Renaissance and Leonardo da Vinci
The Renaissance is a period and intellectual movement in European cultural history that is traditionally seen as ending the Middle Ages and beginning modern times. The Renaissance started in Italy in the 14th century and flourished in West Europe until about the 17th century. The aim of Renaissance education was to produce the 'complete human being' (Renaissance man), conversant in the humanities, mathematics and science, the arts and crafts, athletics and sport; to enlarge the bounds of learning and geographical knowledge; and the study and imitation of Greek and Latin literature and art.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452—1519) is one of the great masters of the High Renaissance, celebrated as a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist. Leonardo was born in the small town of Vinci, in Tuscany, near Florence. He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy notary and a peasant woman. Leonardo was given the best education that Florence, a major intellectual and artistic centre of Italy, could offer.
Few of Leonardo's major artistic works have survived complete and undamaged. Some, like The Adoration of the Magi, were never finished. Others, like The Last Supper, a mural in a Milan monastery, have deteriorated because Leonardo used unorthodox techhiques. Leonardo painted several portraits, but the only one that survived is the famous Mona Lisa, also known as la Jioconda, after the presumed name of the woman's husband.
Leonardo's innovations in the field of painting influenced the course of Italian art for more than a century after his5death, and his scientific studies — particularly in the fields of anatomy, optics and hydraulics — anticipated many of the developments of modern science.
Most of his ideas and observations were recorded in voluminous notebooks; seven thousand pages have survived, many annotated by the left-handed designer in mirror writing.
Old and new British universities
There are 46 universities in Britain, of which 35 are in England, 8 in Scotland, 2 in Northern Ireland and 1 in Wales. They can be roughly divided into a few groups.
Oxford and Cambridge:
Scholars were studying in these ancient universities in the early thirteenth century. Since that time Oxford (1249) and Cambridge (1284) have continued to grow, but until the nineteenth century they were the only universities in England, and they offered no places to girls.
The colleges are not connected with any particular study and are governed by twenty to thirty fellows. Fellows of a college are tutors, or teachers often called dons. They teach their own subject to those students in the college who are studying it, and they are responsible for their progress.
The university is like a federation of colleges. The university arranges the courses, the lectures, and the examinations, and awards the degrees. Most dons give one or two lectures a week which students from any college of the university may attend. No lectures are compulsory and tutors usually advise their students which lectures they should go to.
Each college has its own completely separate living quarters, its own dining hall and its own chapel. Cambridge and Oxford both now have two women's colleges. Today most of the colleges are co-educational.
The University of London can also be called a kind of federation of colleges, but the system is entirely different. The largest of the London colleges are like universities in themselves, having many different faculties and departments. Some specialise in certain subjects, for example the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Imperial College of Science and Technology. All arrange their own lectures and classes, but the university organises the examinations and awards degrees.
Four universities were founded in Scotland before Scotland and Britain were united: St. Andrews (1411), Glasgow (1450), Aberdeen 4 (1494) and Edinburgh (1583).
The redbrick universities: In this group are listed all unversities founded between 1850 and 1930, including London University. They were called redbrick because that was the favourite building material of the time, but they are rarely referred to as 'redbrick' today.
The new universities: These were all founded after the Second World War. Some of them quickly became popular because of their modern approach to university courses.
Academic degrees
Although Britain has a small number of students at universities compared with many countries, the number of graduates is large. This is because students are carefully selected and only 10 per cent leave without getting a degree.
At most universities an honours degree is taken in one main subject and one subsidiary, or secondary, subject. A general degree is taken in a variety of subjects, but carries less weight than an honours degree. If students pass their final exam, they get a degree marked first, second or third class. Some universities divide their second class into 2(1) and 2(2). Oxford offers a fourth class.
Few students get first class degrees, so these are a valuable qualification for a job. Students with any class of degree become Bachelors of Arts or Bachelors of Science, and can put B.A. or B.Sc. after their names.
If they want to go a step further and become Master of Arts or Master of Science, they have to write an original paper, or thesis, on some subject. Oxford and Cambridge graduates have a rather unfair privilege. They can buy their M.A.s and M.Sc.s for a small sum of money. All they have to do is wait for a few years before applying!
If students wish to become academics and perhaps teach in a university, then they will work for a higher degree, a Doctor of Philosophy — a Ph.D. For this, they will have to carry out some important research work.
