Further education is officially described as the“post-secondary stage of education， comprising all vocational(职业的) and non-vocational provision made for young people who have left school， or for adults”. Further education thus embraces the vast range of university， technical， commercial， and art education and the wide field of adult education. It is this sector of education， which is concerned with education beyond the normal school-leaving ages of 16 or 18， that has experienced the most astonishing growth in the number of students. In the 19th century the dominance(统治地位) of Oxford and Cambridge was challenged by the rise of the civic(城市的) universities， such as London， Manchester， and Birmingham. Following the lead of the 18th century German universities and responding to a public demand for increased opportunity for higher education， Britain’s new civic universities quickly acquired recognition—not only in technological fields but also in the fine and liberal arts. Many new post-school technical colleges were founded in the early 20th century. The Fisher Act of 1918 empowered the local authorities to levy(征收) a rate (tax) to finance such colleges. The universities， on the other hand， received funds from the central government through the University Grants Committee， established in 1911 and recognized in 1920， after World War I. A new type of technical college was established in the 1960s—the polytechnic， which provides mainly technological courses of university level as well as courses of a general kind in the arts and sciences. Polytechnics are chartered to award degrees validated(使有效) by a Council for National Academic Awards. Thus， the third level in the United Kingdom is made up of colleges of further education， technical colleges， polytechnics， and universities. The colleges offer full-time and part-time courses beyond compulsory-school level. Polytechnics and universities are mainly responsible for degrees and research. The innovative Open University， with its flexible admission policy and study arrangements， opened in 1971. It uses various media to provide highly accessible and flexible higher education for working adults and other part-time students. It serves as an organizational model and provides course-materials for similar institutions in other countries. Changes in British education in the second half of the 20th century have， without changing the basic values in the system， extended education by population， level， and content. New areas for expansion include immigrant cultural groups and multicultural content， the accommodation of special needs， and the development of tools and content in the expanding fields of microelectronics. 小题1:The first paragraph is written to explain of further education.
|