learning to learn. Graduates have a huge wealth of knowledge that they already know how to put into practice. The diploma of Oxbridge, as well as other English polytechnic universities, guarantees employment, as it is highly appreciated by employers.
Imperial College London in terms of training is not inferior to Oxbridge. He is one of the ten best universities in the world. The centennial history of the university shows how successful its graduates are. Among them - 14 Nobel Prize winners in the field of physics, chemistry and medicine. The most famous are Sir Ernst Chain and Alexander Flameng, the creators of penicillin.
English financial universities
A sub-sector of technical universities can be considered financial universities. The same technical disciplines, but with an emphasis on economics, give the student in-depth knowledge about the structure of this science, business and finance. The main employer for graduates of English universities is the financial services sector, so that young professionals do not have employment problems. One of the leading educational institutions in the UK is the London School of Economics and Political Science, which is officially part of the University of London, but actually operates independently. Thirteen Nobel laureates studied or taught at the school, and nine of them won research awards in economics.
Manchester University is no less famous. Based on the basis of the college, the university has gradually expanded and now has five faculties: medicine and pharmacology, sciences and engineering disciplines and biological sciences, arts, social sciences and law, as well as education. Manchester Business School annually appears in the first positions of the ratings of educational institutions in the UK.
Teacher Training Universities
Teaching is a prestigious profession that is valued worldwide. Trained specialists can work both in institutions of preschool and school education, and in universities. Serious requirements are made to applicants for the position, not only scientific preparation is important here, but also individual characteristics of character. You can learn to be a teacher at the University of Bath Spa. This is one of the best humanitarian universities in the UK. The training areas cover immediately three broad areas: creativity, entrepreneurship and culture. The current Bath Spa School is recognized as the best source of education in the UK.
English is especially important for graduates of a pedagogical university, since the work will be carried out on it. Thus, the student will receive not only professional skills, but also the opportunity to know English at the same level at which the British know it. You can always work with such skills in Russia - for example, in the English universities of Moscow.
Quality education is the key to a happy future
Getting an education is not just a fashion trend. First of all, it is an investment in your own life. The diploma and related documents do not play a decisive role, the main thing that the student receives is the skills for independent work. Graduates of English universities are able to organize their time, prioritize, solve pressing problems and predict the future. These are top-level specialists who know what they want to achieve and achieve it.