When the word "Englishman" the majority imagines an intelligent professor a la Sherlock Holmes, dressed in a top hat and a plaid coat. Such a stereotype did not arise by chance. The fact is that education in the UK is considered one of the best in the world. English universities prepare students for special programs aimed primarily at gaining the skill to work independently with new information. Graduates of UK universities 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 the UK is on the student's ability to independently master the material. Unlike in Russia, lectures are not given much attention here. The schedule may consist of ten "face-to-face" sessions per week. Accordingly, most of the information is left for free study. However, one 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 are provided to students free of charge.
English universities differ from Russian ones in the very form of education. For example, they hold only one session per year, and there are no intermediate exams at all. But there is still no time to relax: the session is arranged in such a way that there can be up to four exams in various disciplines on one day. And if in our country the option "to learn overnight" can fit, here it is out of the question. The ability to retake is also very limited, so to be successful, you need to be able to independently organize your studies during the whole year.
Test pen
So that the student does not relax, the UK has introduced a special system for writing essays - essays in free style. Each week, the student is required to submit an author's work on the topic studied. Essays are written not only by representatives of humanitarian areas. Doctors, 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 you won’t graduate from the university without passing these works.
Writing an essay in English universities consists in self-study of the material and the presentation of related thoughts on paper. Undergraduate students write up to three essays per week. The volume of each of them is about 9000 words, which corresponds to about fifteen pages of text. In order to write an essay that meets all the requirements, you should read about 500 pages of educational literature. Thus, in one week a student reads about one and a half thousand pages of a scientific text, learns new material and writes 45 pages.essay. For students, the library becomes their home.
Education system in England
Despite all the difficulties, applicants dream of getting into higher educational institutions in England. But to do this is not so easy. The problem lies in 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 education under a special program that includes several core subjects and prepares the student for university studies. At the end of this program, an exam is written, according to the results of which the Briton enters the university. Thus, obtaining a certificate for the eleventh grade and two years of study at a Russian university is considered an analogue of secondary education in England.
English University: admission
Before entering an English university, a student must complete a special educational program in the UK itself. Which one, biennial or annual, everyone decides for himself. Both of them prepare the student for learning, improve the level of language proficiency, introduce the system of assessing students' knowledge. Schoolchildren also study specialized subjects for the chosen speci alty. At the end of the training, everyone passes the exam, which determines the possibility of admission.
Documents for admission
Applicant should prepare for the financial side of the issue. Studying at English universities costs at least ten thousand pounds a year, which is about eight hundred thousand Russian rubles. If a future student cannot afford to pay such an amount for several years, 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 carried out. All this is included in the package of documents for the selection committee:
- Exam results.
- Resume, which should include scientific papers, reports or presentations.
- List of five universities in which the 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 proficiency is close to ideal, you can think about which university to apply to. It should be taken into account that, as in Russia, the list of universities is limited to five universities. That is, from the whole variety of educational institutions, you need to choose the top five. To do this, you need to carefully study each university, understand what kind of specialists it trains, what are the conditions for living and studying students.
First English University
The oldest university in the UK is the University of Oxford. It is considered the most famous English-speaking university in the world. The University carries outeducational activity since about the end of the eleventh century. During this time, Oxford graduates have become:
- 40 Nobel Laureates;
- 25 British Prime Ministers;
- 6 kings;
- 12 saints;
- about fifty Olympic medalists;
- 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 Margaret 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 people 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 at school or in the first two years of a Russian university it was easier for a student to study 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 considered to be Oxford and Cambridge universities, which are popularly called "Oxbridge". These universities primarily teach how to learn. Graduates have a huge store of knowledge that they already know how to put into practice. A diploma from Oxbridge, like other English polytechnic universities, guarantees employment, as it is highly valued by employers.
Imperial College London is not inferior to Oxbridge in terms of training. It is among the top ten universities in the world. The century-old history of the university shows how successful its graduates become. Among them are 14 Nobel Prize winners in physics, chemistry and medicine. The best known are Sir Ernst Chain and Alexander Flameng, the creators of penicillin.
English financial universities
Financial universities can be considered a sub-sector of technical universities. The same technical disciplines, but with an emphasis on economics, give the student deep knowledge about the structure of this science, business and finance. The main employer for graduates of English universities is the financial services sector, so there are no problems with employment for young professionals. 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 have studied or taught at the school, and nine of them have won awards for research in the field of economics.
The University of Manchester is no less famous. Founded 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.
Pedagogical Universities
Teaching is a prestigious profession that is valued all over the world. Trained specialists can work both in institutions of preschool and school education, and in universities. Serious requirements are imposed on applicants for the position, not only scientific training is important here, but also individual character traits. You can learn to be a teacher at Bath Spa University. This is one of the best liberal arts universities in the UK. The areas of training cover three broad areas at once: creativity, entrepreneurship and culture. The current Bath Spa Normal School is recognized as the best source of education in the UK.
For graduates of the Pedagogical University, English is especially important, since the work will be carried out in it. Thus, the student will receive not only professional skills, but also the opportunity to know English at the same level as the British. You can always work with such skills in Russia - for example, in English universities in 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 toindependent work. Graduates of English universities are able to organize their time, prioritize, solve pressing problems and predict the future. They are top-notch professionals who know what they want to achieve and achieve it.
