Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 478
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 478 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 478
READING PASSAGE – 2
The University of Oxforad
The University of Oxford is a scholastic research university in Oxford, England. There is mark of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world’s second-oldest university in unceasing operation. It grew quickly in popularity from 1167 when Henry II barred English students from joining the University of Paris. After disagreements between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to Cambridge where they recognized what became the University of Cambridge. The two “ancient universities” are often jointly called “Oxbridge”. The history and effect of the University of Oxford has made it one of the most admired universities in the world.
The university is made up of 39 constituent colleges, and a range of academic departments, which are organised into four divisions. All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, each governing its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. It does not have a main campus, and its buildings and facilities are dispersed throughout the city centre.
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Undergraduate teaching at Oxford is organised around weekly tutorials at the colleges and halls, supported by classes, lectures, seminars, and laboratory work provided by university faculties and departments; some postgraduate teaching comprises tutorials organised by faculties and departments. It functions the world’s oldest university museum, as well as the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system nationwide.
In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2019, the university had a total income of £2.45 billion, of which £624.8 million was from research grants and contracts. The university is ranked among the best higher learning institutions by most international and major national league tables. Oxford has cultured a wide range of notable alumni, including 28 prime ministers of the United Kingdom and many heads of state and government around the world.
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As of November 2019, 72 Nobel Prize laureates, 3 Fields Medallists, and 6 Turing Award winners have studied, worked, or held visiting fellowships at the University of Oxford, while its alumni have won 160 Olympic medals. Oxford is the home of plentiful scholarships, including the Rhodes scholarship, one of the oldest international graduate scholarship programmes.
The University of Oxford has no acknowledged foundation date. Teaching at Oxford existed in some form as early as 1096, but it is uncertain when a university came into being. It raised rapidly from 1167 when English students returned from the University of Paris. The historian Gerald of Wales lectured to such scholars in 1188 and the first recognized foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland, arrived in 1190. The head of the university had the title of chancellor from at least 1201, and the masters were recognised as a universitas or corporation in 1231. The university was approved a royal charter in 1248 during the region of King Henry III.
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After arguments between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled to Cambridge, later forming the University of Cambridge. The students allied together on the basis of geographical origins, into two ‘nations’, representing the North (northerners or Boreales, who included the English people from north of the River Trent and the Scots) and the South (southerners or Australes, who included English people from south of the Trent, the Irish and the Welsh).
In later centuries, geographical origins sustained to affect many students’ affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. In addition, members of many religious orders, including Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites and Augustinians, settled in Oxford in the mid-13th century, gained influence and upheld houses or halls for students. At about the same time, private benefactors established colleges as self-contained scholarly communities.
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Among the earliest such creators were William of Durham, who in 1249 endowed University College, and John Balliol, father of a future King of Scots; Balliol College bears his name. Another originator, Walter de Merton, a Lord Chancellor of England and later Bishop of Rochester, planned a categorization of regulations for college life Merton College thereby turn out to be the model for such establishments at Oxford, as well as at the University of Cambridge. Thereafter, a growing number of students lived in colleges rather than in halls and religious houses.
In 1333-1334, an effort by some displeased Oxford scholars to start a new university at Stamford, Lincolnshire, was congested by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge pleading King Edward III. Afterward, until the 1820s, no new universities were allowable to be founded in England, even in London; thus, Oxford and Cambridge had a duopoly, which was rare in large western European countries.
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Questions 15-22
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
YES – If the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO – If the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN – If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
15. University of Oxford is the second oldest university in the English-speaking world.
16. Oxford university gained popularity when Henry II opposed English students from joining the University of Paris.
17. Oxbridge is the most popular university in the world right now.
18. The university of Oxford has 39 colleges in other parts of the World.
19. All the colleges under university are controlled by a single body.
20. Oxford runs the largest university press in the world.
21. Prime ministers from UK and around the world have studied at Oxford.
22. Oxford university alumni has won 160 Olympic gold medals.
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Questions 23-27
Write no more than THREE WORDS OR NUMBERS for each answer
23. It is believed that teaching started at Oxford in ……………….
24. Oxford started gaining popularity in ……………….
25. King Henry III declared the university a royal charter in ……………….
26. Members of many religious orders established at Cambridge in ……………….
27. No new university in England could be founded till the ……………….
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IELTS Academic Reading Test
ANSWERS
15. NO
16. YES
17. NOT GIVEN
18. NOT GIVEN
19. NO
20. YES
21. NO
22. NO
23. 1096
24. 1167
25. 1248
26. MID-13TH CENTURY
27. 1820s
IELTS Academic Reading Test