Text 5. Postgraduate courses

When you complete your first degree, you are a graduate. (In the US, students also use this word as a verb and say, they ‘graduated in history’ or ‘graduated in chemistry’, for example.) Some students then go on to do a second course or degree (postgraduate course/ postgraduate degree). These students are then postgraduates. There are usually three possible degrees:

MA (Master of Arts) or MSc (Master of Science), usually one year;

MPhil (Master of Philosophy), usually two years;

PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), at least three years.

When people study one subjects in great detail (often to find new information), we say they are conducting/doing/carrying out research; e.g.

I’m doing some research into/on the languages of different African tribes.

school vs. university. At school, you have teachers and lessons, at university, you have lecturers and lectures. When a lecturer gives/does a lecture, the students listen and take/make notes (= write down the important information), but do not usually say much, except to ask occasional questions.