History of higher education

Higher education in Britain has a long and distinctive history. Yet it is only during the course awarded for some original research in Arts or Sciences on completion of a three-year period of work.

Students of law, architecture and some other professions can take qualifications awarded by their own professional bodies instead of degrees.

Uniformity of standards between universities is promoted by the practice of employing outside examiners for all examinations, The general pattern of teaching is similar throughout Britain — a combination of lectures, small group seminars or tutorials with practical classes where necessary.

Only 25 per cent of the student population go on to higher education. Competition to get into one of Britain's universities is fierce and not everyone who gets A levels is admitted. Students usually need three A-levels with high grades to go to university. Grades at A level go from A, the highest one to E. One university may require higher A level grades than another. Most universities require two Bs and one C (BBC) grades.

Students apply to universities months before they take their A-levels. The students are given a personal interview and then the universities decide which applicants they want. They offer them a place which depends on A level results. The more popular the university, the higher the grades it will ask for.

Over 90 per cent of full-time students receive grants to assist with their tuition, cost of living, books, transport and socializing. But parents with higher incomes are expected to make a contribution.

Until 1990 the grants did not have to be paid back, but now a system of loans has been introduced.

Some students borrow money from the bank, which must be paid back after they leave the university and start working. In fact, the grant is not a lot of money. That's why students work during the holidays to earn more money. As it is difficult to find such jobs more and more students are dropping out, failing to finish their courses. So the system of grants and scholarships is unable to solve the financial problems of education, which blocks educational opportunities for many people. About 15 per cent of British students leave universities without obtaining a degree.

British universities are popular among foreign students. In spite of the high fees a large number (over 70 000) foreign students are getting high education there.

Although universities accept students mainly on the basis of their A level results, there is an exception. The Open University, which was started in 1971, caters for adults who did not have these formal qualifications and who regret missed opportunities earlier. It conducts learning through correspondence, radio and television, and also through local study centres.

HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Higher education in Britain has a long and distinctive history. Yet it is only during the course of about the last 40 years that it has become possible to speak of a «system» of higher education in the United Kingdom. Up to comparatively recent times Britain was much behind many countries of the civilised world in the provision of higher education. Even i today less than one third of school leavers receive post-school education in Britain, compared with over 80 per cent in Germany, France, the United States and Japan.

Though Oxford and Cambridge appeared as early as 1168 and 1209 respectively for almost seven centuries they remained the only universities of the country., (Then in the course of less than a hundred years ten V more universities were created. It was only in the first half of the 19^th century that further universities were established in Durham and London. These were followed by Manchester and Wales. In the first decade of the 20^th century 5 provincial universities came into being: Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol. These five with Manchester established a new tradition in university education. Each was the product of a large industrial city and was closely linked with its occupations. Each catered mainly for local students and was consequently non-residential. The fees and other „ expenses were4ow. Up to 1945 Britain had only 17 j universities.

The post-war period witnessed an unprecedented growth of university education in advanced industrial countries recognized as Britain's main rival in economic power and political prestige. Up to 1964 the number of university students was trebled in France and the Soviet Union, doubled in West Germany, Japan, the United States. Britain fell far behind these countries arid hurriedly took measures to expand the university system. In this process three main stages may be distinguished.

1) The emergence of the «Redbrick* universities based on the pre-war university colleges, which were now granted fully independent status: Belfast — Queen's University, Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Hull, Keele, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton and the Federal University of Wales.

2) The foundation of new «Whitebrick» (later named «plate-glass») universities in 60s: East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Lancaster, Stirling, Sussex, Warwick, York, and New University of Ulster. Most of them took the names of the counties, where they were located.

3) The elevation of the Colleges of Advanced Technology into full technological universities: Aston, Bath, Bradford, Brunei, City, Heriot-Watt, Loughborough, Salford, and Surrey Universities. The Conservatives strongly opposed to granting them the University Status.

Scotland boasts four ancient universities: Glasgow, Edinburgh, St. Andrew's and Aberdeen all founded in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

Thus since after the post-war time the number of universities in Great Britain increased from 17 to 47.

Though there were 47 Universities in Britain in the second half of the 20^th century the University system might be summarized very briefly: there were two Universities Oxford and Cambridge (Oxbridge or Camford) and the rest. Oxbridge is a term that sums up for Englishmen everything that is best in university life. These Universities are privileged and for the privileged. The division between Oxbridge and Redbrick was essentially a class one. The 19^th and early 20^th century universities were built to provide education for the poorer boys in the provinces, and to give technological training.

