#1 University Vocab: Lectures vs Seminars
🆕 Are you preparing to enter university at home or abroad? Our university vocab guide is here to give you some background knowledge.
❗️We all know what classes are. At university we also have classes but there are different types of classes!
▶️ Lectures are classes for many students, sometimes over 100, often held in big rooms called lecture halls. The teachers are normally professors or senior lecturers and students sit quietly while listening and taking notes.
▶️ Seminars are for fewer students, usually no more than twenty. The students don’t sit in rows but in a U-shape or around a big table. In this way they can discuss, which is the main purpose of a seminar.
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📝 lecture hall = big room in a university where lectures are held
📝 senior lecturer = an experienced university teacher
📝 taking notes = writing down important points
📝 row = a line of seats
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
🆕 Are you preparing to enter university at home or abroad? Our university vocab guide is here to give you some background knowledge.
❗️We all know what classes are. At university we also have classes but there are different types of classes!
▶️ Lectures are classes for many students, sometimes over 100, often held in big rooms called lecture halls. The teachers are normally professors or senior lecturers and students sit quietly while listening and taking notes.
▶️ Seminars are for fewer students, usually no more than twenty. The students don’t sit in rows but in a U-shape or around a big table. In this way they can discuss, which is the main purpose of a seminar.
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📝 lecture hall = big room in a university where lectures are held
📝 senior lecturer = an experienced university teacher
📝 taking notes = writing down important points
📝 row = a line of seats
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#2 University Vocab: Academic Literature
❗️When you study at a university you most likely have to read a lot for your essays and thesis paper.
🔎 Books are reliable sources of information. You find them in the library or, if you’re lucky, as pdf-files on the internet. Copyright is tricky, but you can always turn to Russian websites!
🔎 Articles, also just called papers, are more specialised than books. They are usually included in academic journals. It’s easy to get them on the internet but the quality of articles and also journals is not always good.
🔎 Websites are not academic literature! Anyone can publish anything online.
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📌reliable = trustworthy, always there for you
📌tricky = complicated, difficult
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️When you study at a university you most likely have to read a lot for your essays and thesis paper.
🔎 Books are reliable sources of information. You find them in the library or, if you’re lucky, as pdf-files on the internet. Copyright is tricky, but you can always turn to Russian websites!
🔎 Articles, also just called papers, are more specialised than books. They are usually included in academic journals. It’s easy to get them on the internet but the quality of articles and also journals is not always good.
🔎 Websites are not academic literature! Anyone can publish anything online.
----------
📌reliable = trustworthy, always there for you
📌tricky = complicated, difficult
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#3 University Vocab: Tuition Fees
❗️ Deciding where to study is never easy because you have to think about so many things. Especially money. So it’s good to know what is what!
🔎 Tuition fees (British English) or just tuition (American English) is the money you have to pay for your studies.
🔎 A scholarship can be awarded to good students, either only covering their tuition or both tuition and living expenses. It is either paid to the university directly or to the student in form of monthly payments, not called “salary” but stipend.
🔎 A grant is money that can be given by a government or an organisation as part of a programme.
🔎 A student loan is money that students can get from a bank and have to pay back after they graduate.
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📌sth is awarded to sb = sth is given to a person for doing sth well
📌cover sth = here: be enough money to pay for sth
📌living expenses = money that people spend for food, housing, etc.
Keep it cool!
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️ Deciding where to study is never easy because you have to think about so many things. Especially money. So it’s good to know what is what!
🔎 Tuition fees (British English) or just tuition (American English) is the money you have to pay for your studies.
🔎 A scholarship can be awarded to good students, either only covering their tuition or both tuition and living expenses. It is either paid to the university directly or to the student in form of monthly payments, not called “salary” but stipend.
🔎 A grant is money that can be given by a government or an organisation as part of a programme.
🔎 A student loan is money that students can get from a bank and have to pay back after they graduate.
----------
📌sth is awarded to sb = sth is given to a person for doing sth well
📌cover sth = here: be enough money to pay for sth
📌living expenses = money that people spend for food, housing, etc.
Keep it cool!
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#4 University Vocab: Assessment
❗️ When studying at a university the way you get your grades is quite different from school. Let’s take a closer look:
🔎 Assessment means “evaluation” but it is more than just one grade. It’s usually made up of several parts adding up to 100%, for example 40% for an exam, 30% for an essay, and 30% for participation.
🔎 The pass mark is different in different countries. This is something to watch out for!
🔎 We speak of coursework for all the assessed homework that we have to do for one course at university. Did I say “homework”? That sounds a bit childish. The better word is assignments.
