The history of universities

Ø 1) Read the text and answer the questions:

a) What does the word “university” mean?

b) Where were the forerunners of medieval universities founded?

c) Did the curricula of ancient and medieval universities differ?

d) What did the modern Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees develop from?

e) What is the difference between the German and the French university models?

f) Which model became popular throughout the world?

g) What is the future of universities?

A universityis an institution of higher education and research which grants academic degrees. “University” is derived from the Latin “universitas magistrorum et scholarium,” meaning “community of teachers and scholars” since the first medieval European universities were simply groups of teachers and scholars.

Arguably the first western university was the Academy founded in 387 BC by the Greek philosopher Plato in the grove of Academos near Athens, where students were taught philosophy, mathematics and gymnastics. About thousand years later, institutions resembling the modern university existed in Persia and in India. They were forerunners of the rise of the University in the 11^th century.

The first medieval universities were the University of Bologna (1088, Italy), the University of Paris (c. 1150, later associated with the Sorbonne, France), the University of Oxford (1167, the UK), the University of Palencia (1208, Spain), the University of Cambridge (1209, the UK), the University of Salamanca (1218, Spain), the University of Montpellier (1220, France), the University of Padua (1222, Italy), the University of Naples Federico II (1224, Italy), the University of Toulouse (1229, France). Just to compare, the first Russian universities were either Moscow State University (1755), Saint Petersburg State University (1724-1803, 1819), or Kant Russian State University (1544-1945, 1967).

In the Middle Ages students studied law, medicine, and theology. In Europe young men proceeded to the university when they had completed the study of the “trivium”: the preparatory arts of grammar, rhetoric, and logic; and the “quadrivium”: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The “trivium” and “quadrivium” developed into degrees, especially in Anglophone universities.

Humanism, Enlightenment, Reformation and Revolution transformed medieval universities into research universities.

By the 18^th century, universities published their own research journals and by the 19^th century, the German and the French university models had arisen. The German, or Humboldtian model, was worked out by Wilhelm von Humboldt and based on Friedrich Schleiermacher’s liberal ideas pertaining to the importance of freedom, seminars, and laboratories in universities. The French university model involved strict discipline and control over every aspect of the university.

Until the 19^th century, religion played a significant role in university curriculum; however, the role of religion in research universities decreased in the 19^th century, and by its end the German university model had spread around the world. Universities concentrated on science in the 19^th and 20^th centuries and became increasingly accessible to the masses. In Britain new civic universities with an emphasis on science and engineering arose. The British also established universities worldwide, and higher education became available to the masses not only in Europe. In a general sense, the basic structure and aims of universities have remained constant over the years.

In the last decades of the 20^th century, a number of mega universities have been created, teaching with distance learning techniques.

Ø 2) Make a summary of the text on the history of universities in your own words.

2.20 THE KARELIAN BRANCH OF THE NORTH-WEST ACADEMY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
IN PETROZAVODSK

Ø 1) How long have you been studying at the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk? Where did you study before? Why did you decide to get higher education at the Karelian Branch?

The Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk offers training, retraining, and in-service training of civil and municipal employees, as well as seminars, consultations, information- and methodology services in the sphere of state and municipal administration. The Karelian Branch is part of the countrywide educational network of the Russian Academy of Public Administration.

The Karelian Branch was organized in Petrozavodsk in 1995 by the joint solution of the Government of the Republic of Karelia and the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Saint-Petersburg. In 2005, the Karelian Branch was included in the list of educational institutions of Russia which form the system of staff training, support and supervision of the bodies of local self-government. This system was organized by the Ministry of the Regional Development of the Russian Federation.

Administration of the Karelian Branch includes Director, First Deputy Director, Deputy Director on Finance and Economics, and Head of Scientific and Methodology Research Work Office.

The departments functioning at the Karelian Branch are: personnel department, professional skills improvement and retraining department, higher professional education department, scientific and methodology research work office, information and library center, international cooperation center, and municipal consulting center.

