Comparing the University System in USA and England

Based on the rankings accumulated by the Times Higher Education on the world universities, the universities from England and US dominate as the first two hundred universities in the list are either located in England or the United States. The universities within the two nations have various similarities and differences among them as shall be identified in this essay. Among the similarities that the two nations universities enjoy include; both countries enjoy a rich culture of higher education with a lot of quality (Rothblatt, 2006). The universities in England as well as those in the US have got perfect research facilities within them. The facilities allow for effective learning hence their best performance. The culture within the two nations is one that endorses intellectualism and academic freedom among the students. Generally, the two nations provide an environment that is friendly to learning that enables the students to do well in their studies (Archer, Hutchings, & Ross, 2005).

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Nevertheless, there are several differences between the universities in England and those that are based in the United States. Some of the differences are as discussed below; in England, the students who are admitted to the universities must have attained the age of sixteen or more, sixteen year old persons are allowed to select their areas of study at the universities whereas the universities within the United States only admits those students who have attained the age of eighteen years (Archer, Hutchings, & Ross, 2005). The price of education at the universities within England are relatively fair as compared to the relatively high prices for studying certain coursed within the United States universities. In England, the students are expected to focus on their fields of study only while in American universities the students not only focus on the major disciplines but also on other subjects that are related to their major subjects (Rothblatt, 2006).

The undergraduate courses in England universities last for three years but the same courses last for four years while in the United States Universities (Rothblatt, 2006). In England, the learning responsibility is solely left to the student as opposed to the universities in America where the learning responsibility is shared between the students and their faculty. In England universities, the students are rarely assigned with homework. Furthermore, their final examinations are worth eighty percent or more of their final grades. The situation is different in the United States where the homework assigned to students during the process of learning dominated their final grading (Archer, Hutchings, & Ross, 2005). The final examinations at universities within the United States contribute thirty percent of the final grade that a student attains.

The grading system in England universities is out of one hundred but is always very rare to come across grades more than seventy five percent within the universities (Archer, Hutchings, & Ross, 2005). The United States universities are as well graded out of one hundred except that grades above ninety percent are common among students. At England universities, the social life is valued as much as the education whilst the universities in the US value education more than the social life. In England, in order for someone to become a professional, a master is often needed in any field of employment although a bachelors degree often allows a student to attain a well paying job in the US (Rothblatt, 2006).

References

Archer, L., Hutchings, M., & Ross, A. (2005). Higher education and social class: Issues of exclusion and inclusion. Routledge.

Rothblatt, S. (2006). The modern university and its discontents: The fate of Newman's legacies in Britain and America. Cambridge University Press.