Europeans....question!

tresjoliex

tresjoliex

balenciaga lover
May 1, 2008
4,418
1
#1
I was just wondering.

I don't know if you call it highschool over there, but once you graduate highschool, do you go straight and study whatever you wanna be?

Because here they make you take all these "general courses" that I could so do without. I was just wondering how it is over there.
 
#2
Hi there, well here in England and I think most European coutries you go to High school from the age of 11-16.

From ages 16-18 (depending on when your birthday falls) you go to College where you study a course of your choice but its usually a general course like fashion, music, geography etc.,

Then after doing that for 2 years (in most courses) you go to University but there are many different time limits on how long you go to university for, in University you would do a course within the college course you did so if you did Fashion then you could do fashion Buying, Fashion Promotions, fashion design etc.

After that you may do an internship depending on what job you want to do but most times you just get a job within your chosen area.

Hope that helps
 
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#3
What do you mean? Here in the UK you can either leave school at 16 (after GCSE exams) or stay on another two years & complete A Levels.

From A Levels you can go straight on to university to study whatever you want.. if you just have GCSE's then you need to complete other courses to get into uni.

Like with me I left school at 16 & did a two year National Diploma in Fashion Design which then gave me a qualification equal to a few A Levels & now I'm progressing on to the BA Honors Fashion Design course.

Hope I explained that ok! x
 
#4
Socialite said:
Hi there, well here in England and I think most European coutries you go to High school from the age of 11-16.

From ages 16-18 (depending on when your birthday falls) you go to College where you study a course of your choice but its usually a general course like fashion, music, geography etc.,

Then after doing that for 2 years (in most courses) you go to University but there are many different time limits on how long you go to university for, in University you would do a course within the college course you did so if you did Fashion then you could do fashion Buying, Fashion Promotions, fashion design etc.

After that you may do an internship depending on what job you want to do but most times you just get a job within your chosen area.

Hope that helps
Click to expand...

interesting...even though i wasn't the OP thanks for the info!
 
#6
Socialite said:
Hi there, well here in England and I think most European coutries you go to High school from the age of 11-16.

From ages 16-18 (depending on when your birthday falls) you go to College where you study a course of your choice but its usually a general course like fashion, music, geography etc.,

Then after doing that for 2 years (in most courses) you go to University but there are many different time limits on how long you go to university for, in University you would do a course within the college course you did so if you did Fashion then you could do fashion Buying, Fashion Promotions, fashion design etc.

After that you may do an internship depending on what job you want to do but most times you just get a job within your chosen area.

Hope that helps
Click to expand...

I'm in England and there are other paths too. Most schools (equivalent of high school) have what we call a 6th form where you can stay to do advanced exams which may be A'levels, the Bac. or vocational qualifications. You can also go to college as Socialite says, but actually the majority stay at school according to HEFCE data. After advanced examinations, and to some extent depending on the results, you may go into work, further vocational training or University. Lots of people take a gap year before going to University to travel etc. As someone who interviews candidates for admission to a medical degree at University, we like that - it allows people to mature, experience different cultures etc.

The OP asked specifically about general courses before studying a specific course. We don't have that here, so you can go straight to law, history, maths, medicine etc. Although there are growing numbers of 'graduate entry' courses, especially in medicine where students enter following a first degree which can be in any subject. The exception to this is access or foundation degrees which are intended to be a 'general' introduction to University study for those who do not have A'levels or have been out of studying for a long time. So for medicine, you would study a 'general' science course with some social science/humanities introduction as well. Those courses are growing but at the moment only a minority take this route to Higher Education.

Hope this is useful!
 
#7
In Greece the school system is something like this: 2 years preschool (4-6) 6 years primary school (6-12) 3 years junior high school (13-16) . It is mandatory by the law for all children to finish junior high school.
If you graduate JHS you can continue to a school that you can learn things like plumbing, hair cutting, car mechanics, agriculture etc... Mostly industrial stuff.

Finally there is another 3 years of high school (16-18/19), this is when you get to choose what University you want to go to if you want to enter one.
You take some preparatory classes that are more specific to the subject you are interested in.
When I was in high school there were 4 options
1. those who wanted to go to med school and their preparatory classes for entering university were physics, math, chemistry, biology,
2. those who wanted to study science and their classes were math, physics, chemistry, and design
3. those who wanted to study literature and their classes were history, Latin, ancient Greek, modern literature.
and
4.those (like me) who wanted to study economics and their classes were math, history, economics, and social studies.
4 hours every morning we were studying the preparatory subjects and the rest of the day we studied the normal school stuff like general world history, English, Greek lit, arts, and other stuff I don't even remember.
Now the system has changed again, but I'm not sure how. Anyway to enter your favored Uni you have to give general exams and the higher your points the more chances you have to enter the one you chose. Most ppl just declare all the schools they can and get in stupid schools that they never going to attend. A lot of them sit for the exams every year for 4-5 years until they are tired of it, or until they bunkrupt their parents, or finally get in their desired Uni.

After Uni you can continue with more degrees like Master's and PhDs.
 
#8
Socialite said:
Hi there, well here in England and I think most European coutries you go to High school from the age of 11-16.

From ages 16-18 (depending on when your birthday falls) you go to College where you study a course of your choice but its usually a general course like fashion, music, geography etc.,

Then after doing that for 2 years (in most courses) you go to University but there are many different time limits on how long you go to university for, in University you would do a course within the college course you did so if you did Fashion then you could do fashion Buying, Fashion Promotions, fashion design etc.