🔎 When we successfully complete a course we usually get some credit points.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️ When studying at a university the way you get your grades is quite different from school. Let’s take a closer look:
🔎 Assessment means “evaluation” but it is more than just one grade. It’s usually made up of several parts adding up to 100%, for example 40% for an exam, 30% for an essay, and 30% for participation.
🔎 The pass mark is different in different countries. This is something to watch out for!
🔎 We speak of coursework for all the assessed homework that we have to do for one course at university. Did I say “homework”? That sounds a bit childish. The better word is assignments.
🔎 When we successfully complete a course we usually get some credit points.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#5 University Vocab: Time Off
❗️ When we go to school we get our holidays, and that’s fairly simple. But what about university?
🔎 The time between two semesters is called semester break. How long that is and whether the students are totally off or still have exams or coursework (see #4) depends on the country.
🔎 Academic leave is what you apply for if you have personal reasons like illness, pregnancy, family issues, etc. and you cannot study for one semester or more.
🔎 Between school and university young adults may do a gap year in which they work or travel or do some volunteering. This has become a common thing to do in recent years, especially in developed countries.
🔎 It is popular for university lecturers to have a sabbatical – that is a break from their academic career, usually for one year. Academics enjoy some time away from the students, and it is important for their research and career development.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️ When we go to school we get our holidays, and that’s fairly simple. But what about university?
🔎 The time between two semesters is called semester break. How long that is and whether the students are totally off or still have exams or coursework (see #4) depends on the country.
🔎 Academic leave is what you apply for if you have personal reasons like illness, pregnancy, family issues, etc. and you cannot study for one semester or more.
🔎 Between school and university young adults may do a gap year in which they work or travel or do some volunteering. This has become a common thing to do in recent years, especially in developed countries.
🔎 It is popular for university lecturers to have a sabbatical – that is a break from their academic career, usually for one year. Academics enjoy some time away from the students, and it is important for their research and career development.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#6 University Vocab: Online Education
❗️ Online education – e-learning or distance education – is becoming more and more popular.
🔎 Distance learning is not a new thing, and at some universities you can get Bachelor or Master degrees just by studying online. However, such degrees are not very valuable.
🔎 While higher education is still mostly on-campus learning, almost every university nowadays has their own e-learning platform for sharing materials, submitting coursework, etc.
🔎 There is something between on-campus education and distance education which is called blended learning. Students of blended courses do one part of their studies on campus and another part online.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️ Online education – e-learning or distance education – is becoming more and more popular.
🔎 Distance learning is not a new thing, and at some universities you can get Bachelor or Master degrees just by studying online. However, such degrees are not very valuable.
🔎 While higher education is still mostly on-campus learning, almost every university nowadays has their own e-learning platform for sharing materials, submitting coursework, etc.
🔎 There is something between on-campus education and distance education which is called blended learning. Students of blended courses do one part of their studies on campus and another part online.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#8 University Vocab: Entering & Leaving University
❗️ There are some words to know about starting and finishing your studies at university. What are they?
🔎 There is only one way to begin your studies officially, and that is to enrol after receiving an admission letter to confirm that you have been accepted.
🔎 There are three ways to leave the university. In the best case you complete your programme and graduate. However, some students find studying too hard or they have other things to do. They may stop studying without completing their programme and drop out. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were famous university dropouts. Finally, some few students may also get expelled for doing something bad.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️ There are some words to know about starting and finishing your studies at university. What are they?
🔎 There is only one way to begin your studies officially, and that is to enrol after receiving an admission letter to confirm that you have been accepted.
🔎 There are three ways to leave the university. In the best case you complete your programme and graduate. However, some students find studying too hard or they have other things to do. They may stop studying without completing their programme and drop out. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were famous university dropouts. Finally, some few students may also get expelled for doing something bad.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#9 University Vocab: Coursework
❗️ University isn’t like a primary school. We may have to do some reading as homework for the next seminar or lecture but what about written, graded homework?
🔎 In each semester you have some coursework to do. Coursework consists of assignments you have to write for each course (seminar, lecture, etc.) that you are taking. That could be essays, project reports, summaries, internship reports, or any other pieces of writing that you give (hand in or submit) to your professor or lecturer for grading.
🔎 What’s really important for coursework is the deadline of each assignment, sometimes also called “due date”. You will be given a date and by that date you have to finish writing and submit. If you’re late you may get punished, perhaps by a 5% penalty on your mark per day. Some universities are very strict with this.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️ University isn’t like a primary school. We may have to do some reading as homework for the next seminar or lecture but what about written, graded homework?
🔎 In each semester you have some coursework to do. Coursework consists of assignments you have to write for each course (seminar, lecture, etc.) that you are taking. That could be essays, project reports, summaries, internship reports, or any other pieces of writing that you give (hand in or submit) to your professor or lecturer for grading.
