Education in the UK

The education system in the UK is one of the most comprehensive ever. Being the world's leading super power for a very long period of time, before the US took over, UK's education pattern is a superior one and is followed by many countries across the world including the Indian Subcontinents.

Different Stages

The different stages of education in the UK is categorized into primary education, secondary education, further education and higher education. Children are supposed to study their primary education and secondary education which is about 5 years to 16 years.

This system has 4 key stages. Stage one education is generally between 5-7 years, stage two between 7-11 years, stage three between 11-14 years and stage four between 14 to 16 years. Stage one and two are taken care by the primary school while three and four are taken care by secondary schools.

Each student is evaluated on the basis of their performance by the end of these stages. The most important evaluation is at the time, a student completes his secondary schooling. After this stage, at the age of 16, a student is allowed to choose further education or start his job.

After completion of GCSE's, students of UK have few options to choose from where students complete their A-levels. A student of UK planning to take up higher education in a college or university must complete further education before they proceed to their A levels, BTEC's, GNVQ's and other qualifications (of which many are called as Vocational courses).

With 100 universities offering a wide range of degree programs for UK and abroad students, the country offers great opportunities both for and after education. Most of the courses in the UK run as long as three years while these days the sandwich course that runs as long as four years are gaining in popularity. Professional degrees such as medicine, law and veterinary takes as much as five years.

Entry Requirements

Each level or stage of education has different entry requirements that is to be fulfilled by a student in order to be eligible. The first and foremost requirement, especially in the case of a foreign student is the English language. Undertaking TOEFL, IELTS and UCLES tests and passing out in any one of them would be good enough.

Entrance for the GSCE, that you take up, depends on the school that you choose as you generally have to register with these schools. The A-level entry requirement too depends upon the school that you choose as independent private schools have different norms. Vocational courses entry requirements are simply being strong in your English proficiency. Here again some schools might have special requirements.

The University entry requirement depends on the courses that you undertake. Most degree programs requires a pass in the A-levels with some universities requiring a certain grade for eligibility. An international student may enter a university without passing the A-level or attaining the UK system of education but should have certain level of credential points as required by the course or university.

The UCAS (University and Colleges Admission Services) looks after all the application services for universities and will detail on the eligibility criteria, date of openings, fee structures, duration and other details on each of the courses offered.

The education system in Scotland is different and does not necessarily have all the information given above.

"Upon the education of the people of this country, the fate of this country depends - Benjamin Disraeli". Taking up education in a glorious nation like the UK is as great as trying to visit the Moon for a picnic.