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Universities go to the market

The country has always had a tradition of high quality higher education for relatively few students, selected from the top of academic pile. Over the last few years, however, the government has made a concerted effort to widen the sector so that a larger proportion of the population gains qualifications.

Universities and colleges are now financed according to the number of students they attract. The results have exceeded expectations so dramatically that expansion has now had to be capped. Student numbers have doubled over the past decade to nearly 1,6 million. A target, set in 1989, of one in three young people entering higher educa­tion by the year 2000 was in sight within three years.

Panic has now set in at the realization that more students means more money to pay for them – cash which just is not available. Last November, the government announced a budget cut in higher education amounting to a 9.4 percent reduction in capital spending.

Universities began to seek extra income from industry, com­merce and from renting out their premises to summer schools. But vice-presidents still warn that the famed quality of British universities is under threat.

Lecturers are having to take larger classes and the ratio of aca­demics to students is falling in line with practices more common on the Continent. Students, meanwhile, fear their degrees being devalued. While once they offered entry into an elite, assured of employment, now they are no guarantee of avoiding the dole queue. To make matters worse, some years ago it was suggested students start paying a propor­tion of university fees – earlier paid by the state – and student grants slowly evolved into loans payable once they start earning.

Find the equivalents from the text to the following word combinations:

Зазнає змін, традиція надання освіти високої якості, відбирали з верхівки шкільної піраміди, якість університетів знаходиться під загрозою, дипломі знецінюються, нема гарантій уникнути черги на біржі праці, частково оплачують навчання, стипендії та гранти перетворюються на позики, співвідношення кількості викладачів до кількості студентів.

Answer the questions:

1. How is the British educational system doing? Are the scores and knowledge of current students declining compared with those of ten or twenty years ago?

2. What is done by the government to address problems with the educational system and to improve it?

3. Are students adequately trained to deal with the world of work?

4. What groups in society have access to education, for example, to higher education?

5. Are traditional classroom practices being changed?

6. What new trends are there in education in other countries?