Higher-level education in Britain is like totei seido in Japan, that is, a one student and one teacher educational system. In many cases, teaching is not organized for students, but the teachers do their own research, and their students work with them. Other people do not know what students are doing or what each teacher is doing. In the Linguistics Department, one teacher takes up to eight students and each student is counted as two hours of working hours a week. MA programs here last one year.
Students have to have some teaching experience to get into the latter program.
They are required to take three classes, and they are allowed to audit two more classes. Thus, if they attend five classes, they have to spend 10 hours in class. Many students start with five classes, and they give up one or two, when they get busy with writing papers, they do not show up for the classes they are auditing. In the United States, even at the doctoral level, education is more class and committee oriented. Even PhD students have to take many classes, including basic research classes.