1. When was Belarusian agricultural academy founded and opened? 2. What was its first name? 3. What specialists did it first train? 4. What classes were opened in 1858? 5. Name the graduates of the academy who had great influence on agricultural science. 6. Why was the school closed in 1864? 7. When was it re-opened? 8. What was the Academy awarded with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for? 9. Did the Academy function during the Great Patriotic War? 10. Does the Academy train foreign specialists? 11. When was the Academy awarded with the second order?
Ex. 9. Draw a time line and speak on the history of the Academy. The first point on the time line has been done for you.
(The BAA was founded)
Ex. 10. Project Work. Working in libraries or using the Internet database prepare reports about famous graduates of the Academy who had great influence on agricultural science.
Ex. 11. You are going to read the text about the system of higher education in the USA. In the United States of America there are two major divisions in the system of education public and private schools, colleges and Universities. Do such divisions exist in your system of education? Can you give any examples of private educational establishments in your country?
Text C
There is no national system of higher education in the United States. Instead, there are about 3,300 separate institutions ranging from two-year junior colleges and technical institutes to universities. They may be small or large, rural or urban, private or public, religious or secular; highly selective or open to all.
Basically, American higher education developed its own pattern by the adaptation of two traditions: the collegiate tradition of England and the university tradition of the Continent.
The first universities were developed by private charitable organizations, many of which were religious bodies. The private universities are still very important. Of the nation's nearly 1,900 four-year institutions of higher learning, 1,200 are privately controlled.
All higher educational establishments charge fees. It costs a lot of money to study there. Today three out of every four American families expect to send their children to college. How many actually do so? One out of four. Most of the rest simply can't afford it. The unhappy truth is that, like almost everything else, a college education is getting more expensive every year. Grants are rare, that is why two out of three college students take part-time jobs during the school year, during summer vacations, or both to pay for their studies.
The American college is an institution which has no counterpart in Europe. It offers courses of instruction over a four-year period, grants a Bachelor's degree and prepares the student for a job. As part of a university a college leads to a master's or doctor's degree. There are also many Junior Colleges to which students may be admitted at the end of their high school career, providing only the first two years of university work. They usually offer courses related to local industry, agriculture or crafts.
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Obviously, with a total of 156 universities and more than two thousand colleges, there must be great differences in quality and reputation among them. The main universities are: California University, Catholic University of America, Cornell University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Stanford University, Chicago University, Wisconsin University, Yale University. The best-known of all is Harvard, Massachusetts, which was founded in 1636. There is much in common between Harvard and Yale, Connecticut, and together they occupy a position in American university life rather like Oxbridge in England.
The methods of instruction in the universities are lectures, discussions and work in laboratory. The academic year is usually of nine months duration, or two semesters of four and a half months each.
Students are classified as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. A peculiar feature of American college and university life is numerous students' unions, fraternities and sororities. The Greek alphabet is generally used in their names.
A great deal of cultural and recreational life at a university is created by different kinds of students' clubs.
