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Graduate School

Graduate school

A graduate school or "grad school" (American English), or, in British English a postgraduate school, is a school that awards advanced degrees, with the general requirement that students must have earned an undergraduate (bachelors) degree. Many universities award graduate degrees; a graduate school is not necessarily a separate institution. Graduate schools are also a part of quaternary education, together with postdoctorate research, and a graduate school experience often involves a significant component of original research, including the writing and defense of a thesis or dissertation. Students who attend graduate schools are called "graduate students" or "grad students" in the US and Canada, and "postgraduate students" or "post-grads" in Britain and other Commonwealth countries. Degrees awarded by graduate schools include master's degrees, doctorate degrees (Ph.D.s), and other postgraduate qualifications such as a graduate certificates, as well as some professional degrees. The term "graduate school" does not usually refer to medical school (students are called "medical-" or "med-students") and only occasionally refers to law school or business school. Although graduate school programs are distinct experiences from undergraduate degree programs, graduate instruction (in Australia, the United States, and other countries) is often offered by some of the same senior faculty and departments as teach undergraduate courses. Unlike in undergraduate programs, though, it is rarer for graduate students to take coursework outside their specific field of study at the Master's level. At the Ph.D. level, though, it is quite common to take courses from a wider range of study, for which some fixed portion of coursework is typically required to be taken from outside one's department and college of the degree-seeking candidate, to broaden the research abilities of the student. Some institutions designate separate graduate versus undergraduate faculty and denote other divisions (often called School of whatever, e.g., diplomacy, etc.)

Canada

Admission

Admission to a masters program generally requires a bachelor's degree in a related field, with sufficiently high grades (usually ranging from B+ / 80% average and up, though this requirement may be significantly higher in some faculties), recommendations from professors, and, for some fields, demonstrated ability in at least one foreign language. Some schools require samples of the student's writing as well as a research proposal. At English-speaking universities, applicants from countries where English is not the primary language are required to submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Admission to a doctoral program typically requires a masters degree in a related field, sufficiently high grades, recommendations, samples of writing, and a research proposal. Requirements are often set higher than those for a masters program. In exceptional cases, a student holding an honours BA with sufficiently high grades and proven writing and research abilities may be admitted directly to a Ph.D. program without the requirement to first complete a masters. Graduate students must usually declare their research goal or submit a research proposal upon entering grad school; in the case of master's degrees, there will be some flexibility (that is, one is not held to one's research proposal, although major changes, for example from premodern to modern history, are discouraged). In the case of Ph.D.s, the research direction is usually known as it will typically follow the direction of the master's research. Master's degrees can typically be completed in one year but normally take at least two; they may not exceed five years. Doctoral degrees require a minimum of two years but frequently take much longer, not usually exceeding six years.

Funding

Graduate students may take out student loans, but instead they often work as teaching or research assistants. Students normally agree, as a condition of acceptance to a programme, not to devote more than twelve hours per week to work or outside interests. Funding is available to first-year masters students whose transcripts reflect exceptionally high grades; this funding is normally given in the second year. Funding for Ph.D. students comes from a variety of sources, and many universities waive tuition fees for doctoral candidates. Funding is available in the form of bursaries and other awards, both private and public.

Requirements for completion

Both master's and doctoral programs may be done by coursework or research or a combination of the two, depending on the subject and faculty. Most faculties require both, with the emphasis on research, and with coursework being directly related to the field of research. Masters candidates undertaking research are typically required to complete a thesis comprising some original research and ranging from seventy to two-hundred pages. Some fields may require candidates to study at least one foreign language if they have not already earned sufficient foreign-language credits. Some faculties require candidates to defend their thesis, but many do not. Those that do not often have a requirement of taking two additional courses, minimum, in lieu of preparing a thesis. Ph.D. candidates undertaking research must typically complete a thesis, or dissertation, consisting of original research representing a significant contribution to their field, and ranging from two-hundred to five-hundred pages. Most Ph.D. candidates will be required to sit comprehensive examinations—examinations testing general knowledge in their field of specialization—in their second or third year as a prerequisite to continuing their studies, and must defend their thesis as a final requirement. Some faculties require candidates to earn sufficient credits in a third or fourth foreign language; for example, most candidates in modern Japanese topics must demonstrate ability in English, Japanese, and Mandarin, while candidates in pre-modern Japanese topics must demonstrate ability in English, Japanese, Classical Chinese, and Classical Japanese. At English-speaking Canadian universities, both masters and Ph.D. theses may be presented in English or in the language of the subject (German for German literature, for example), but if this is the case an extensive abstract must be also presented in English. In exceptional circumstances, a thesis may be presented in French. French-speaking universities have varying sets of rules; some will accept students with little knowledge of French if they can communicate with their supervisors (usually in English).

United Kingdom

Admission

Admission to do a research degree in the UK typically requires the sponsorship of a professor. It is useful to have a master's degree, but certainly not essential. A good bachelor's degree, however, is required. Usually research students are admitted to do an M.Phil and can later convert to a Ph.D if they progress well. Admission to do a taught master's degree (based on coursework) depends upon having an undergraduate degree, generally in a related subject.

Funding

It is very difficult to obtain funding for postgraduate study in the UK. There are a few scholarships for master's courses, but these are rare and dependent on the course and class of undergraduate degree obtained. Most master's students are self-funded. Funding is available for some Ph.D. courses. There is more funding available to those in the sciences than in other disciplines. For overseas students, most major funding applications are due as early as twelve months or more before the intended graduate course will begin. This funding is also often highly competitive. The most widely available, and thus important, award for overseas students is the Overseas Research Student Award, which pays the difference in university fees between an overseas student and a British or EU resident. However, a student can only apply for the ORS for one university, often before he or she knows whether they have been accepted.

United States

Admission

Admission to graduate school usually requires a bachelor's degree. High grades in one's field of study are important, grades outside the field less so. Good GRE scores and, especially, good letters of recommendation from undergraduate instructors are essential. Within the sciences and some social sciences, previous research experience may be important; within most humanities disciplines, an example of academic writing normally suffices. Many universities require a personal statement, which may include indications of the intended area(s) of research; how detailed this statement is or whether it is possible to change one's focus of research depends strongly on the discipline and department being applied to. In some disciplines or universities, graduate applicants may find it best to have at least one recommendation from research work outside of the college where they earned their Bachelor's degree; however, as with previous research experience, this may not be very important in most humanities disciplines. The most selective schools set minimum GPAs and test scores below which they will not accept any applicants; this reduces the time spent reviewing applications. Some also require professors to act as sponsors. Finally, applicants from non-English speaking countries must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). At most institutions, decisions regarding admission are not made by the institution itself but the department for which the applicant will be studying.

