Quality education is a dream of many American . We are still far from achieving excellent education for our entire population. But while that doesn’t happen, one way is to study abroad and come back with this experience to improve the quality of schools here. But what is the best study destination? In this text we will show you which are the countries with the best education in the world so you can choose which one suits you best!
How is the quality of education measured?
Education is a global concern and, therefore, there are several institutions that propose to measure the quality of education in the world. Some methods, such as the US News. Value the public’s perception of education in the countries, others privilege quantitative data and, for this reason, are seen as more reliable.
When the quantitative aspects of education are evaluated, it is customary to separate compulsory basic education, aimed at children and adolescents, from higher education, which includes undergraduate, master’s and doctorate courses. This is because these two levels are quite different and not always countries that do well in one of them also excel in the other.
The method seen as the most reliable for assessing a country’s primary education system is the Pisa , or International Student Assessment Program. It is organized every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and aims to assess the performance of students from nearly 80 countries in the areas of Reading, Science and Mathematics.
Quality of Education in Countries.
The test is carried out by 15-year-old students from member countries and invited by the OECD. This age group was chosen because it is at this age that students in most countries around the world finish primary school.
In England and the European Union, for example, students between the ages of 16 and 18 dedicate themselves to preparing . For professional life with courses aimed at entering universities or technical careers. One of the criticisms leveled at the test is that in countries like the United States and Brazil, students may not do so well, since compulsory education only ends at age 17.
In the case of higher education, there is no global test that verifies the quality of education in countries.
The most common is that universities are compared in university rankings. There are several classifications available, which take into account aspects such as employability, academic citations, research indexes and even, in some cases, awards received. However, the British institution Quacquarelli Symonds organizes a specific ranking of the quality of higher education in countries.
What are the Best Education in the World?
As basic education and higher education are analyzed separately by the most reputable institutions, here we will present two lists: one with the best education systems in the world at the basic level and the other with the countries with the best higher education system in the world. Thus, you can better guide yourself depending on the period you intend to study outside US
Countries with the best basic education system
As we explained, the Pisa test is the most suitable for assessing the educational systems of countries at the basic education level. But the OECD does not publish a general list with the averages of all tests. But individual results for each discipline. However, to make this comparison, we calculate the average of the countries listed to be able to conclude which ones are the best.
One observation is that China is not just described as China, but divided into several regions. That’s because the country has several autonomous territories like Macau, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei that are independently assessed even if they are not a country. The territories of Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangdong are jointly evaluated.
QUIZ: Are these facts about China true or false?
The territories of Macau and Hong Kong will not be listed here as countries, precisely because they are special administrative regions of China. However, both places performed excellently in Education. Macau ranked third in all the Pisa tests, while Hong Kong ranked fourth in the Reading and Mathematics tests and ninth in the Science test.
In addition, Taiwan, identified by the OECD as Chinese Taipei, will also not be considered a nation. Despite having an independent administration, the UN still does not recognize this territory as an independent country from China. What we identify in the table as China actually corresponds to the scores for the Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangdong regions
| Placing | Country | Grade averages in Pisa in Reading, Mathematics and Science |
| 1st | China (Asia) | 578.7 points (555; 591; 590) |
| 2nd | Singapore (Asia) | 556.3 points (549; 569; 551) |
| 3rd | Estonia (Europe) | 525.3 points (523; 523; 530) |
| 4th | Japan (Asia) | 520 points (504; 527; 529) |
| 5th | South Korea (Asia) | 519.7 points (514; 526; 519) |
| 6th | Canada (America) | 516.7 points (520; 512; 518) |
| 7th | Finland (Europe) | 516.3 points (520; 507; 522) |
| 8th | Poland (Europe) | 513.0 points (512; 516; 511) |
| 9th | Ireland (Europe) | 504.7 points (518; 500; 496) |
| 10th | United Kingdom (Europe) | 503.7 points (504; 502; 505) |
Asian countries
You could see that several Asian countries stood out among the top 10. If they had been considered in this table, Macau, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) also made the list. Which reinforces the quality of education in the Chinese region. Apart from China, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, the countries with the best performance in the competition are in Europe, with Estonia being the only European nation in the top five. In America, the only country to rank among the best was Canada.
Finland appears with an average very close to that of Canada. Which places it in seventh place when compared to other countries. However, it must be said that Finland was already ranked first in the 2015 . Pisa ranking and that this change is due to the change in the country’s focus, which no longer favors the format of tests among its students.
But what makes Asia conquer four of the top five positions? And what is so special about education in Europe and specifically in Estonia? To try to answer these questions. We are going to tell you how education works in the five countries with the best basic education in the world.
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