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).

Russian education system

Education in Russia is provided predominantly by the state and is regulated by the federal Ministry of Education. Regional authorities regulate education within their jurisdictions within the prevailing framework of federal laws. In 2004 state spending for education amounted to 3.6% of GDP, or 13% of consolidated state budget.Private institutions account for 1% of pre-school enrollment, 0.5% of elementary school enrollment and 17% of university-level students.

Before 1990 the course of school training in Soviet Union was 10-years, but at the end of 1990 the 11-year course has been officially entered. Education in state-owned secondary schools is free; first tertiary (university level) education is free with reservations: a substantial share of students is enrolled for full pay. Male and female students have nearly equal shares in all stages of education,

except tertiary education where women lead with 57%.

The literacy rate in Russia, according to the 2002 census, is 99.4% (99.7% men, 99.2% women).

16.0% of population over 15 years of age (17.6 million) have tertiary (undergradute level or higher) education; 47.7% have completed secondary education (10 or 11 years); 26.5% have completed middle school (8 or 9 years) and 8.1% have elementary education. Highest rates of tertiary education, 24.7% are recorded among women aged 35–39 years (compared to 19.5% for men of the same age bracket).

Oxford University

The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University, or simply Oxford), located in the City of Oxford, Oxfordshire, Great Britain, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. It is also regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions and best university in the UK according to all recent League tables of British universities.The name is sometimes abbreviated as Oxon. in post-nominals (from the Latin Oxoniensis), although Oxf is sometimes used in official publications. The University has 38 independent colleges and six permanent private halls.

The university traces its roots back to at least 1167, although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, and there is evidence of teaching there as far back as the 10th century. After a dispute between students and townsfolk broke out in 1209, some of the academics at Oxford fled north-east to the town of Cambridge, where the University of Cambridge was founded. The two universities (collectively known as "Oxbridge") have since had a long history of competition with each other.

The University of Oxford is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the Coimbra Group (a network of leading European universities), the League of European Research Universities, International Alliance of Research Universities and is also a core member of the Europaeum. Academically, Oxford is consistently ranked in the world's top 10 universities.For more than a century, it has served as the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, which brings highly accomplished students from a number of countries to study at Oxford as postgraduates.

Macau Education system

Most of the schools in Macau are private or subsidized schools. There are only a few government or public schools, in which Portuguese is used as a medium of instruction or taken as a compulsory subject in Macau. A basic ten-year compulsory, free education, is offered to those students who have been enrolled in the schools which have met certain requirements stipulated by the government.

Moreover, the majority of the schools in Macau are so-called grammar schools, which offer language learning, mathematics, science subjects, social studies, etc. to the students. There are only a few vocational schools in Macau, offering technical subjects such as car repairing, electronics, electrical engineering, etc.

As prescribed by the Basic Law of Macau Chapter VI Article 121, the Government of Macau shall, on its own, formulate policies on education, including policies regarding the educational system and its administration, the language of instruction, the allocation of funds, the examination system, the recognition of educational qualifications and the system of academic awards so as to promote educational development. The government shall also in accordance with law, gradually institute a compulsory education system. Community organisations and individuals may, in accordance with law, run educational undertakings of various kinds.

Ireland education

Education in Northern Ireland differs slightly from systems used elsewhere in the United Kingdom, though it is more similar to that used in England and Wales than it is to Scotland. A child's age on 1 July determines the point of entry into the relevant stage of education unlike England and Wales where it is the 1 September. Northern Ireland's results at GCSE and A-Level are consistently top in the UK. At A-Level, one third of students in Northern achieved A grades in 2007, compared with England and Wales.

Hong Kong Education

Education in Hong Kong has a similar system to that of the United Kingdom, in particular the English education system of Hong Kong was modernised by the British in 1861. The system can be described as extremely competitive by global standards.

Harvard University

Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It is also the first and oldest corporation in North America. Administratively, Harvard comprises ten primary academic units.

Initially called "New College" or "the college at New Towne", the institution was renamed Harvard College on March 13, 1639. It was named after a young clergyman named John Harvard, who bequeathed the College his library of four hundred books and £779 (which was half of his estate). The earliest known official reference to Harvard as a "university" occurs in the new Massachusetts Constitution of 1780.

