UK education system

Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for education in England, the Scottish Government is responsible for education in Scotland, the Welsh Assembly Government is responsible for education in Wales and the Northern Ireland Executive is responsible for education in Northern Ireland. In each country, education, though not school attendance, is mandatory and attendance at primary and secondary is nearly universal, with most pupils attending state schools. However, there are major differences between the school systems in terms of the curriculum, examinations and final qualifications, as well as differences at University level in terms of the nature of some degrees and the issue of tuition fees.

For details of education in each country,

Wales education system

Education in Wales differs in certain respects from the systems used elsewhere in the United Kingdom. A significant number of students all over Wales are educated either wholly or largely through the medium of Welsh; lessons in the language are compulsory for all until the age of 16. Welsh medium education is available to all age groups through nurseries, schools, colleges and universities and in adult education. There are also plans to increase the number of Welsh medium schools.

Currently, demand has passed supply for education through the medium of Welsh especially in Cardiff and the surrounding South Wales Valleys. Some schools in South Wales are now having to turn Welsh students away as there are no spaces in the schools compared to the English schools where in some cases pupil levels are only reaching 50% capacity. In Cardiff, there are plans to close two English Schools and open two large Welsh schools. In Newport, there are now plans for the city to have its first Welsh medium secondary school, and there are also plans for Swansea and Llanelli to have more Welsh schools. This is in line with Welsh Assembly policy of having a totally bilingual Wales.

UAE edcation system

Provision of quality education in the United Arab Emirates began shortly after the establishment of the federation with the inception of the first university in Al Ayn, Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates University. Since then, the country has progressed with efforts of ensuring high literacy rates, modern programs and women’s share in education. The UAE currently devotes approximately 25 percent of total federal government spending to education. Public education is free for male and female citizen children through the university level. Beginning in the academic year 2006–7, expatriate students may, for a fee, attend government schools. The UAE has one of the lowest pupil-to-teacher ratios (15:1) in the world. Education is compulsory through the ninth grade, although, according to the U.S. Department of State, this requirement is not enforced. Citizen children are required to attend gender-segregated schools through the sixth grade, the last grade of primary education. Primary school enrollment for males in 2006 stood at 85% and 82% of females. 97% of entrants reached the 5th grade.[1] Secondary school enrollment figures remained lower at 62% for males although higher for females at 66%.[2] In 2004–5 approximately 9.9 percent of students in grades one through five and 8.3 percent of students in grades six through nine did not complete their education; this rate rose to 9.3 percent in grades 10–12. According to the CIA World Factbook, total literacy under 15 years in 2003 reached 77.9% Between the ages of 15-24, males reached 98% literacy and women 96%.

In 2005, the United Nations Programme on Governance in the Arab Region rated the UAE a .79 on its Education Index. The Programme defines the Index as, “One of the three indices on which the human development index is build. It is based on the adult literacy rate and the combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools. Regionally, the countries scoring higher included the Occupied Palestinian Territories at .89; Libya, Lebanon and Kuwait at .87; Jordan and Bahrain at .86; and Saudi Arabia at .80. All of the countries ranked in the index reported a significantly higher number of phones per population than internet users, with the UAE claiming one hundred twenty eight versus twenty-nine. Internationally, the country with the highest rating was Australia with a .99 while Burkinafaso stood lowest at .27.

Despite not being among the highest rated on the Education Index, the UAE has made regionally significant achievements in ensuring women’s access to education. UNDP’s Millennium Development Goal No. 3, to “Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women” has reached its targeted levels of female participation in primary education and continues to increase.

Switzerland education system

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. In total, there are 12 Universities in Switzerland; ten of them are managed by the cantons, while two federal institutes of technology, ETHZ in Zürich and EPFL in Lausanne, are under the responsibility of the federal state. In addition, there are various Universities of Applied Sciences which do not require a matura degree to study. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists. More recently Vladimir Prelog, Heinrich Rohrer, Richard Ernst, Edmond Fischer, Rolf Zinkernagel and Kurt Wüthrich received nobel prizes in the sciences. In total, 113 Nobel Prize winners stand in relation to Switzerland and the Nobel Peace Price was awarded 9 times to organizations residing in Switzerland.[4] Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which belongs to the ETHZ.

South Korea education system

Education in South Korea is important for success and competition is consequently very heated and fierce.A centralized administration oversees the process for the education of children from kindergarten to the third and final year of high school. Mathematics, science, Korean, social studies, and English are generally considered to be the most important subjects.[citation needed] Sometimes physical education is not considered important as it is not regarded to be education and therefore many schools lack high-quality gymnasiums and varsity athletics.[citation needed] South Korea was the first country in the world to provide high-speed internet access from every primary, junior, and high school.

The school year is divided into two semesters. The first begins in the beginning of March and ends in mid-July; the second begins in late August and ends in mid-February. They have summer vacation from mid-July to late August, and winter vacation from late-December to early February, and also take a short vacation from mid-February to end of that month. The schedules are not rigidly standardized, however, and can vary from school to school.

Scotland Edcation system

Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from other parts of the United Kingdom.

Traditionally, the Scottish system has emphasised breadth across a range of subjects, while the English, Welsh and Northern Irish systems have emphasised greater depth of education over a smaller range of subjects at secondary school level.

Following this, Scottish universities generally have courses a year longer (typically 4 years) than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK, though it is often possible for students to take more advanced specialised exams and join the courses at the second year. One unique aspect is that the ancient universities of Scotland issue a Master of Arts as the first degree in humanities.

The majority of schools are non-denominational, but as a result of the Education Act 1918, separate Roman Catholic state schools were also established. Catholic schools are fully funded by the Scottish Government and administered by the Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate. There are specific legal provisions to ensure the promotion of a Catholic ethos in such schools: applicants for positions in the areas of Religious Education, Guidance or Senior Management must be approved by the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, which also appoints a chaplain to each of its schools. There is also one Jewish state primary school.

Qualifications at the secondary school and post-secondary (further education) level are provided by the Scottish Qualifications Authority, which is the national awarding and accrediting body in Scotland, and delivered through various schools, colleges and other centres. Political responsibility for education at all levels is vested in the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Education and Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Departments

Russian Language

Russian (русский язык, transliteration: russkiy yazyk, Russian pronunciation: [ˈruskʲɪj jɪˈzɨk]) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of three living members of the East Slavic languages, the others being Belarusian and Ukrainian (and possibly Rusyn, normally considered a dialect of Ukrainian).

Written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century onwards. Today Russian is widely used outside Russia. Over a quarter of the world's scientific literature is published in Russian.Russian is also a necessary accessory of world communications systems (broadcasts, air- and space communication, etc). Because of the status of the Soviet Union as a superpower, Russian had great political importance in the 20th century. Hence, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language. Another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels, which is somewhat similar to that of English. Stress, which is unpredictable, is not normally indicated orthographically though, according to the Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an optional acute accent (знак ударения) may, and sometimes should, be used to mark stress (such as to distinguish between otherwise identical words or to indicate the proper pronunciation of uncommon words or names).