The search for knowledge is central to British life. In fact, four of the world’s top ten universities can be found here. Every year, huge amounts are invested in science and research in this country… so why is knowledge so important to Great Britain?
Oxford has been a place of learning for hundreds of years and more world leaders have been educated here than any other university. This is the Old Schools Quad, which is part of the famous Bodleian Library, at the heart of this historic establishment.
A quad or quadrangle is a courtyard with buildings on all sides. Oxford University is made up of thirty-eight different colleges. There are twenty thousand students studying here, from nearly a hundred and fifty countries.
Dr Sally Mapstone is Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Education.
Richard: Sally. Tell me about Oxford University.
Sally: Oxford University is one of the world's leading universities. It's highly international, it's very modern and it has a great sense of history.
Richard: And how old is it?
Sally: The university has been here for nine hundred years. Many of the colleges are almost as old as that too, though some of them were established in the twentieth century.
Richard: You've had a lot of famous names here over the years.
Sally: Yes, we've had a lot of famous people at Oxford, from prime ministers, such as Margaret Thatcher, Harold Wilson, David Cameron, US presidents, such as Bill Clinton, writers, such as Oscar Wilde, and even film stars, such as Hugh Grant.
Richard: So why is it, do you think, that the search for knowledge and education is so important to Great Britain?
Sally: Great Britain and universities like Oxford have always had a rich interest in critical enquiry. By that I mean the search for knowledge, the investigation of truth, the asking of questions. Whether it's to do with drama, to do with development, or even to do with disease, we're always asking the big questions to try and change things for the better.
There are universities all across the UK but they're not the only places where you can gain knowledge.
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Hello,
There is a known problem for our users in Iran (and China) who can't see the videos on LearnEnglish.
We are experimenting with a solution. Please take a look at one of our Word on the Street pages and click where it says 'Can't see video? Click here!' Please tell us if that works for you.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello
Adam i told u that all videos don`t have the part "can`t see video"
please add it to them.
Hello Maryam,
Yes, we know that. We are testing this technique on a few pages before we add it to all of our video pages. It will take time to add it to all our pages and we want to be sure it works for everyone first.
I know that it works for you because you told me on another page, but I want to check that it works for other people as well, for example mani_jd.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
thank u Adam, for everything.
i`m looking forward to watching them. thank u again and again.
Oxford is the best university!! Famous people studied there, like: Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins....
Hi Adam JK,
I suggest you one thing: If you can Put the "Can't see video? Click here" in every videos it would be great for the people in different countries around the world, including me and my friends.I suggested you because I really like your website. THANKS..//??
Hope you can help us,
Good luck.
Hi there, Bilal_J!
That's a great idea - and we're working on it! We're still trying to solve some technical problems, but eventually we hope to make the second video watching option available for as many of our videos as possible. In the mean time, enjoy the rest of the site!
Regards
Jeremy Bee
The LearnEnglish Team
Thanks for your keeping up and help for us. Thanks for your precious time that spent to help us. Great site.
I love Oxford, and one of my teachers once lived there. But I can't see the videos. What a pity!
shock present PM of UK has studied here.
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