Exercise 6. Consider the table of terms with different meanings in US and UK university systems. Guess who is more likely to be speaking - a British person or an American? Why?

 - Only faculty can eat here.

 - All professors use the same rubric for grading term papers.

 - I went to school at Millintown, where I got my masters and PhD.

 - My department is within the Faculty of Engineering.

 - The rubric required students to answer all three questions on the exam paper.

 

US example	meaning/comment	UK example	meaning/comment
Are you faculty or student?	If you are faculty, you are a member of the academic staff.	The faculty will have to come to a decision on this.	Faculty refers to a group of departments (see Unit 18) with similar interests.
The grading rubric for term papers has been revised.	A rubric is a set of criteria or guidelines which tells how an assignment will be graded or scored.	Some students misread the exam rubric and didn't answer enough questions.	Instructions on an exam paper or in a textbook as to how a task must be done.
I went to college in St Louis. I attended Washington University. I took some fascinating courses at college.	The word college in American English refers broadly to the undergraduate experience, whether it is at a two-year community college, a four-year college, or a large state university in the US. A specific institution can be a college (granting undergraduate degrees only) or a university (granting undergraduate and graduate degrees).	She went to university in Scotland. She graduated from university in 1996.	In British English, university refers to the undergraduate experience. In both American and British English, no article is used before college or university in these examples.
Her brother went to school at Harvard.	School is often used to mean university. A common question is 'Where did you go to school?' meaning 'Where did you go to college?'	I went to school in London, then I went to university in Bristol.	Refers to primary or secondary education; school can also refer to a university department which covers several different teaching areas (e.g. School of English and Journalism).

 

Exercise7. Read the text and find the equivalents to the following words and phrases:

1.  new, first-year undergraduate (also used in the UK)

2.  short for comprehensive examinations, subject-area tests required of graduate students in some areas of studies

3.  a group of teachers who advise a PhD student

4.  area where students can meet socially and eat in dining halls

5.  short test on areas which have been taught

6.   equivalent of the UK supervisor

7.  final examinations at the end of the semester

8.   third-year student

9. a social organisation for male students 13 a social organisation for

female students

10. student with a bachelor's degree (e.g. BA, BS) who is enrolled in a master's degree programme

 11. equivalent of postgraduate student in the UK

 12. second-year student, from the Greek sophos, wise, and moros, dull

 13. fourth-year student

Different US terms

I wonder who should be on my PhD committee. My advisor suggested Dr Fry and Dr Roe. I have a lot of studying to do. I have my comps in two weeks.

Let's meet in Harley Commons at 7.30 pm, and we can study for tomorrow's quiz, OK? It was tough being a freshman because I wasn't used to such difficult finals, but life got a bit easier when I became a sophomore. It was easy enough as a junior, but then it got tough again when I was a senior.

As a graduate student, I get to attend seminars with some of the top people in my field. The fraternity and sorority houses are all round the edge of the campus.

Exercise 8. Put these levels of students in an American university in order of seniority, starting with the first-year student. Explain what kind of student each term refers to.

graduate student  junior   freshman    senior   sophomore

 

Academic courses

 

Exercise 1.Look at the extract from UK university's web pages and match the words and phrases to the underlined words in the text.

1. a qualification between a bachelor's degree and a master's degree

2. unit which represents a successfully completed part of a course

3. most important parts of a course of study, that all students must do

4. which are chosen

5. one of the units which together make a complete course taught

especially at a college or university

6. choose

7. put one's name on an official list of course members

9. judgements of the quality of students' work

10. a piece of written work

11. a collection of documents that represent a person's work

12. having the necessary qualities or fulfilling the necessary conditions

13. a special mark given to students who produce work of an excellent

standard