Educational System in Russia. I think that education is a key to a good future. Russia has always shown a great concern for education. The right to education is stated in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. It is ensured by compulsory secondary schools, vocational schools, and higher education establishments. It is also ensured by the development of extramural and evening courses. Russian children begin to go to school when they are 7. Education is compulsory up to the 9th form inclusive. If a pupil of secondary school wishes to go on Higher education, he or she must stay at school for two more years. Every school has a number of general subjects such as Russian, Literature, Mathematics, History, a foreign language and others. Some private schools, Lyceums and gymnasiums offer special programs giving a profound knowledge in some fields of study. After finishing the 9th form one can go on to a vocational school which offers a programme of training in a technical field, or a profession. After finishing the 11th form of a secondary school, a lyceum or a gymnasium one can go on in higher education. All applicants must take competitive examinations. Higher education establishments, which are institutes or universities, offer 5-year programme of academic subjects for undergraduates in a variety of fields, as well as a graduate course. If one finishes a graduate course and writes a thesis, he or she receives a candidate's or a doctoral degree. The system of secondary and higher education in Russia is going through a transitional period. The main objectives of the reform are: to decentralize the higher education system, to develop a new financial mechanism, to give more academic freedoms to faculties and students. All secondary schools, institutes and universities until recently have been funded by the state. Now there is a number of private fee-paying schools and some universities have fee-paying departments. Today Russian education is one of the best in the world. But I think that if our educational system wouldn't be changed in the nearest future we will lose this place. Higher Education in the U.K. I think that education is a key to a good future. And universities are the main step on the education-way. There are more than 60 universities in the U.K. The leading universities are Cambridge, Oxford and London. English universities differ from each other in traditions, general organization, internal government, etc. British universities are comparatively small; there are about 7 thousands of students. And most universities have fewer than 3000 of students. London and Oxford universities are international, because people from many parts of the world come to study at one of their colleges. A number of well-known scientists and writers, such as Newton, Darwin, Byron and others were educated in Cambridge. A university consists of a number of departments: art, law, music, economy, education, medicine, engineering, etc. After three years of study a student may proceed to a Bachelor's degree, and later to the degrees of Master and Doctor. Besides universities there are about 300 of technical colleges, providing part-time and full-time education. The organization system of Oxford and Cambridge differs from other universities and colleges. The teachers are usually called Dons. Teaching is carried out by tutorial system. Each student goes to his tutor's room once a week to read and discuss an essay which the student has prepared. Some students get scholarship but the number of these students is comparatively small. There are many societies and clubs at Cambridge and Oxford. The most celebrating at Cambridge is the Debating Society at which students discuss political and other questions with famous politicians and writers. It should be mentioned that not many children from the working-class families are able to receive the higher education as the fees are very high. And there are special fees taken for books, for laboratory works, exams and so on. Recycling is the urgent problem of Novosibirsk. That the problem of pollution and ecology has become the most important one for mankind is evident to all. The more civilization is developing, the greater the ecological problems are becoming. The problem of recycling attracts the great attention of society. It's very actually today. Only in Novosibirsk we have more than 1.5 million cubic meters of trash in a year. Today we only have one glass-recycling plant. And we haven't any trash-recycling plants in Novosibirsk. It isn't good of course. Streets are dirty and there are many waste places in our city. Unrecycled trash is burnt by people. It makes smog that is very bad for ecology. As the government says a trash-recycling plant is going to be built in Novosibirsk in the nearest two years. It will be invested by the private company. Well, I think it's strange that local powers aren't able to do this for our city and people have to do it themselves. But at the same time it's good. We see that Novosibirsk is a city with very bad ecology. And we shouldn't think that our government will improve this situation for us. Everybody must do everything he can to protect our environment. All society as a whole must fight against pollution. We must get more knowledge about environment. We must learn how to make new products from old things. There are some charitable funds where you can invest your money if you want to do something. Novosibirsk State Technical University Novosibirsk State technical University, founded in 1953, gained its status of a technical University in 1992. It is one of the top ten technical universities in Russia, and a large scientific and educational centre of Siberia. NSTU trains specialists and offers additional training in 35 areas and 10 faculties: Automation and Computer Engineering; Applied Mathematics and Informatics; Automated Electromechanical Systems; Automated Machine Building; Aircraft; Business; Power Engineering; and Humanities. The period of study is 4-6 years depending on the qualification as follows: Bachelor of Science 4 years; Engineer 5 years; Master of Science 6 years. ............