During his 40-year tenure as Harvard president (1869–1909), Charles William Eliot radically transformed Harvard into the pattern of the modern research university. Eliot's reforms included elective courses, small classes, and entrance examinations. The Harvard model influenced American education nationally, at both college and secondary levels.

Harvard is consistently ranked at or near the top of international college and university rankings,and has the second-largest financial endowment of any non-profit organization (behind the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), standing at $28.8 billion as of 2008. Harvard and Yale have been rivals in academics, rowing, and football for most of their history, competing annually in The Game and the Harvard-Yale Regatta.

UK exams

Examination boards in the United Kingdom (sometimes called awarding bodies or examining groups) are the examination boards responsible for setting and awarding secondary education level qualifications, such as GCSEs, Standard Grades, A Levels, Highers and vocational qualifications, to students in the United Kingdom.

Broadly speaking, the UK has (and has always had) two separate school systems: one for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and one for Scotland. As a result, two separate sets of exam boards have developed.

England Education System

Education in England is overseen by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. At a local level the local authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools.

Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16 (inclusive). Students may then continue their secondary studies for a further two years (sixth form), leading most typically to an A level qualification, although other qualifications and courses exist, including GNVQ and the International Baccalaureate. The leaving age for compulsory education was raised to 18 by the Education and Skills Act 2008. The change will take effect in 2013 for 17 year olds and 2015 for 18 year olds.State-provided schools are free of charge to students, and there is also a tradition of independent schooling, but parents may choose to educate their children by any suitable means.

Higher education typically begins with a 3-year Bachelor's Degree. Postgraduate degrees include Master's Degrees, either taught or by research, and Doctor of Philosophy, a research degree that usually takes at least 3 years. Universities require a Royal Charter in order to issue degrees, and all but one are financed by the state with a low level of fees for students.

Dubai Education System

Education in Dubai encompasses the many levels of primary, secondary and collegiate education catering to various ethnic and linguistic groups. The school system in Dubai does not differ from the school system in the United Arab Emirates. There are many public and private schools serving Emiratis and expatriates. The medium of instruction in public schools is Arabic with emphasis on English as a second language, While most of the private schools use English as their medium of instruction. The Ministry of Education of the United Arab Emirates is responsible for school's accreditation. The Dubai Education Council was established in July 2005 to develop the education sector in Dubai.Annual fees for all schools vary greatly from free for public schools to a few thousand or tens of thousands dirhams per year for private schools.

China Education

The People's Republic of China has a nationwide system of public education, which includes primary schools, middle schools (lower and upper), and universities. Nine years of education is technically compulsory for all Chinese students.

Education in China is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. The education system provides free primary education for six years (some provinces may have 5 years for primary school but 4 years for middle school) , starting at age six or seven, followed by six years of secondary education for ages 12 to 18. At this level, there are three years of middle school and three years of high school. The Ministry of Education reported a 99 percent attendance rate for primary school and an 80 percent rate for both primary and middle schools. Since free higher education was abolished in 1985, applicants to colleges and universities competed for scholarships based on academic ability. Private schools have been allowed since the early 1980s. The population has had on average only 6.2 years of schooling, but in 1986 the goal of nine years of compulsory education by 2000 was established.

The United Nations Development Programme reported that in 2003 China had 116,390 kindergartens with 613,000 teachers and 20 million students. At that time, there were 425,846 primary schools with 5.7 million teachers and 116.8 million students. General secondary education had 79,490 institutions, 4.5 million teachers, and 85.8 million students. There also were 3,065 specialized secondary schools with 199,000 teachers and 5 million students. Among these specialized institutions were 6,843 agricultural and vocational schools with 289,000 teachers and 5.2 million students and 1,551 special schools with 30,000 teachers and 365,000 students.

China has already pulled off one of the most remarkable expansions of education in modern times, increasing the number of undergraduates and people who hold doctoral degrees fivefold in 10 years.In 2003 China supported 1,552 institutions of higher learning (colleges and universities) and their 725,000 professors and 11 million students (see List of universities in the People's Republic of China). While there has been intense competition for admission to China’s colleges and universities among college entrants, Beijing and Tsinghua universities and more than 100 other National Key Universities that have been the most sought after.