To extend the provision of higher education within an educational system comparable in standard to that of a university but different in kind and to provide economy with highly trained vocationally-oriented young people thus filling the gap between universities and further education, national institutions, known as «poly technics*, were established. They were sometimes referred to as «comprehensives» of further (or higher) education. During the early 1970s thirty of the old technical colleges («techs>>), mainly in cities with universities became «polytechnics». They became study centres that offered a wide range of full-time or part-time courses for students of all ages, known as sandwich vocational courses. (These ' are courses where substantial periods of full time study alternate with periods of supervised experience in industry.) Those courses lead to diplomas or to degrees awarded by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA). In spite of the name polytechnics offered courses in both the arts and the sciences. Thus thirty polytechnics in England and Wales provided a range of higher education courses up to doctoral studies. In Scotland there were similar institutions. The system of universities and polytechnics might be described as a «binary system* as the contrast was great between two sectors — the autonomous university sector and the non-autonomous public sector of polytechnics which was administered by local authorities.

The basic purpose of the Universities has always been to give a first-class education in theories and principles to enable their students to reach a high standard of creativeness, criticism and flexibility. They teach how to acquire, increase and employ knowledge; they are oriented on research work, on cultivating the minds with whom lies the heaviest responsibility for creating the future. } Polytechnics, though having many things in common with the universities, deferred in the main purpose: their orientation was predominantly vocational. Their emphasis was much more on teaching than research. The biggest among polytechnics was the Central London Polytechnic with 12000 students. The difference in the standard of teaching was reflected in the cost of education, which in polytechnics was by more than one third or even half lower.

In spite of the name polytechnics offered courses in both the arts and the sciences. They all aspired to provide the same kind of courses, as universities trying to place equal value on academic and practical work. Time brought changes. The Education Reform Act of 1988 established the Universities Funding Council (UFC), a new body, for disbursing government money to universities. This council may require universities to produce a certain number of qualified people in specific fields. Polytechnics and other larger colleges were made independent of local authorities and funded by UFC in a similar way to universities. These changes raised the standing of the «polys» and finally equaled them to universities in their status. Thus now the number of universities almost doubled in Britain having changed from 47 to 91.

STUDENT'S LIFE

On first coming up as a freshman, the student has rooms in his college allotted to him. Rent and size of rooms vary, but as a rule he has a comfortable sitting-room and a separate bedroom.

A student who takes his work seriously will read or attend lectures from 9 (or 9.30) till the midday meal (lunch) at 1, then take vigorous exercise of some sort on the playing fields or the river till tea at about 4.30 or 5, then do some more work till dinner at 7, and after dinner, perhaps attend a meeting of some college society, or spend a social evening with friends or get some more reading done. Once a week, at least, he will spend an hour with his tutor, who will criticise and discuss his work. Undisciplined students are fined or «gated», that is, not allowed to go out for a given time, or are «sent down» for good, or rusticated (dismissed for term).

Much of the student's time is given to working in the library. Each college has its own library but Oxford is famous for its Bodleian Library — one of the oldest and most important libraries in the country. It is a copyright library (has the right to claim a copy of all new British publications), second in importance to the British Library. It was founded in 1598 and got its name after the founder Thomas Bodley. Every member of the University may become a reader in «Bodley» but first he has to appear decorously attired in his gown and promise to respect the books and not «to kindle fire or flame» within the library. The books are chained to the shelves and may not be removed even at the request of the Queen (His or Her Majesty). The books are chained in the libraries of all oldest colleges.

Socialising is the important part of the students' life. The universities have over a hundred societies and clubs, enough for every interest one could imagine.

Apart from the university clubs, each college has anything up to 20 societies, some of them of great antiquity. These are only open to members of the college and may be very exclusive. Many are dining or drinking clubs, others are essay societies, debating clubs and so on.

While many evenings are usually devoted to attending society meetings, afternoons are given up to numerous sports., One of the most famous sporting events in Oxbridge is the Boat Race annually held at Easter time. The teams of Oxford and Cambridge, each consisting of eight rowers, row four and a half miles along the river Thames in London. Crowds of people line the banks to watch the race and thousands more watch it on TV.

The year is divided into three terms of only eight weeks each: Michaelmas Term (autumn term), Hilary Term (winter term), Trinity Term (spring term) and long summer vacation lasting four months from June till mid October. A long holiday is a relic from medieval times when scholars had to bring in the harvest. Nowadays vacations are regarded not as the rest time but the time for independent work. Students are given tasks in reading, studying literature, writing essays.

In his first term the student decides in which final honour schools he intends to read. There are 14 from which to choose. Having made his decision he is put under a tutor who directs his studies through his academic career, which may be 3-4 years, according to the subject, which the student is reading.

