Student life at Oxford

What is it like, being a student at Oxford? Like all British universities, Oxford is a state university, not a private one. Students are selected on the basis of their results in the national examinations or the special Oxford entrance examination. There are many applicants, and nobody can get a place by paying a fee. Successful candidates are admitted to a specified college of the university: that will be their home for the next three years (the normal period for an undergraduate degree), and for longer it they are admitted to study for a postgraduate degree. They will be mostly taught by tutors from their own college.

Teaching is pleasantly informal and personal: a typical undergraduate will spend an hour a week with his or her 'tutor', perhaps in the company of one other student. Each of them will have written an essay for the tutor, which serves as the basis for discussion, argument, the exposition of ideas and academic methods. At the end of the hour the students go away with a new essay title and a list of books that might be helpful in preparing for the essay.

Other kinds of teaching such as lectures and seminars are normally optional: popular lecturers can attract audiences from several faculties, while others may find themselves speaking to two or three loyal students, or maybe to no one at all. So, in theory, if you are good at reading, thinking and writing quickly, you can spend five days out of seven being idle: sleeping, taking part in sports, in student clubs, in acting and singing, in arguing, drinking, having parties, in practice, most students at Oxford are enthusiastic about the academic life, and many of the more conscientious ones work for days at each essay, sometimes sitting up through the night with a wet towel round their heads.

At the end of three years, all students face a dreadful ordeal, “Finals”, the final examinations. The victims are obliged to dress up for the occasion in black and white, an old-fashioned ritual that may help to calm the nerves. They go into the huge examination building and sit for three hours writing what they hope is beautiful prose on half-remembered or strangely forgotten subjects. In the afternoon they assemble for another three hours of writing. After four or five days of this torture they emerge and stagger out for the biggest party of them all.

Task 5

Find proofs in the text to the following:

1. Teaching at Oxford is informal.

2. Teaching at Oxford is personal.

3. “Finals” is a dreadful ordeal.

4. You can’t buy a place to study at Oxford.

Speaking

How does your life at South Ural State University differ from that of a British student? Do they have anything in common? Describe the life of a Russian student. Do not forget to mention:

1. Procedure of entering the university.

2. Teaching (formal/informal, personal/impersonal).

3. Free time.

4. Exams.

Lesson 7. My Future Specialty

Task 1

Brainstorming activity

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