Higher Education in Russia

Higher education in Russia is characterized by direct state administration. The schools of higher learning are divided into universities, where humanities and pure sciences are taught; institutes, where single fields are taught (e.g., law, medicine, and agriculture); and polytechnic institutes, where subjects similar to those in the institutes are taught but with a broader scientific foundation. Another distinction of the Russian system is that it greatly extends the educational network by offering a broad array of carefully prepared correspondence courses. Many students are thus able to proceed part-time with their education while holding full- or part-time jobs. Students are admitted to higher-educational institutions on the basis of competitive examinations. The duration of studies for a first degree ranges from four to six years, with five years being the average. The curriculum consists of compulsory, alternative, and optional subjects. Candidates for a degree must take examinations in two or three basic disciplines related to a chosen specialty. At the conclusion of a first-degree course, all students receive the same diploma, but students with the best results are awarded a "distinction." Most institutions organize graduate schools for postgraduate studies, which are likewise concluded by a set of examinations.

b) In the passages find information according to the headings given in the first column of the table below. Fill in the table with your findings:

	France	Germany	Great Britain	USA	Russia
1.Administration
2. Entrance requirements:
3.Years of study to obtain the first University degree
4. Curriculum development
5. Types of school providing higher education
6. Students’ performance assessment
7. Teaching process organization
8. Funding source

C) Work in pairs. Compare the systems of higher education in France, Germany, Great Britain, the USA, and Russia. Come up with a comparison chart. Get ready to present your results to other students.

III. a) Read the passage about tuition and use the correct tense forms of the verbs in brackets.

TUITION

The cost of attending colleges and universities steadily … (increase) since the 1980s. Since private institutions in the United States … (not receive) public funds, they generally … (charge) students higher tuition and fees than do public institutions. In Canada, public and private institutions usually … (charge) comparable tuition and fees because the provincial and federal governments subsidize student costs for both types of institutions.

In the United States, the average tuition with room and board at a four-year public college for in-state residents during the 1978-1979 academic year … (be) $1,994. By the 1996-1997 school year, the figure … (reach) $7,331. At private four-year schools, tuition, room, and board nationwide … (increase) from an average of $4,514 to an average of $18,476. In Canada, the cost of higher education … (vary) significantly from one province to another. In the 1996-1997 academic year tuition fees (without room and board) at four-year institutions … (rang) from $1,170 in Quebec to more than $2,800 in Nova Scotia. Tuition fees at private four-year colleges and universities in Canada … (range) from about $2,800 to $5,700.

More than 10 percent of full-time college students … (work) full-time to pay for their college education. Most others … (work) part-time to help offset the costs of attending college. However, higher tuition and a decline in the purchasing power of minimum wage jobs … (make) it increasingly difficult for students to pay for college by working part-time. To provide some assistance in financing higher education costs, a number of states … (establish) programs that allow families to prepay college tuition years in advance by purchasing special contracts or tax-exempt bonds.

b) Read the passage about tuition again and find English equivalents to these words and phrases:

1. назначать плату за обучение

2. сопоставимая плата за обучение

3. работать полный / неполный рабочий день

4. возмещать стоимость посещения университета

C) Compare the cost of attending colleges and universities in the USA and Canada with that in Russia.

IV. a) Read through the passage about financial aid and get ready to explain what grants, awards, loans mean.

FINANCIAL AID

Students may apply for and receive financial aid to help pay tuition and other costs of attending college. The chief sources of financial aid are federal programs, state grant programs, private grants, and institutional sources at the college or university. Aid may be either a grant based on financial need, a merit-based financial award given to the student, or a loan that the student must repay with interest in the future.

In the past, most students received financial aid in the form of a grant. However, the increases in tuition rates since the 1980s have coincided with a decrease in the funds available for public or private grants. More of the financial aid that most students now receive comes in the form of a loan rather than a grant or an award. For example, in the late 1980s the average grant was 46 percent of a typical student’s total aid package, while the average federal loan was 52 percent. By 1998 the grant size had fallen to 40 percent of the typical total, while loan size had increased to 58 percent. In 1997 borrowers who attended public four-year colleges had accumulated an average of $13,000 in debts. Those who went to private colleges averaged $17,500 in debts. Borrowers in graduate school had an average debt of $24,500, and those who went to professional school averaged $48,500.