🔎 What’s really important for coursework is the deadline of each assignment, sometimes also called “due date”. You will be given a date and by that date you have to finish writing and submit. If you’re late you may get punished, perhaps by a 5% penalty on your mark per day. Some universities are very strict with this.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#10 University Vocab: Undergrad Years
❗️ Most universities in the world now offer 4-year Bachelor programmes. What’s the vocab?
🔎 There are basically two ways, one American and one British. The American one is more specific, four words, one for each year, while the British one is plain and suits any country’s education system.
🔎 In America, students in the first year of college or undergrad studies are called freshman, no matter if they are male or female. Students of the second year are called sophomore, in their third year they are called junior and in their final year senior. There are also super senior students – those who don’t graduate on time and stay for a fifth year.
🔎 In Britain and elsewhere first-year students are simply called first-year students, or in Britain itself sometimes freshers, in the second year we can call them second-year students, then third-year students and in the fourth year final-year students.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️ Most universities in the world now offer 4-year Bachelor programmes. What’s the vocab?
🔎 There are basically two ways, one American and one British. The American one is more specific, four words, one for each year, while the British one is plain and suits any country’s education system.
🔎 In America, students in the first year of college or undergrad studies are called freshman, no matter if they are male or female. Students of the second year are called sophomore, in their third year they are called junior and in their final year senior. There are also super senior students – those who don’t graduate on time and stay for a fifth year.
🔎 In Britain and elsewhere first-year students are simply called first-year students, or in Britain itself sometimes freshers, in the second year we can call them second-year students, then third-year students and in the fourth year final-year students.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#11 University Vocab: Rankings
❗️ The world loves Harvard and Oxford, no matter who makes these university rankings and how they are made. What’s there to be understood?
🔎 There are three big global university rankings: QS, Times Higher Education (THE) and ARWU (or “Shanghai”) Rankings. QS and THE are both published in Britain while the Shanghai Rankings are Chinese. QS is the most popular one but don’t forget that there’s no agreement on the ranks as they all use different criteria. So nobody can say that Oxford is definitely better than Cambridge or vice versa.
🔎 If you’re really interested in the quality of your future university you may want to check subject rankings. What matters more to your studies is the quality of your faculty and department, not the whole university. Besides, national rankings (not from the big three) can also give you some clearer ideas.
❗️Rankings can help us make decisions but we should be careful. Statistics and likelihoods are not guarantees.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️ The world loves Harvard and Oxford, no matter who makes these university rankings and how they are made. What’s there to be understood?
🔎 There are three big global university rankings: QS, Times Higher Education (THE) and ARWU (or “Shanghai”) Rankings. QS and THE are both published in Britain while the Shanghai Rankings are Chinese. QS is the most popular one but don’t forget that there’s no agreement on the ranks as they all use different criteria. So nobody can say that Oxford is definitely better than Cambridge or vice versa.
🔎 If you’re really interested in the quality of your future university you may want to check subject rankings. What matters more to your studies is the quality of your faculty and department, not the whole university. Besides, national rankings (not from the big three) can also give you some clearer ideas.
❗️Rankings can help us make decisions but we should be careful. Statistics and likelihoods are not guarantees.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#12 University Vocab: Science, What Science?
❓Academic subjects, also called disciplines, can be divided in two kinds. What are they?
🔎 On the one hand there are natural sciences, sometimes also just called science. These include mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. A scientist is always a person from the natural sciences.
🔎 On the other hand there are social sciences, also called humanities. They include disciplines like history, psychology, philosophy and sociology. People working in those disciplines are called scholars, not scientists.
❗️Natural sciences and humanities go hand in hand but natural sciences usually get more funding from governments and are more prestigious. To distinguish them from the humanities they are also called hard sciences or exact sciences, sometimes criticising the others as ‘soft’ or ‘non-exact’ sciences. Social sciences are usually stronger in countries that have academic freedom.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❓Academic subjects, also called disciplines, can be divided in two kinds. What are they?
🔎 On the one hand there are natural sciences, sometimes also just called science. These include mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. A scientist is always a person from the natural sciences.
🔎 On the other hand there are social sciences, also called humanities. They include disciplines like history, psychology, philosophy and sociology. People working in those disciplines are called scholars, not scientists.
❗️Natural sciences and humanities go hand in hand but natural sciences usually get more funding from governments and are more prestigious. To distinguish them from the humanities they are also called hard sciences or exact sciences, sometimes criticising the others as ‘soft’ or ‘non-exact’ sciences. Social sciences are usually stronger in countries that have academic freedom.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab