Education in Great Britain, USA and Czech Republic

- they offer undergraduate courses of 4 years of study

- after successful completion they are awarded Bachelor’s degree

(Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science)

- some universities also award Master’s degrees in humanities and

science after 3 years of study, and Doctoral Degrees after 5 years of

study

- well known universities are: Harward

Yale University

Princeton University

- 25 % of all universities and colleges are private

- each university has different curriculum

- the students must choose major subjects and elective or minor

subjects

c) Czech Republic

Characteristic: - compulsory from 6 to 15

- most children attend state schools, but there are newly established private and church schools

- at state schools education is up to 18 free of charge, but they must pay textbooks

- children do not wear uniforms

- handicapped children are educated separately

- the school year starts on 1st September and finish 30th June, and is divided into two terms

- every term students get school report (end of January and June)

- education includes these stages: pre-school

primary

secondary

tertiary

Pre-school education: - provided by crèches13 for children up to 3 and by nursery schools for children from 3 to 6

- not many children attend crèches, but a lot of them attend kindergartens

Primary education: - they start at 6 and they stay there till 15

- they can then go to secondary school

- if parents want, their children can go to grammar school14 at 11 after passing

examination

Secondary education: - they can choose between: grammar school - prepare students for university study

special school – it is very focused

vocational school – training for practical jobs

- usually lasts for 4 years and it is finished with school leaving examination, which is

required by all universities and colleges

- at grammar school the examination is taken from Czech, foreign subject and 2 other

- at specialised school the examination includes five or more subjects

- the examination is in May (oral) and from Czech also written one month before

- each subject has about 25 to 30 questions

- after passing the examination they receive School-Leaving Certificate

Tertiary education: - includes Universities and Colleges

- it lasts from 4 to 6 years

- before they are taken to the school they must pass the entrance examination

- the examination consists from written test and interview.

- the well known universities: Charles University – established 1348, Prague

Masaryk University – Brno

Palcký University – Olomouc

Purkyně University – Ústí nad Labem

- undergraduate can study a variety of subjects (law, medicine, arts,…)

- students can enrol15 at three year courses for a Bachelor’s degree or four and five year

courses for Master’s degree, medicine usually lasts 6 years

- the study is finished with a state examination - every undergraduate16 has to write a thesis17 in order to receive a diploma in certain18

field of study

- the thesis is handed over19 at the graduation ceremony