Requirements for completion

Graduate students often declare their intended degree (Master's or Doctorate) in their applications. In some cases, master's programs allow successful students to continue toward the doctorate degree. Additionally, students who complete their coursework but not dissertation ("ABD," for "all but dissertation") often receive master's degrees and an additional master's called a Master of Philosophy, or MPhil. The Master's component of a doctorate program often requires one or two years, and some students, because doctoral programs are better-funded, apply for doctoral programs while only intending to attain a Master's degree. This is generally not accepted and, if a student's advisor learns of the student's plans, can result in early termination. Many graduate programs require students to pass one or several examinations in order to demonstrate their competence as scholars. Comprehensive examinations ("Comps") are often required in the first year of doctoral study, and are designed to test a student's background undergraduate-level knowledge. Students failing after two attempts are usually expelled from the program, often being awarded a master's degree instead of a Ph.D. Some students who fail to perform well are declared "terminal Masters" students and not allowed to progress on to the Ph.D. after finishing & defending their master's thesis. Comprehensive examinations of this type are more common in the sciences and some social sciences, and relatively unknown in most humanities disciplines. Most graduate students perform teaching duties. Early in the program, they often serve as graders and tutors; as they advance, they can be promoted to Lecturer status, receiving more responsibility and a larger stipend. Doctoral students generally spend roughly their first two to three years taking course work, and by their second year if not before, begin research. Many master's and all specialist students will perform research culminating in a paper, presentation, and defense of their research. This is called the master's thesis (or, for Educational Specialist students, the specialist paper). Many US master's degree programs, however, do not require a master's thesis, focusing instead primarily on course work. In the second and third years of study, doctoral programs often require students to pass more examinations. Programs often require a Qualifying Examination ("Quals") or General Examination ("Generals"), testing students' grasp of a broad sample of their discipline, and/or one or several Special Field Examinations ("Specials"), testing students in their narrower selected areas of specialty within the discipline. If these examinations are held orally, they may be known colloquially as "orals". For some social science and many humanities disciplines, where graduate students may or may not have studied the discipline at the undergraduate level, these exams will be the first set, and be based either on graduate coursework or specific preparatory reading (sometimes up to a year's work in reading). In all cases, comprehensive exams are normally both stressful and time consuming, and must be passed to be allowed to proceed on to the thesis. Passing such examinations allows the student to stay, begin doctoral research, and rise to the status of a doctoral candidate, while failing usually results in the student leaving the program or re-taking the test after some time has passed (usually a semester or a year). Some schools have an intermediate category, passing at the Master's level, which allows the student to leave with a Master's without having completed a Master's thesis. For the next several years the doctoral candidate primarily performs his or her research. Usually this lasts three to eight years, though a rare few finish more quickly and some take substantially longer. In total, the typical doctoral degree takes between 4 and 10 years from entering the program to completion, though this time varies depending upon the department, thesis topic, and many other factors. For example, astronomy degrees take five to six years on average, but observational astronomy degrees take six to seven due to limiting factors of weather, while theoretical astronomy degrees take five. Though there is substantial variation among universities, departments, and individuals, humanities and social science doctorates on average take somewhat longer to complete than natural science doctorates. These differences are due to the differing nature of research between the humanities and some social sciences and the natural sciences (solitary as opposed to lab or group based), and to the differing expectations of the discipline in coursework, languages and length of thesis. However, time required to complete a doctorate also varies according to the candidate's abilities and choice of research. Some students may also choose to remain in a program if they fail to win an academic position, particularly in disciplines with a tight job market; by remaining a student, they can retain access to libraries and university facilities, while also retaining an academic affiliation, which can be essential for conferences and job-searches. Traditionally, doctoral programs were only intended to last three to four years and, in some disciplines (primarily the natural sciences), with the economic support of a second-income, a helpful advisor, and a light teaching load, it is possible for the degree to be completed in that amount of time. However, increasingly many disciplines, including most humanities, set their requirements for coursework, languages and the expected extent of thesis research by the assumption that students will take five years minimum or six to seven years on average; competition for jobs within these fields also raises expectations on the length and quality of theses considerably. In some disciplines doctoral programs can average seven to ten years, with those taking less seen as not doing as full a job as they should have. Archaeology, which requires long periods of research, tends towards this. The increase in length of degree is a matter of great concern for both students and universities, though there is much disagreement on potential solutions to this problem. Foreign graduate students outnumber American-born students in some US departments, primarily in the natural sciences, and engineering.

Funding

Graduate students who are not independently wealthy live meagerly compared to their peer group, but how meagerly depends greatly on the nature of funding at their university. At some elite universities with large endowments, there may be a minimum stipend established for all Ph.D. students within their first five years, as well as a tuition waiver. This stipend may consist of a scholarship for one to two years, and then guaranteed TA or RA positions. At many elite universities, these stipends have been increasing, in response both to student pressure and especially to competition among the elite universities for graduate students. Because of this competition, increases tend to be concentrated on the beginning years of the program, not on the relatively poorly funded finishing students. At most universities, however, the level of available funding is much less and required work greater. Students who are able to attain an RA (research assistant) or TA (teaching assistant) position, at least, may acquire tuition-forgiveness and a stipend that pays for most expenses. Stipends do not usually correlate with local cost of living, so students in expensive locales such as Boston and Berkeley, even funded, almost invariably lose economic ground. RA positions are more coveted than TA positions because, while teaching is generally considered a distraction from one's work, RAs typically are paid to work on the dissertation they are required to complete anyway. RA positions are more typical of science disciplines; they are relatively uncommon in humanities disciplines, and where they exist, rarely allow the student to work on their own research. A rare few students can attain outside fellowships such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Physical Sciences Consortium (NPSC). The sciences are funded well enough that most students can attain either outside or institutional funding, but in the humanities, not all do. Some humanities students are forced to borrow money during their coursework, then take full-time jobs while completing their dissertations. Again, funding differs greatly by the wealth of the university; some universities give five years of full funding to all Ph.D. students, though often with a teaching requirement attached; other universities do not. However, because of the teaching requirements, which can be in the research years of the Ph.D., even the most funded of universities often do not have funding for humanities or social science students who need to do research elsewhere, whether in the United States or overseas. Foreign grads are typically funded the same way as domestic (US) grads, although some funding sources (such as many NSF fellowships) may only be awarded to domestic students. International students often have worse financial difficulties than domestic students. Reasons include high costs to visit their families back home, support of a family not allowed to work due to immigration laws, tuition that is ridiculous by world standards, and large fees: visa fees by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, surveillance fees (such as Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems, or SEVIS[http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/03/21/international.students.ap/index.html]) by Congress and Homeland Security. In rare cases, graduate students can lose funding and be de facto terminated from the program. Depending on the structure of the department, this can sometimes even happen at the whim of an advisor. This can be devastating, and there have been instances of suicide, or murder of professors or advisors by graduate students who have lost funding and are unable to complete their degrees. With the recognition of both the lack of funding and the uncertainty of the job market, many academics advise their undergraduate students not to pursue graduate education if they do not have adequate funding. However, even students with generous funding at the beginning of their degree may find themselves struggling to find funding to conduct research away from the university or to finish writing.

