Which country has the best education system in the world?

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No.

And actually, English unis may be ranked higher than European ones, but I can assure you that the actual standard of teaching is higher at European universities.

Which goes against the views of a couple of a European professor I have spoke to, who attests the opinion that universities outside the UK and the US are generally poor.

Reply 41

danny111

Original post by WrigglyMammoth

Which goes against the views of a couple of a European professor I have spoke to, who attests the opinion that universities outside the UK and the US are generally poor.

Poor at what?

We are talking about undergraduate education. Not the research done. Research done I agree - the US is miles ahead.

Reply 42

Retrospect

Primary education in the US is miles better than in the UK.

Reply 43

WrigglyMammoth

Original post by danny111

Poor at what?

We are talking about undergraduate education. Not the research done. Research done I agree - the US is miles ahead.

He was talking about undergrad education in germany and france, and the fact that the biggest and most heralded uni there, Paris, does not compare to the top UK and US ones, and that, frankly, if an undergrad degree in Law/Econ. is not from Oxbridge, LSE or UCL, it is unlikely that you will be working on the top tier, or be regarded by ivy league US unis postgrad

Reply 44

TheFatController

The USSR arguably did in the 1950s and 1960s.

:fatcontroller:

Reply 45

lonelykatana

Original post by danny111

1. When did I ever mention Oxford?

2. I am personally not at Oxford.

I really don't understand your post given 1. and 2.

Just stating the uni rankings mean **** all.
that and my hatred for oxford :tongue:

Reply 46

danny111

Original post by lonelykatana

Just stating the uni rankings mean **** all.
that and my hatred for oxford :tongue:

This is true (i actually don't like them either).

But I was not talking about common rankings, I was referring to academic ones, that judge on criteria such as citations, and number of publications in the top journals. In my opinion these are pretty accurate. Only issue may be bias of the journals in taking people from lesser unis, even if the paper is equally good as that of some established prof at a top uni. but in the long run, if you do good research you will get to a top uni and get it published according to quality. so i think these rankings are acceptable.

Reply 47

ipulledhermione

Original post by Koobideh

All Scandinavian countries have the best education system. Most of them speak better English than the English themselves too.

This is so true. There is a Finish girl in my Eng Lit course and she is top of the class.

Reply 48

Locke54

Original post by Defined1-20

Isn't university or further education in general about advancing a person's knowledge and understanding to the fullest potential? I don't think the majority of people having a university education is a bad thing.

If you believe the left wing view of things. Others would argue that three years spent studying 'Film Studies' is a waste of what could be three productive years in the work force spent gaining experience and contributing to the economy.

Once everyone starts getting a degree, then the most intelligent have to go on to get Masters and throw tons of extracurriculas into their already packed schedule to get anywhere. Compared to in the past when you could get a degree and find a good job off the back of that.

The plethora of useless degrees from places that aren't much better than Higher Education Colleges is undermining the point of University degrees.

Reply 49

danny111

Original post by ajp100688

Your logic highlights exactly what is wrong with the higher education system. It should not be a signal (as you say the clever people have to do a master to show they are clever) but it should primarily be to make you more productive. The signal should not have priority as it does now.

Totally agree with you.

Reply 50

SiaSiaSia

Finnish is SUCH a hard language, it's closer to Hungarian than any of the Scandinavian ones.

Learning english is easier in europe, though because a lot of TV is english or american programmes with foreign subtitles. I can spend a whole day in Sweden watching american TV

Reply 51

Rzc

Original post by Mittalmar

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/sep/25/schoolsworldwide.schools

Finland?

60% of the population are graduates.

You need a masters to be a teacher.

Some kid in the article is reading Harry Potter after studying English for only three years.

+ their language is impossible to learn I've tried and failed in this respect.

Impressive...I have a Finnish friend and he tried to teach me but I failed so badly haha, all I know is moi and kyvaa? or something like that

Reply 52

RageVI

Original post by Bella Occhi

Not England, that's for sure. £9000 my arse.

In the US £9k is not unusual at all, the better unis far higher. And there unis are generally far better.

Reply 53

alexs2602

Original post by Koobideh

All Scandinavian countries have the best education system. Most of them speak better English than the English themselves too.

True to a degree. I do know a Danish guy who can speak English fluently pretty much but he doesnt represent the whole population obviously.

Reply 54

linkdapink

Sorry, only read like two responses.

There's no way of determining which has the best education... those that churn out graduates isn't really an ideal way of determining the "best education system". The top countries in TIMMS tests have been places like Japan and Finland, but what happens in tests may not be a true reflection.

Ermm... I don't think there is an "ideal solution", Britain has gone to loads of different countries and cherry picked what they think is the ideal parts of the education system... and not really with great results, because its not really tailored to educational needs in this country (different social background etc).

There's thousands and thousands of books and papers on this. Basically, you'll never know.

China definitely

USA

The USA............

Original post by Bella Occhi

Not England, that's for sure. £9000 my arse.

Not US, that's for sure. £31000 my arse.

Reply 59

(You)

Original post by danny111

It does. I feel no harm in saying that top 5 UK unis have better courses than top 20. And as you read above, I said that the disparity between the top UK unis and those outside top 10 is vast whereas it is not in the German speaking world (the French I hesitate to include, but I guess you can make a case just for their ecole superieurs in which case they are vastly better than uk unis - on average). and my point was that this someone said he was surprised how easy and how little to do there was at a top 5 uni in the UK, when he himself wasnt even at the top German for economics. it has nothing to do with opinion once you pick up on this and research the material taught.

Maybe you didn't I am sorry.

I am not talking about teaching quality. I am talking about what is taught. At the end of the day, if teaching is bad you always have independent study. And material is most certainly not subjective.