After 2-3 terms the student takes his first exams prelims. It is a first public examination and it is a test to see if he is capable of taking «finals». He may have more than one shot at prelims but if he fails constantly his college may request him to make room for a more able man. Prelims over, he reads for the finals. In between are collections — term exams, at the end of each term and mods (moderations) — at the end of the 5^th term. It is the first public exam for the Bachelor's degree in some subjects. Final honour schools («finals», «schools») include writing 11 three-hour papers and also viva voice¹ exam, which may be exhaustive or merely formal. In two months the undergraduate learns his fate and is awarded his first degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BSc). In Scotland «Master* is used for a first degree. Oxbridge, as well as most universities, award degrees in 5 categories: First Class Honours (only 5%), Upper Second, Lower Second, Third Class and Pass. The First Class Honours are of considerable prestige and professional value. The Pass degree standard is a safety-net, its standard is very low even in Oxbridge.

The degree of PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is given for a thesis, which is an original contribution to knowledge. It is common for both humanities and science: PhD in Physics, English, History, etc.

OTHER UNIVERSITIES

The «Redbrick* («civic*) Universities differ considerably from Oxbridge in several respects, though there are similarities too. These universities are also headed formally by the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor being the real head responsible for the running of the university. They are not entirely self-governing as their Councils include representatives of outside bodies as well as University teachers. They draw most of their students from their locality. So few of these universities have residential halls and most students live in lodgings («digs»). Nearly all are non-collegiate. Only some have separate colleges, e.g. London University is composed of largely autonomous colleges, and the University of Wales has colleges in different Welsh towns.

Being non-residential they cannot develop a common student life in the way the Oxbridge do. Nor can they adopt the tutorial system in the same way.

While Oxbridge Universities are divided into colleges, the redbrick universities are divided into various faculties, e.g. Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Social and Economic Studies etc., the number and type differing from university to university. In each faculty there may be a number of departments, dealing with separate subjects such as English, History, Geography, etc. Courses in arts and science are offered by most universities. The teaching is organised in departments and is based on a set of lecturers. The head of a department is usually a Professor. Other teachers do not have the title of Professor, but are entitled «Lecturers», though some senior teachers or heads of small departments have the title of «Reader» or «senior Lecturer*. The lecturer grade is the main teaching grade throughout the university world. Professors account¹ for about one in six of all university teachers. The ratio of staff to students in most universities is about 1 to 8.

The civic universities have always devoted special attention to the technology of the industries of its region, so many of them have established independent traditions of their own: e.g. Sheffield is famous for metallurgy, Leeds for textiles, and Reading for agriculture.

The new universities, which were established in the 1960s, aim at attracting students from all over Britain. Like Oxbridge they are residential, e.g. the University of Sussex has halls of residence in a country park outside Brighton. The University of East Anglia is a collegiate university like Oxbridge. Their courses aim to provide the benefits of specialised and general studies.

OPEN UNIVERSITY

The most revolutionary of all the post-war developments in university education was the establishment of the Open University. It was initiated in 1963 by Harold Wilson (Labour party leader and Prime Minister) but opened in 1971. It is a non-residential university, which provides different courses using a combination of TV and Radio broadcasts, correspondence (distance) courses, personal tuition, summer schools, a network of viewing and listening centres. Its fees are not high. No formal academic qualifications were required at first to register for these courses, but there were so many applicants that preparatory tests had to be introduced. So now students are admitted on a «first come, first served» basis. The students are of all ages and come from very different backgrounds. Some improve their qualifications, others, like retired people or mothers of grown up children, obtained the time to do something they have always wanted to, but had no opportunity. Each student of the Open University gets the help and support of his own tutor (or counsellor) with whom he meets and corresponds regularly and whom he can telephone in case of any difficulty. There are meetings at which students get to know each other forming «self -help» groups. These groups meet in each others homes to discuss the texts and assignments, to help, support and stimulate each other. The nearest approach to the ordinary university life is summer schools, which both students and local tutors attend with great enthusiasm. It is here that most the students «find their feet».

The standards of the Open University degrees are the same as those of other universities. The degrees are awarded on a system of credits for each course completed. It takes six or eight years to get a degree. Only 1 per cent of its registered members gets qualification degree or diploma. Approximately one in every 16 students graduating from the United Kingdom universities is from the Open University.

Most Universities, including Polytechnics, find themselves under financial pressure to seek supplementary funding from private sources. Commercial companies are likely to encourage the areas of study of immediate interest to them. But pure research, which accounts for significant advances, may suffer.

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