Graduate Employee Unions

At many universities some graduate students are employed by their university to teach classes or do research. While all graduate employees are graduate students many graduate students are not employees. MBA students, for example, usually pay tuition and don't have paid teaching or research positions. In many countries graduate employees have collectively organized labor unions in order to bargain a contract with their university. In Canada, for example, almost all graduate employees are members of a CUPE local. In the United States there are many graduate employee unions at public universities, the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions lists 25 recognized unions at public universities on its website. Private universities, however, are covered under the National Labor Relations Act rather than state labor laws and until 2001 there were no recognized unions at private universities. Many graduate students see themselves as akin to junior faculty, but with significantly lower pay. Many graduate students feel that teaching takes time that would better be spent on research, and many point out that there is a vicious circle in the academic labor economy. Institutions that rely on cheap graduate student labor have no need to create expensive professorships, so graduate students who have taught extensively in graduate school can find it immensely difficult to get a teaching job when they have obtained their degree. Many institutions depend heavily on graduate student teaching: [http://www.yaleunions.org/geso/reports/BlackboardBlues.pdf a 2003 report by the Yale graduate student union], for instance, claims that "70% of undergraduate teaching contact hours at Yale are performed by transient teachers: graduate teachers, adjunct instructors, and other teachers not on the tenure track." The United Auto Workers (under the slogan "Uniting Academic Workers") and the American Federation of Teachers are two of the international unions that often represent graduate employees. Private universities' administrations often oppose their graduate students when they try to form unions, arguing that students should be exempt from labor laws intended for "employees", while the internationals and most graduate students feel all workers have an inalienable right to unionize. This tactic is similar to that used by WAL-MART which considers its employees to be "associates" rather than "employees". In some cases unionization movements have met with enough student opposition to fail. At the schools where graduate employees are unionized, which positions are unionized vary. Sometimes only one set of employees will unionize (e.g. teaching assistants, residential directors); at other times, most or all will. Typically, fellowship recipients, usually not employed by their university, do not participate. When negotiations fail, graduate employee unions sometimes go on strike. While graduate student unions can use the same types of strikes that other unions do, they have also made use of teach-ins, work-ins, marches, rallies, and grade strikes. In a grade strike, graduate students refuse to grade exams and papers and, if the strike lasts until the end of the academic term, also refuse to turn in final grades. Another form of job action is known as "work-to-rule", in which graduate student instructors work exactly as many hours as they are paid for and no more. Typically, one 3-credit course is considered to take 10 hours per week of work, although many instructors spend more time than this on class meetings, class preparation, office hours, corresponding with students, and especially grading student work. Graduate employees at New York University are currently on strike, as the NYU administration has refused to re-negotiate a contract with GSOC.

Life after graduate school

Traditionally, successful doctorate candidates in the English-speaking world would proceed to tenure-track faculty positions upon graduation, perhaps after completing a post-doctoral position. Some of the requirements or recommendations for doctoral programs still reflect this tradition (for example, it is recommended that Ph.D. students gain at least some teaching experience—for example, by working as teaching assistants—during their studies). In recent years, however, merely possessing an advanced degree is no guarantee of getting an academic job. Universities are more reluctant to hire full-time faculty, relying increasingly on part-time teachers who earn less money, have no tenure or job security, and are not eligible for benefits. The term "Publish or perish" refers to the increasing need for faculty to engage in research and publish regularly in order to be considered for tenure-track positions, promotions, salary increases, and so on. As a result of these issues, many Ph.D.s enter industry—in some fields, more than 50 percent do. Others seek work in academically-related fields, such as Librarianship.

References

- William G. Bowen & Neil L. Rudenstine, In Pursuit of the PhD (Princeton UP, 1992; ISBN 0-691-04294-2). A comprehensive report on graduate education in the US from the 1960s to the 1990s, based on surveys of tens of thousands of graduate students.

External links

- [http://www.AcademicLadder.com Academic Ladder] - An informational site for graduate students and professors climbing the academic ladder.
- [http://www.everythingbio.com/gradschool/index.php EverythingBio] - Search for biology graduate schools, and find out information about different programs before you apply.
- [http://www.edusvcs.com/ FullyEmployedMBA] - Provides comprehensive content and articles on getting your masters degree in business.
- [http://www.petersons.com/ Peterson's Planner] - A very large educational resource website that can be used to find schools, secure funding, and practice for standardized tests.
- [http://www.phinished.org/ Phinished.org] - A discussion & support group for those who cannot seem to finish their theses or dissertations.
- [http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/ Science Careers] - Contains many articles about graduate school life and scientific training, career development, and the science job market.
- [http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/ The Philosophical Gourmet Report] - Information about graduate programs in philosophy. Category:Educational stages Category:School types ja:大学院生 th:บัณฑิตวิทยาลัย

American English

American English (AmE) is the dialect of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. Crystal (1997) estimates that approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States. American English is also sometimes called United States English or U.S. English.

History

English was inherited from British colonization. The first wave of English-speaking immigrants was settled in North America in the 17th century. In that century, there were also speakers in North America of the Dutch, French, German, myriad Native American, Spanish, Swedish, Scots, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Finnish languages.

Phonology

In many ways, compared to British English, American English is conservative in its phonology. The conservatism of American English is largely the result of the fact that it represents a mixture of various dialects from the British Isles. Dialect in North America is most distinctive on the East Coast of the continent; this is largely because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of British English at a time when those varieties were undergoing changes. The interior of the country was settled by people who were no longer closely connected to England, as they had no access to the ocean during a time when journeys to Britain were always by sea. As such the inland speech is much more homogeneous than the East Coast speech, and did not imitate the changes in speech from England. East Coast-influenced non-rhotic pronunciations may be found among blacks throughout the country.]]Most North American speech is rhotic, as English was in most places in the 17th century. Rhoticity was further supported by Hiberno-English, Scottish English, and West Country English. In most varieties of North American English, the sound corresponding to the letter "R" is a retroflex semivowel rather than a trill or a tap. The loss of syllable-final r in North America is confined mostly to the accents of eastern New England, New York City and surrounding areas, South Philadelphia, and the coastal portions of the South. Dropping of syllable-final r sometimes happens in natively rhotic dialects if r is located in unaccented syllables or words and the next syllable or word begins in a consonant. In England, lost 'r' was often changed into (schwa), giving rise to a new class of falling diphthongs. Furthermore, the 'er' sound of (stressed) fur or (unstressed) butter, which is represented in IPA as stressed or unstressed is realized in American English as a monophthongal r-colored vowel. This does not happen in the non-rhotic varieties of North American speech. Some other British English changes in which most North American dialects do not participate:
- The shift of to (the so-called "broad A") before alone or preceded by . This is the difference between the British Received Pronunciation and American pronunciation of bath and dance. In the United States, only linguistically conservative eastern-New-England speakers took up this innovation.
- The shift of intervocalic to glottal stop , as in for bottle. This change is not universal for British English (and in fact is not considered to be part of Received Pronunciation), but it does not occur in most North American dialects. Newfoundland English and the dialect of New Britain, Connecticut are notable exceptions. On the other hand, North American English has undergone some sound changes not found in Britain, at least not in standard varieties. Many of these are instances of phonemic differentiation and include
- The merger of and , making father and bother rhyme. This change is nearly universal in North American English, occurring almost everywhere except for parts of eastern New England, like the Boston accent.
- The replacement of the lot vowel with the strut vowel in what, was, of, from, everybody, nobody, somebody, anybody, because, and in some dialects want.
- The merger of and . This is the so-called cot-caught merger, where cot and caught are homophones. This change has occurred in eastern New England, in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas, and from the Great Plains westward.
- Vowel merger before intervocalic . Which (if any) vowels are affected varies between dialects.
- The merger of and after palatals in some words, so that cure, pure, mature and sure rhyme with fir in some speech registers for some speakers.
- Dropping of after alveolar consonants so that new, duke, Tuesday, suit, resume, lute are pronounced , , , , , .
- Æ-tensing in environments that vary widely from accent to accent. In some accents, particularly those from Philadelphia to New York City, and can even contrast sometimes, as in Yes, I can vs. tin can .
- Laxing of , and to , and before , causing pronunciations like , and for pair, peer and pure.
- The flapping of intervocalic and to alveolar tap before reduced vowels. The words ladder and latter are mostly or entirely homophonous, possibly distinguished only by the length of preceding vowel. For some speakers, the merger is incomplete and 't' before a reduced vowel is sometimes not tapped following or when it represents underlying 't'; thus greater and grader, and unbitten and unbidden are distinguished. Even among those words where and are flapped, words that would otherwise be homophonous are, for some speakers, distinguished if the flapping is immediately preceded by the diphthongs or ; these speakers tend to pronounce writer with and rider with . This is called Canadian raising; it is general in Canadian English, and occurs in some northerly versions of American English as well (often just applying to the diphthong , but not to ).
- Both intervocalic and may be realized as or , making winter and winner homophones. This does not occur when the second syllable is stressed, as in entail.
- The pin-pen merger, by which is raised to before nasal consonants, making pairs like pen/pin homophonous. This merger originated in Southern American English but is now widespread in the Midwest and West as well. Some mergers found in most varieties of both American and British English include:
- The horse-hoarse merger of the vowels and before 'r', making pairs like horse/hoarse, corps/core, for/four, morning/mourning etc. homophones.
- The wine-whine merger making pairs like wine/whine, wet/whet, Wales/whales, wear/where etc. homophones. Many older varieties of southern and western American English still keep these distinct, but the merger appears to be spreading.

Differences in British English and American English

Main article: American and British English differences American English has both spelling and grammatical differences from British English (or Commonwealth English), some of which were made as part of an attempt to rationalize the English spelling used by British English at the time. Unlike many 20th century language reforms (for example, Turkey's alphabet shift, Norway's spelling reform) the American spelling changes were not driven by government, but by textbook writers and dictionary makers. The first American dictionary was written by Noah Webster in 1828. At the time America was a relatively new country and Webster's particular contribution was to show that the region spoke a different dialect from Britain, and so he wrote a dictionary with many spellings differing from the standard. Many of these changes were initiated unilaterally by Webster. Webster also argued for many "simplifications" to the idiomatic spelling of the period. Somewhat ironically, many, although not all, of his simplifications fell into common usage alongside the original versions, resulting in a situation even more confused than before. Many words are shortened and differ from other versions of English. Spellings such as center are used instead of centre in other versions of English. Conversely, American English sometimes favors words that are morphologically more complex, whereas British English uses clipped forms, such as AmE transportation and BrE transport or where the British form is a back-formation, such as AmE burglarize and BrE burgle (from burglar).

English words that arose in the U.S.

A number of words that arose in the United States have become common, to varying degrees, in English as it is spoken internationally. Although its origin is disputed, the most famous word is probably OK, which is sometimes used in other languages as well. Other American introductions include "belittle," "gerrymander" (from Elbridge Gerry), "blizzard", "teenager", and many more.

English words obsolete outside the U.S.

A number of words that originated in the English of the British Isles are still in everyday use in North America, but are no longer used in most varieties of British English. The most conspicuous of these words are fall, the season; to quit, as in "to cease an activity" (as opposed to "to leave a location" as still used in most other Anglophone countries); and gotten as a past participle of get. Americans are more likely than Britons to name a stream whose breadth or volume is judged insufficient for it to be a river or a creek. The word diaper goes back at least to Shakespeare, and usage was maintained in the U.S. and Canada, but was replaced in the British Isles with nappy. Some of these words are still used in various dialects of the British Isles, but not in formal standard British English. Many of these older words have cognates in Lowland Scots. The subjunctive mood is livelier in North American English than it is in British English; it appears in some areas as a spoken usage, and is considered obligatory in more formal contexts in American English. British English has a strong tendency to replace subjunctives with auxiliary verb constructions.

Regional differences

Main article: American English regional differences Spoken American English is not homogeneous throughout the country, and various regional and ethnic variants exist. These differences affect both pronunciation and the lexicon, and can make one accent a little difficult for speakers of another accent to understand. General American is the name given to any American accent that is relatively free of noticeable regional influences. It enjoys high prestige among Americans, but is not a standard accent in the way that Received Pronunciation is in England.