The Chairs of Economics and Finance, State and Municipal Administration, Law, the Humanities, and Foreign Languages operate within the Karelian Branch.

Higher professional education department conducts training according to programs of higher professional education on the following specializations: “State and Municipal Administration,” “Finance and Credit,” and “Law.”

Training on State and Municipal Administration is carried out on a full-time and part-time basis. Part-time program implies 3.5 years of training for graduates of professional colleges and 3 years of training for graduates of higher professional institutions. The diploma is granted in case of successful training.

The Department of Supplementary Education Programs offers programs of professional retraining which is a form of supplementary professional education for people who already hold a diploma of higher or secondary professional education. This form of education has been worked out by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation as a convenient, not costly and fast way to get additional higher education and master a new profession. The peculiarities mentioned above make professional retraining advantageously different from getting another higher education in a traditional way (which takes several years, costs much more and covers general knowledge subjects).

In-service courses help specialists to enhance their professional level and can be aimed at different audience: employees of state government bodies, employees of local self-government bodies, deputies of Legislation Meeting of the Republic of Karelia, deputies of representative bodies of local self-government bodies, executives of enterprises, agencies and organizations.

Subject and consultation seminars are one of the most advanced directions of the department activities. Usually, the seminars are conducted following the demand of state government bodies, local self-government bodies, enterprises and organizations. They cover the issues of accounting, taxation and labor legislation, as well as legal support of the activities of state and municipal employees and some other issues acute for the audience.

Distance learning is a new convenient form of professional retraining for state and municipal employees who enter their field.

Ø 2) Draw the scheme of the organizational hierarchy of the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.

Ø 3) Make a list of key words to describe this higher education institution.

Ø 4) Compare the pros and cons of different training schemes provided by the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.

Ø 5) Retell the text adding personal details to it.

LAW ACADEMY

Ø 1) Find Russian equivalents to the words and expressions in italics.

We are students at the Ukrainian Academy of Law. Our Academy is one of the oldest educational establishments of this type in the Country. Its 70^th anniversary was marked in 1990. The Academy is housed in one of the best buildings of our city. This is the house in 77 Pushkinskaya Street designed and constructed by Beketov – a well-known Russian architect. It has a great number of light, spacious classrooms, lecture-halls, a gymnasium, a reading-room, and a computer lab. There are also special study rooms and laboratories here. The students have every opportunity to master their future profession which is law. Our Academy trains practical workers for law offices.

The course of study at the Academy is five years. Besides the day-time department there is also an evening and a correspondence department at the academy where the students study 5.5 years.

We study general and special law subjects. Among the general subjects are history of the political science, the history of the economics, philosophy, sociology, ecological law and a foreign language – English, German, and French. I am not confident in my English. I think it doesn’t sound well. But I am a good English learner. I always attend my English classes and work hard.

The law subjects are criminal law, criminal procedure, criminology, criminalities, civil law, civil procedure, labor law, ecological law, international law, and some others. We attend lectures, seminars, and tutorials. Classes usually begin at 8.00 in the morning and are over at 12.30 in the afternoon.

After classes many students hurry to the canteen to have lunch and after a short rest begin preparing for their lessons and seminars in the reading room or in a study room.

A very important part in the training of future specialists is played by the Students’ Scientific Society, and a lot of students carry on research work in its numerous circles. All of us also take part in the public activities of the Academy. Almost all out-of town students live in the hostel. At the end of each term we take credit tests and examinations. They are called terminals. All those who pass exams successfully are granted stipends.

At the end of the course of study the students take state examinations or finals, as they are often called. When we graduate from the academy we shall work according to our appointments as investigators, judges, procurators, etc. Some of us will work in the militia. Every year our country gets highly qualified specialists standing on guard of legality and law and order.

Ø 2) Compare the facilities provided by the Ukrainian Academy of Law and by the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.

Ø 3) Use the text to talk about your studies at the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14