After that you may do an internship depending on what job you want to do but most times you just get a job within your chosen area.

Hope that helps
Click to expand...
I don't think most countries in Europe have college between high school and university.

Germany doesn't. High school are grades 11th - 13th, in which you basically do the gen.ed. courses which American students do in college.
Then we go straight to university and just do courses for your degree.

(BTW it's not like we don't learn the stuff you have in your gen. ed. It's just that we have one additional year in school before going off to college, so that's when we learn it.)

Example: I study Mathematics and Engineering and I haven't had biology, German, Englisch, geology, phys. ed., music.... since graduating high school.
 
#9
Over here in Belgium it's like this: Kindergarten (2,5-6) (not obligated), primary school (6-12), high school (12-18) and after that it's university (academic or professional, usually 3 to 5 years). We also have something like a 'specialisation year' after high school, but it's for those who won't go to college and start to work right after that (for example: a plummer).

Our high schools are divided in 4 parts: ASO, TSO, KSO and BSO.

*ASO=you are being prepared for college. From the beginning, you can choose a course which suits you best (I chose Latin-modern laguages, you can also choose science-mathematics, economics-modern laguages, etc. Whatever suits you best!)
*TSO=more technical, rather a preparation for work (You have subjects like accountancy, languages, maths, etc. These subjects are more work-orientated then those you get at an ASO-course). You can also choose from the beginning what suit you best.
*KSO=art school
*BSO=you learn for a profession, has a seventh year for specialisation

Each part provides basic education, like history, maths, etc. In each part you can choose a course, which allows you to specialize in your favorite subjects. The difficulty of the subjects depends on the part you are in. For example: the subject 'French' in ASO is taught at a higher level than in TSO.

For example: I chose for the course Latin-Modern laguages (I had subjects like Latin, French, German, English, Spanish, Dutch, history, physics:yucky:, maths, etc.), which falls under ASO, because I was good in languages and I love to write. It also helps me now at university, where I study journalism.

Over here you can't leave school at 16. You have to stay till you're 18.

:yes:
 
#11
simmmchen said:
I don't think most countries in Europe have college between high school and university. Germany doesn't.
Click to expand...

Neither does France. If the educational system is still the same as it was 15 years ago when I moved to the States, then toward the completion of high school, a student takes a pretty comprehensive exam called 'le bac' (baccalauréat général) which tests different areas of study and focus. At university, a student doesn't take classes that are outside the scope of her field (i.e. to become a lawyer one goes and studies law rather than spend 4 years studying something else in order to spend 3 more years studying law).
 
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#13
Sweden has college between high school and uni....you simply cannot get into uni if you haven´t done college which is 3 years here (for the most part I think). High school between 12(13)-15 (16) (depending on your b-day of course) then you can finish school if you want or go onto college for another three years.

We have 9 years of mandatory school,

Kat
 
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#14
I love reading about the different aspects of other countries. It has been awhile but we have elementary, junior high (middle school) and high school, you graduate normally at 17 or 18 unless you are a genius and can go on to University/college at whatever age. Here there are colleges within Universities like College of Business and so on. But basically college/university are interchangeable when talking about higher education schools.

I love reading about the different educational systems around the world. I understand what the OP meant about the general ed courses because basically we take the general education courses in high school. But going to University here, you take two years of gen ed courses (preparing you for the real world basically, language, English, humanities social sciences, sciences, etc). I guess becoming a more rounded individual which most people do need. Then 2 years in your program of study (major) whether that be English major, political science, business, computers, science major, etc. This can take anywhere from 1-5 years, normally 4. Medical school would be an additional 4 years and all that goes along with that. I think law school an additional 3 years. Of course, Master's, PhD all additional years after Bachelor's Degree.

It seems all about the same just the amount of time/course spent.
 
#15
lily25 said:
In Greece the school system is something like this: 2 years preschool (4-6) 6 years primary school (6-12) 3 years junior high school (13-16) . It is mandatory by the law for all children to finish junior high school.
If you graduate JHS you can continue to a school that you can learn things like plumbing, hair cutting, car mechanics, agriculture etc... Mostly industrial stuff.

Finally there is another 3 years of high school (16-18/19), this is when you get to choose what University you want to go to if you want to enter one.
You take some preparatory classes that are more specific to the subject you are interested in.
When I was in high school there were 4 options
1. those who wanted to go to med school and their preparatory classes for entering university were physics, math, chemistry, biology,
2. those who wanted to study science and their classes were math, physics, chemistry, and design
3. those who wanted to study literature and their classes were history, Latin, ancient Greek, modern literature.
and
4.those (like me) who wanted to study economics and their classes were math, history, economics, and social studies.
4 hours every morning we were studying the preparatory subjects and the rest of the day we studied the normal school stuff like general world history, English, Greek lit, arts, and other stuff I don't even remember.
Now the system has changed again, but I'm not sure how. Anyway to enter your favored Uni you have to give general exams and the higher your points the more chances you have to enter the one you chose. Most ppl just declare all the schools they can and get in stupid schools that they never going to attend. A lot of them sit for the exams every year for 4-5 years until they are tired of it, or until they bunkrupt their parents, or finally get in their desired Uni.

After Uni you can continue with more degrees like Master's and PhDs.
Click to expand...

Are the preparatory courses like the General Education Courses here in the U.S. in the first 2 years of college here? When you get to Uni, you do not have to take those courses b/c you have already taken them and go right into your major program of study?
 
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