References

External links

- [http://www.pbs.org/speak/ Do You Speak American]: PBS special
- [http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/ Dialect Survey] of the United States, by Bert Vaux et al., Harvard University. The answers to various questions about pronunciation, word use etc. can be seen in relationship to the regions where they are predominant.
- [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html Phonological Atlas of North America] at the University of Pennsylvania
- [http://students.csci.unt.edu/~kun Guide to Regional English Pronunciation] includes working versions of the Telsur Project maps from the Phonologial Atlas site
- [http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/ The American•British British•American Dictionary]
- [http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/ Speech Accent Archive]
- [http://www.world-english.org/ World English Organization]
- [http://www.esuus.org English Speaking Union of the United States]
- [http://canadianenglish1.narod.ru American Canadian British English Lexical Differences In One Table]
- [http://australianenglish1.narod.ru Australian American British English Lexical Differences In One Table And More]
- [http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words_list/british_american.htm British, American, Australian English - Lists and Online Exercises]
- [http://www.globalenglishsalon.com/ Listen to spoken American English (midwest

Undergraduate

In some educational systems, an undergraduate is a post-secondary student pursuing a Bachelor's degree. Students of higher degrees are known as postgraduates (or often simply graduates). In the United States, most undergraduate education takes place at four-year colleges or universities. Students in their first, second, third, and fourth years of study are often called, respectively, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors (although some institutions, such as many women's colleges, substitute "first-year" for "freshman" in an attempt to remain more gender-neutral). Some institutions (e.g. liberal-arts colleges) offer primarily or exclusively undergraduate education, while most universities offer graduate study as well. Successful completion of undergraduate work generally requires the completion of many courses of varying subject and difficulty, and a concentration or "major" that focuses on a particular academic discipline. In the United Kingdom, undergraduate refers to the first three or four years of study towards a Bachelor's degree. In many other, particularly continental European systems, something like an "undergraduate" degree in the American sense does not exist. Other than in the US, where students engage in general studies during the first years of tertiary education and only specialize in a "major" during the last years of college, European students enroll in a specific course of studies they wish to pursue right from the beginning, as they are expected to have received a sound general education already on the secondary level, in a school such as a gymnasium or lycée. At university, which they can enter at an age as early as 18 in many countries, they specialize in a subject field which they pursue in a curriculum of, in most cases, four or five years of studies. The fields available include those which are only taught as graduate degrees in the US, such as law, medicine or business administration. After completing the first degree, students can move on to doctoral studies. In many countries, the English distinction between a bachelor's and master's degree is only now being introduced by the Bologna process, meaning that the old first degree would roughly correspond to a master's degree in the US or the UK.

University

A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. A university provides both tertiary and quaternary education. University is derived from the Latin universitas, meaning corporation (since the first medieval European universities were simply groups of scholars). medieval European universities]

History

Because of the above definition, the oldest universities in the world were all European, as the awarding of academic degrees was not a custom of older institutions of learning in Asia and Africa. However, institutions of higher learning considerably older than the most ancient European universities existed in countries such as China, Egypt and India. The Academy, founded in 387 BC by the Greek philosopher Plato in the grove of Academos near Athens, taught its students philosophy, mathematics, and gymnastics, and is sometimes considered a forerunner of modern European universities. Other Greek cities with notable educational institutions include Kos (the home of Hippocrates), which had a medical school, and Rhodes, which had philosophical schools. Another famous classical university was the Museum and Library of Alexandria. About a thousand years after Plato, institutions bearing a resemblance to the modern university existed in Persia and the Islamic world, notably the Academy of Gundishapur and later also al-Azhar University in Cairo. In Asia, there were a number of institutions of higher learning that vaguely resembled universities in the Western sense of the word. In general, these are of considerable antiquity, predating western institutions of higher learning by centuries. In China, it's recorded that the education system had been established during the Yu period (2257 BC - 2208 BC) and the imperial central academy was named Shangyang (Shang means higher and Yang means school) at the time. The higher learning institution - imperial central academy, was called Piyong in Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC - 249 BC), Taixue in Han Dynasty (202 - 220) and Guozijian in Sui dynasty. For example, Nanjing University traces its source back to the imperial central academy at Nanking founded in 258 by the Kingdom of Wu. The early Chinese state depended upon literate, educated officials for operation of the empire, and an imperial examination was established in the Sui Dynasty (581 -618) for evaluating and selecting officials from the general populace. The ancient cities of Nalanda, Vikramasila, Kanchipura and Takshasila were greatly reputed centres of learning in the east, with students from all over Asia. In particular, Nalanda was a famous center of Buddhist scholarship, and as such it attracted a vast number of Buddhist scholars from China, central Asia and Southeast Asia. In the Carolingian period, a famous academy was created by Charlemagne for the purpose of educating the children of aristocrats to help train the professionals needed to run an empire. It was a foreshadow of the rise of the University in the 11th century. The first European medieval university was the University of Magnaura in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), founded in 849 by the emperor Bardas, followed by the University of Salerno (9th century)University of Bologna (1088) in Bologna, Italy, and the University of Paris (c. 1100) in Paris, France. Many of the medieval universities in Western Europe were born under the aegis of the Catholic Church, usually as cathedral schools or by papal bull as Studia Generali. In the early medieval period, most new universities were founded from pre-existing schools, usually when these schools were deemed to have become primarly sites of higher education. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries. In Europe, young men proceeded to the university when they had completed the study of the trivium–the preparatory arts of grammar, rhetoric, and logic–and the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. (See degrees of Oxford University for the history of how the trivium and quadrivium developed in relation to degrees, especially in anglophone universities). Universities are generally established by statute or charter. In the United Kingdom, for instance, a university is instituted by Act of Parliament or Royal Charter; in either case generally with the approval of Privy Council, and only such recognized bodies can award degrees of any kind.

Universities around the world

The funding and organisation of Universities is very different in different countries around the world. In some countries Universities are predominantly funded by the state, while in others funding may come from donors or from fees which students attending the University must pay. In some countries the vast majority of students attend University in their local town, while in other countries Universities attract students from all over the world, and may provide University accommodation for their students.

Universities and student life in different countries

- British universities
- Dutch universities
- French universities
- Irish universities
- Italian universities
- Spanish universities
- US universities
- Egyptian universities

Selective admissions

Unlike community colleges, enrollment at a university is generally not available to all. However, admission systems vary widely around the world, as discussed in the article college admissions.

Colloquial usage

Colloquially, the term university is used around the world for a phase in one's life: "when I was at university…"; in the United States, college is often used: "when I was in college…". See college, §3, for further discussion. In the United Kingdom and Australia "University" is often contracted to simply "Uni". The usual practice in the United States today is to call an institution made up of several faculties and granting a range of higher degrees a "university" while a smaller institution only granting bachelor's or associate's degrees is called a "college". (See liberal arts colleges, community college). Nevertheless, a few of America's oldest and most prestigious universities, such as Boston College, Dartmouth College and the College of William and Mary, have retained the term "college" in their names for historical reasons though they offer a wide range of higher degrees.