In one generation, China has rapidly increased the proportion of its college-age population in higher education, to roughly 20 percent in 2005 from 1.4 percent in 1978. , China is producing 450,000 new undergraduates a year in engineering alone, along with 50,000 engineering graduates with masters' degrees and 8,000 Ph.D's.

The total literacy rate in China was 90.8% (male 95.1%; female 86.5%), based on 2002 estimates.

British English

British English, or UK English (BrE, BE, en-GB, is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere.There is confusion whether the term refers to English as spoken in the British Isles or to English as spoken in Great Britain, though in the case of Ireland, there are further distinctions peculiar to Hiberno-English.

There are slight regional variations in formal written English in the United Kingdom (for example, although the words wee and little are interchangeable in some contexts, one is more likely to see wee written by someone from northern Britain or from Northern Ireland than by someone from Southern England or Wales). Nevertheless, there is a meaningful degree of uniformity in written English within the United Kingdom, and this could be described as "British English". The forms of spoken English, however, vary considerably more than in most other areas of the world where English is spoken[citation needed] and a uniform concept of "British English" is therefore more difficult to apply to the spoken language. According to Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English (p. 45), "[f]or many people...especially in England [the phrase British English] is tautologous," and it shares "all the ambiguities and tensions in the word British, and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity".

American English

American English (variously abbreviated AmE, AE, AmEng, USEng, en-US, also known as United States English or U.S. English, is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States.

English is the most common language in the United States. Though the U.S. federal government has no official language, English is considered the de facto language of the United States due to its widespread use. English has been given official status by 30 of the 50 state governments.

The use of English in the United States was inherited from British colonization. The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America in the 17th century. During that time, there were also speakers in North America of Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Scots, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Finnish, Russian (Alaska) and numerous Native American languages.

American Education System

Education in the United States is mainly provided by the public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: federal, state, and local. School attendance is mandatory and nearly universal at the primary and secondary levels (known inside the United States as the elementary and high school levels). At these levels, school curricula, funding, teaching, and other policies are set through locally elected school boards with jurisdiction over school districts. School districts are usually separate from other local jurisdictions, with independent officials and budgets. Educational standards and standardized testing decisions are usually made by state governments.

The ages for compulsory education vary by state, beginning at ages five to eight and ending at the ages of fourteen to eighteen.A growing number of states are now requiring school attendance until the age of 18.

Compulsory education requirements can generally be satisfied by attending public schools, state-certified private schools, or an approved home school program. In most public and private schools, education is divided into three levels: elementary school, junior high school (often called middle school), and high school. In almost all schools at these levels, children are divided by age groups into grades, ranging from kindergarten (followed by first grade) for the youngest children in elementary school, up to twelfth grade, which is the final year of high school. The exact age range of students in these grade levels varies slightly from area to area.

Post-secondary education, better known as "college" in the United States, is generally governed separately from the elementary and high school system, and is described in a separate section below.

In the year 2000, there were 76.6 million students enrolled in schools from kindergarten through graduate schools. Of these, 72 percent aged 12 to 17 were judged academically "on track" for their age (enrolled in school at or above grade level). Of those enrolled in compulsory education, 5.2 million (10.4 percent) were attending private schools. Among the country's adult population, over 85 percent have completed high school and 27 percent have received a bachelor's degree or higher. The average salary for college or university graduates is greater than $51,000, exceeding the national average of those without a high school diploma by more than $23,000, according to a 2005 study by the U.S. Census Bureau.While the United States presently leads the world with over 5,000 Montessori schools, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has expressed ambitions to replace much of their school system with the Montessori method's pedagogy. As part of a trial run towards achieving this objective, the PRC Minister of Education called for 1,000 teachers to receive certification from the Association Montessori Internationale in 2007. The United States Department of Education has no formal plans to compete against China on similar initiatives at this time.

The country has a reading literacy rate at 98% of the population over age 15, while ranking below average in science and mathematics understanding compared to other developed countries.[6] In 2008, there was a 77% graduation rate from high school, below most developed countries.

The poor performance has pushed public and private efforts such as the No Child Left Behind Act. In addition, the ratio of college-educated adults entering the workforce to general population (33%) is slightly below the mean of other developed countries (35%)[8] and rate of participation of the labor force in continuing education is high.[9] A 2000s study by Jon Miller of Michigan State University concluded that "A slightly higher proportion of American adults qualify as scientifically literate than European or Japanese adults".