Related terms

: academia - academic rank - academy - admission - alumnus - aula - [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brain_farm Brain farm ]-Bologna process - business schools - Grandes écoles - campus - college - college and university rankings - dean - degree - diploma - discipline - [http://wiktionary.org/wiki/Dissertation dissertation] - faculty - fraternities and sororities - graduate student - graduation - lecturer - medieval university - medieval university (Asia) - mega university - perpetual student - professor - provost - rector - research - scholar - senioritis - student - tenure - tuition - undergraduate - universal access - university administration

References

- Walter Ruegg (ed), A History of the University in Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (3 vols) ISBN 0521361079 (vol 3 reviewed by Laurence Brockliss in the Times Literary Supplement, no 5332, 10 June 2005, pages 3-4). Category:Educational stages ko:대학교 ms:Universiti ja:大学 simple:University th:มหาวิทยาลัย

Quaternary education

Quaternary education or postgraduate education is the fourth-stage educational level, and follows the completion of an undergraduate degree at a college or university. Graduate school is an example of quaternary education; some consider masters-level degrees as part of tertiary education; some consider postdoctoral positions to be quaternary education while others consider them to be jobs. In Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and most countries of continental Europe, this term is normally not used. Postgraduate study is considered part of tertiary education.

Dissertation

:This article is about the thesis in dialectics and academia. A thesis (literally: 'position' from the Greek θέσις) is an intellectual proposition.
Dialectics
In dialectics, the combination of a thesis with an antithesis produces a synthesis.
Academia
In academia, a thesis or dissertation is a document that presents the author's research and findings and is submitted in support of candidature for a degree or professional qualification. A thesis statement is the statement that begins a formal essay or argument. At Canadian universities, writings presented in fulfillment of undergraduate coursework requirements are normally called papers, term papers or essays. A long paper presented for completion of an honours degree is sometimes called a major paper, or, more rarely, an undergraduate thesis or honours thesis. Major papers presented as the final project for a masters degree are normally called theses; and major papers presenting the student's research towards a doctoral degree are called dissertations. In Francophone universities, the procedure is roughly the same, however, the term applied to a study associated with masters work is referred to as a "mémoire," and one associated with doctoral work is referred to as a "thèse." Either work can be awarded a "mention d'honneur" (excellence) as a result of the decision by the examination committee, although these are rare. At UK universities, the term thesis is usually associated with a Ph.D. (doctoral) or M.Phil. degree, while dissertation is the more common term for the research project required for an M.A. or other postgraduate degree. The equivalent for undergraduate degrees is usually referred to as a research project. In many US doctoral programs, the term dissertation can refer to the major part of the student's total time spent (along with 2-3 years of classes), and may take years of full-time work to complete. At some universities, dissertation is the term for the required submission for the doctorate and thesis refers only to the master's degree requirement. At many others, the word thesis is used for both.
Thesis defence
A thesis defence ("defending one's thesis") is a type of final examination for a Ph.D. candidate, and sometimes for a masters candidate. Certain undergraduate schools, whose students are largely expected to matriculate into graduate programs, also require students to defend theses. A thesis defence differs from a typical examination in several respects. The biggest difference is that the candidate often knows more about the topic than the examiners ("the committee," or the "jury"), having researched the topic extensively, typically over a number of years; some candidates may have devoted the better part of a decade to the work being examined. The purpose of the thesis defense is to test the candidate's knowledge of his or her subject area and thinking in related areas, and to test the candidate's knowledge of and ability to explain his or her dissertation. The examining committee normally consists of professors from the university, including the candidate's primary supervisor (without whose presence the defense cannot proceed) and members of his or her advisory committee, as well as professors from other departments or faculties and, sometimes, an external examiner (someone not otherwise connected to the university). Each committee member will have been given a completed copy of the dissertation prior to the defense, and will come prepared to ask questions about the thesis itself and the subject matter. The atmosphere is formal; the candidate typically gives a short presentation on his or her thesis, usually lasting no more than thirty minutes, after which the examiners are free to ask questions, usually starting with the primary supervisor and then proceeding by seating order. Thesis defenses are usually open to the public (they may be attended by friends or family of the candidate, members of the university (especially other students in the candidate's department) and members of the community); audience members are often permitted to ask questions when all the examiners have finished. Questions are typically about the content of the dissertation and the claims made therein. Examiners may need clarification on a point or points, or may ask the candidate to explain his or her reasoning or research further. Questions are often friendly, but may also challenge the candidate's views, methods, or conclusions. Part of the evaluation is based on how well the candidate can defend his or her work. At the end of the defence, the candidate and other persons who are not members of the jury are asked to leave the room. The committee then deliberates and reaches a unanimous decision (sometimes called a "verdict"), usually in the form of a number from one to five (this varies from school to school). Potential decisions include:
- Accepted. : The thesis is accepted as presented.
- The thesis must be revised. : Revisions (i.e. correction of numerous grammatical or spelling errors; clarification of concepts or methodology, addition of sections) are required. One or more members of the jury and/or the thesis supervisor will make the decision on the acceptability of revisions and provide written confirmation that they have been satisfactorily completed.
- Extensive revision required. : The thesis must be revised extensively and undergo the evaluation and defence process again from the beginning with the same examiners. Problems may include theoretical or methodological issues. A candidate who is not recommended for the degree after the second defence must normally withdraw from the programme.
- Unacceptable : The thesis is unacceptable and the candidate must withdraw from the program. :This verdict is given only when the thesis requires major revisions and when the thesis defence makes it clear that the candidate is incapable of making such major revisions. The candidate is immediately informed of the results. In practice, the latter two verdicts are extremely unusual, since the thesis supervisor (and the other members of the jury) will normally have reviewed the thesis before the thesis defence.
External links

- [http://www.ndltd.org The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations]]
References

- International Standard ISO 7144: Documentation — Presentation of theses and similar documents
See also

- Graduate student
- Comprehensive examination
- Category:Rhetoric Category:Academia Category:Scientific documents ja:論文

Commonwealth

:Alternative meanings: the Commonwealth of Nations or Commonwealth of Independent States

Definition and linguistics

The original phrase "common wealth" or "the common weal" is a calque translation of the Latin term res publica ('public matters'), from which the word republic comes, which was itself used as a synonym for the greek politeia as well as for the republican (i.e. non-monarchical) Roman constitution (in legal theory still in force during the empire, see Principate). The English noun Commonwealth dates originally from the fifteenth century and in different contexts indicates: # a political unit founded in law by agreement of the people for the common good; # a federated union of constituent states; # a republic; # a Co-operative Commonwealth is a society based on cooperative and socialist principles.

International or Multinational

Commonwealth of Nations

When capitalised, "Commonwealth" refers to the Commonwealth of Nations - formerly the "British Commonwealth" - a loose confederation of nations formerly members of the British Empire (with one exception: Mozambique). The Commonwealth's membership includes both republics and monarchies and the (appointed, not hereditary) head of the Commonwealth of Nations is Queen Elizabeth II. She also reigns as monarch directly in a number of states, known as Commonwealth Realms, notably the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica and others.

Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a loose alliance or confederation consisting of 12 of the 15 former Soviet Republics. Its creation signaled the dissolution of the Soviet Union, its purpose being to "allow a civilized divorce" between the Soviet Republics. The CIS has developed as forum by which the member-states can co-operate, and even integrate, in areas of economics, defense and foreign policy.

National

Great Britain

The Commonwealth of England was the official name of the political unit (de facto military rule in the name of parliamentary supremacy) that replaced the kingdoms of Scotland and England (after the English Civil War) under the rule of Oliver Cromwell and his successors from 1649 to 1660. It formed the first republic in the English-speaking world, though this quickly devolved into a pseudo-monarchy.

Australia

The term also served when the six Australian colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act created a federal system, in which power is divided between the federal, or national, government and the States - the evolved status of the colonies. The Constitution stipulated that Australia was a constitutional monarchy, where the Head of State, the British (or, since 1973, Australian) monarch, is represented at federal and state level by a Governor-General and Governor respectively. The Parliament of Australia was derived from the British, Canadian and American systems to form a uniquely Australian system. It is largely based on the Westminster System, with a similar structure - House of Representatives, Senate - to the US Congress. In an Australian context, the term "Commonwealth" (capitalised) thus refers to the federal government.

Dominica

The official title of Dominica is Commonwealth of Dominica. Various other states have also used the title "commonwealth" since that time.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Commonwealth of Poland

Commonwealth is still an alternative translation of the official name of the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita). Wincenty Kadłubek (Vincent Kadlubo, 1160-1223) used for the first time the original Latin term res publica in the context of Poland in his "Chronicles of the Kings and Princes of Poland". The name was used officially for the federal country formed by Poland and Lithuania 1569-1795. It is also often referred as "Nobles' Commonwealth" (1505-1795, i.e. before the union). In contemporary political doctrine of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, "our state is a Republic (Commonwealth) under presidency of the King". The commonwealth introduced a doctrine of religious tolerance (see Warsaw Confederation), had its own parliament Sejm (although elections were restricted to the gentry or szlachta) and elected kings, who were bound to certain contracts Pacta conventa from the beginning of the reign. The foundation stones of the Commonwealth (also called the Golden Freedoms) used to be
- free election of the king
- Pacta conventa, a binding pledge agreed to by the King on his election
- rokosz, the right of rebellion against kings who did not rule in accordance with their pledge
- liberum veto (a later development), the right for a single representative to veto the entire proceedings of the Sejm
- confederatio (confederation), a military organisation of the citizens for the attainment of common political aims. It is worth to note that "A commonwealth of good counsaile" was the title of the 1607 English translation of the work of Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki "De optimo senatore" that presented to English readers many of the ideas present in the political system of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Other states that use the name Commonwealth

- The small Caribbean republic of Dominica has used the official style Commonwealth of Dominica since 1978.
- The Bahamas, a Commonwealth Realm, adopted the official style The Commonwealth of the Bahamas upon independence in 1973.

Subnational

United States

Four states in the United States officially designate themselves "commonwealths": Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. See Commonwealth or State? "Commonwealth" is also used in the U.S. to describe the political relationship between the United States and the overseas unincorporated territories of Puerto Rico and of the Northern Marianas (see: commonwealth (U.S. insular area)).
Fictional
In the Andromeda TV series, the Systems Commonwealth is a galactic or inter-planetary government. In Red Faction and Red Faction II there is a government called "The Commonwealth".
External links

- [http://www.gov.au/sites/fed.html Commonwealth of Australia]
- [http://www.thecommonwealth.org/ Commonwealth of Nations Secretariat]
- [http://www.rcsint.org/ Royal Commonwealth Society]
- [http://www.state.pa.us/ Commonwealth of Pennsylvania]
- [http://www.virginia.gov/cmsportal/ Commonwealth of Virginia]
- [http://www.ky.gov Commonwealth of Kentucky]
- [http://www.mass.gov Commonwealth of Massachusetts] Category:Forms of government

Ph.D

Doctor of Philosophy

Medical school

A medical school, or faculty of medicine, is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, which is involved in the education of future medical practitioners (medical doctors). The entry criteria, structure, teaching methodology and nature of medical programs offered at medical schools vary considerably around the world.

Examples

Australia

Various models of medical education exist in Australia. Undergraduate-entry program typically last 5-6 years, and permit entry from secondary school matriculation. Graduate medical programs typically last 4-4.5 years, and require the entrant to have attained a previous bachelor degree qualification at a certain level of achievement, in addition to aptitude tests and interviews. In early years, theoretical domains of study predominate, with increasing clinical focus during the program. However, early clinical exposure—in which students commence clinical skills from very early in the course, concurrently with theoretical study—is a component of many degrees, most notably the graduate medical programs. Depending on the program undertaken, students graduate as Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery (MB BS), or simply a Bachelor of Medicine (BMed), in addition to other degrees attained during study.

United Kingdom

See main article: Medical school (United Kingdom)

United States & Canada

In the United States and Canada, a medical school is most often a four year institution with the purpose of educating doctors in the fields of allopathic (U.S./Canada) or osteopathic medicine (U.S.). Medical students begin study after receiving a bachelor's degree in another field of study. Most commonly, the bachelor's degree is in one of the biological sciences, but not always; in 2003, nearly 40% of medical school matriculants had received bachelor's degrees in fields other than biology or specialized health sciences [http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2003/mcatgpabymaj1.htm]. All medical school applicants must, however, complete undergraduate courses in biology, chemistry and physics; some medical schools have additional requirements. Not all medical schools in Canada necessarily require a bachelor's degree for entry. For example, McGill University's medical school accepts applicants after a two-year CEGEP diploma, which is the equivalent of other provinces' 12th grade plus one year of university studies after 12th grade. Admission offers are made by individual medical schools, generally on the basis of a personal statement, undergraduate record, scores on the Medical College Admission Test [http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/ (MCAT)], and interviews. Francophone medical schools in Quebec do not usually require the MCAT. Medical students are referred to as MS1, MS2, MS3, and MS4, according to their year of study in a standard four-year curriculum. These years are divided generally into preclinical study in the MS1 and MS2 years and clinical study in the MS3 and MS4 years. Following satisfactory completion of medical school, most graduates are awarded either a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.). Many medical schools also offer joint degree programs in which some medical students may simultaneously enroll in master's or doctoral-level programs in related fields. In Canada, medical schools that educate in the field of allopathic medicine are faculties or schools within universities. Like their U.S. counterparts, these medical schools offer a four year full-time program of study leading to the M.D. degree. However, in terms of program length, the medical school at McMaster University in Canada is distinct; its program runs for three consecutive years: "The program is operated on an eleven months-a-year basis and students qualify for the degree Doctor of Medicine at the end of the third academic year.".: [http://65.39.131.180/ContentPage.aspx?name=MD%20Program%20Home] For training in osteopathic medicine in Canada, there is the Canadian College of Osteopathy [http://www.osteopathiecollege.com/], not affiliated with any university. The D.O. degree program offered by the College is a five year program of part-time study and generally requires a bachelor's degree for entry. The College has campuses in Montreal (as Le Collège d'Études Ostéopathiques), Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. At the College's website at [http://www.osteopathiecollege.com/program_overview.htm], it is mentioned that the College's program is in Traditional Osteopathy and the following explanation is given: "In contrast to the current American model of Osteopathy, which has a strong medical component, Traditional Osteopathy is essentially European in origin and primarily has a manual basis."

The Netherlands & Belgium

In the Netherlands and Belgium, medical students receive respectively 6 and 7 years of university education prior to their graduation. In the Netherlands students receive four years of the preclinical training, followed by two years of clinical training in hospitals of their own choice. After 6 years students graduate as basisarts (comparable with Doctor of Medicine), which in accordance with the Bologna process is comparable with a master's degree qualification. All medical students are permit entry from the highest level of secondary school: VWO, the entrant is not required to have a previous bachelor's degrees qualification. The Belgian medical education is much more based on theoretical knowledge, whereas in the Netherlands medical education is focused more on skill than theoretical knowledge. In Belgium the first three years of education lead up to a bachelor's degree, followed by a four-year master's program.

New Zealand

New Zealand medical programs are typically undergraduate-entry programs of six years duration. The final year (Year 6) of medical school is known as the "Trainee Intern" year where a student is known as a "Trainee Intern" (commonly, "TI"). Trainee interns receive a stipend grant from the New Zealand government. Currently this is $NZ 26,756/year (about $US 18,500). Trainee interns have responsibility under supervision for the care of about one third the patient workload of a junior doctor, however, all prescriptions and most other orders (e.g. radiology requests and charting of IV fluids) made by trainee interns must be countersigned by a registered doctor. New Zealand medical schools currently award the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB).

People's Republic of China

Medical education is normally a five-year Bachelor degree, plus one year internship, and work experience before the final degree is awarded. Clinical specialization usually involves a two or three-year Master degree. Acceptance is based on the national entrance examination used for all universities.

Sweden

The medical eduation in Sweden is a five and half year course after which one must practice for 18 months before a license can be granted. University starts straight after Gymnasium and one needs 100% in GPA to get in.

Hong Kong

The medical education in Hong Kong follows that of the British system. There are currently two Faculties of Medicine in Hong Kong, namely, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong. Together, these 2 universities produce 250 medical graduates a year (after a recent cut down). Medical education takes five years with an additional internship year. At the end of five years, the dual degree Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (abbreviated as MBBS at HKU and MBChB at CUHK) will be awarded. Graduates are then required to fulfill a year of internship training before registrating with the [http://www.mchk.org.hk/ Medical Council of Hong Kong]. The University of Hong Kong has adopted the new "Problem Based Learning" (PBL) curriculum in 1997. The Chinese University has started a radical reform of its curriculum in 2000 and the transition has been completed in 2005 when the last cohort of students in the old curriculum has graduated. Both Universities' curriculum emphasise early clinical contact, evidence based medicine and life-long learning ability. Students in the Chinese University of Hong Kong can embark on an optional intercalated degree in Medical Science - after two years of study. While those in the University of Hong Kong can undertake a Intercalated Master of Research degree, which also takes an additional year of study.

Germany

In Germany, admission to medical schools is organized by a central organization. The most important criterion for admission is a person's final grade on the Abitur (secondary school diploma). After 2 years of preclinical studies and 4 years of clinical studies, the students graduate as general practitioners. Writing a thesis to obtain a MD degree is optional.

India

In India, admission to medical colleges is organized both by the central government CBSE as well as the state governments entrance tests, after the students complete their 10+2 education. The undergraduate program consists of 9 semesters , followed by one-year internship (rotating housemanship). The degree granted is Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.). Further postgraduate qualifications may be obtained as Diploma or Degree (MD/MS) under the aegis of the Medical Council of India [http://www.mciindia.org/]. PG diploma may also be obtained through the National Board of Examinations [http://natboard.nic.in/]. See Medical College (India) for more details

Ireland

There are five medical schools in the Republic of Ireland. They are at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (also situated in Dublin), University College Cork and National University of Ireland, Galway. Training lasts five or six years, with the last two years in the teaching hospitals. Medical education is regulated by the Irish Medical Council, the statutory body which is also responsible for maintaining a register of medical practitioners. After graduation with the degrees of MB BCh BAO (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of the Arts of Obstetrics), a doctor is required to spend one year as an intern under supervision before full registration is permitted.

Iceland

In Iceland, admission to medical school is awarded by passing a pre-organized test, controlled by the University of Iceland, which anyone who has a gymnasium degree can part take in. Only 48 people are granted entry each year and is the order of the people determined by who got the 48 highest scores on the test. Medical school in Iceland takes 6 years to complete and they must also complete 1 year of residency. Students are granted with an MD degree at graduation.

Medical students

A person accepted into a medical school and undertaking an educational program in medicine towards becoming a medical doctor is referred to as a medical student. Medical students are generally considered to be at the earliest stage of the medical career pathway. Medical students typically undertake both theoretical studies and practical experience during their course, with the earlier years devoted more to the former, and the later years more focused on the latter.

External links

- [http://www.academicmedicine.org/ Academic Medicine] Journal devoted to the field of medical education.
- [http://www.amsa.org/ American Medical Student Association]
- [http://www.aamc.org/ Association of American Medical Colleges]
- [http://uwpeds.seattlechildrens.org/ Pediatric Residency Training] at the University of Washington School of Medicine Category:Medical education Category:School types ja:医学部

Business school

A business school is a university-level institution that teaches topics such as accounting, finance, marketing, organizational behavior, strategy and quantitative methods. They include schools of "business", "business administration", and "management". Most business schools are faculties, colleges or departments within in a university, and teach predominantly business courses. The first such 'collegiate business school' is Wharton, founded in 1881. In North America a business school is often understood to be university graduate school which offers an Masters of Business Administration. The Tuck School of Business is the first graduate school of business, founded in 1900. In Europe, although the Leipzig Graduate School of Management [http://www.hhl.de HHL] was founded in 1898, it initially taught at the undergraduate level as well. In Europe and Asia, some universities teach business only. The oldest business school, the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Paris [http://www.escp-eap.net/about/heritage.html ESCP], was founded in 1819.

External links

- [http://www.mbaprograms.org Business schools directory] Category:School types

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the <

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