Which Country Is #1 In Education?
Today, there are many sources that analyse and evaluate the performance of education systems around the world. And while higher education and universities are often under the brightest spotlight, with sources such as Times Higher Education´s World University Rankings and QS Top Universities bringing out related data each year, we are up to the challenge of expanding that focus.
- In this article, we would like to present you with a ranking of the ten best education systems, worldwide, based on information provided by U.S.
- News & World Report.
- Through a combination of scores based on the level of development of a public education system, the people´s willingness to attend university and the opportunity to receive top-quality tuition, the team behind the list below managed to rank a set of countries from Australia, Europe and North America,
To make things more interesting, we have included a comparison of the latest 2020 results with the previous from 2019, with the sole aim of determining some differences while searching for explanations:
| Top 10 Best Countries for Education | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2019 | |
| 1. | The United States | The United Kingdom |
| 2. | The United Kingdom | The United States |
| 3. | Canada | Canada |
| 4. | Germany | Germany |
| 5. | France | France |
| 6. | Switzerland | Australia |
| 7. | Australia | Switzerland |
| 8. | Sweden | Sweden |
| 9. | The Netherlands | Japan |
| 10. | Denmark | The Netherlands |
according to data from U.S. News & World Report Right at the top, we can see that the US has passed the UK to claim the top position, highlighting a trend that we commented on in our recently updated article Best universities in Europe 2020. Affected by a difficult political situation, several higher education institutions from the United Kingdom suffered from a drop in their latest rankings this year.
However, while we never mentioned anything about the United States in that text due to the European focus, here we can say that even more American universities saw their ranks going in the wrong direction for similar reasons, and in both cases following a reduced number of international students. Perhaps, the fact that the results from the table above are based on education systems as a whole has helped the USA with reaching pole position, while for number three, four and five no surprises seem to have come up.
Immediately after that, we witness an overtake from Switzerland followed by a rank-up by the Netherlands, Japan´s exit from the 2020 list and the arrival of Denmark. In the area of higher education, the strong presence of European destinations – with the total rising to seven countries this year, can be explained with the current opportunities offered by their public systems.
In Denmark, Germany and Sweden you can study a variety of programmes, including many in English, free of charge, given that you are coming from the EU, EEA or Switzerland, or any other third country at German state universities! There is often a student union fee applied, however, that can be best described to minor when opposed to tuition fee – usually coming with the benefit of accounting for different discounts.
Furthermore, higher education institutions in Europe take up excellent ranking positions, globally. A fact which is also confirmed by the two respected sources we mentioned in the introduction, Times Higher Education´s World University Rankings and QS Top Universities.
- Notably, the former lists six of the seven European countries starring in this article in the elite group of the Top 60 of the world, with only Denmark missing out a place.
- Even more, each country is also represented by one or more public universities! And before you start thinking that Australia, Canada and the United States have not received the attention they deserve, here is some food for thought regarding, once again, their respective higher education systems.
From last to first, the US is home to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, which has now been holding the #1 spot for the eighth time in a row in the rankings of QS Top Universities. Despite the on-going difficult political situation, the United States of America has actually constantly remained a strong competitor within the global top.
Recently, Canada, by contrast, had representatives advance a few positions according to THE´s World University Rankings, with a total of 30 listed universities, including the best performing University of Toronto ranked #18. Finally, Australia registered increasing levels of internationality as stated by QS, with five Australian higher education institutions holding excellent positions in the Top 50 for 2020.
As a conclusion, it would be interesting to see whether any changes take place in 2021 in the top ten countries with the best education systems in the world – mostly related to the expansion of competitors from Asia, mostly Mainland China, and also South America with Brazil.P.S.
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Contents
What is the most free country?
2022 rankings – In the 2022 index, is ranked most free overall, while is last. was ranked most free in economic liberty, while was ranked most free in the social liberty category.
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What country has the lowest education?
Countries With The Lowest Literacy Rates In The World –
| Rank | Country | Literacy Rate (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Sudan | 27.0 % |
| 2 | Afghanistan | 28.1 % |
| 3 | Burkina Faso | 28.7 % |
| 4 | Niger | 28.7 % |
| 5 | Mali | 33.4 % |
| 6 | Chad | 35.4 % |
| 7 | Somalia | 37.8 % |
| 8 | Ethiopia | 39.0 % |
| 9 | Guinea | 41.0 % |
| 10 | Benin | 42.4 % |
| 11 | Sierra Leone | 43.3 % |
| 12 | Haiti | 48.7 % |
| 13 | Senegal | 49.7 % |
| 14 | Gambia, The | 51.1 % |
| 15 | Bhutan | 52.8 % |
| 16 | Pakistan | 54.9 % |
| 17 | Guinea-Bissau | 55.3 % |
| 18 | Mozambique | 56.1 % |
| 19 | Central African Republic | 56.6 % |
| 20 | Cote d’Ivoire | 56.9 % |
| 21 | Nepal | 57.4 % |
| 22 | Bangladesh | 57.7 % |
| 23 | Timor-Leste | 58.3 % |
| 24 | Mauritania | 58.6 % |
| 25 | Togo | 60.4 % |
ol> Home World Facts 25 Most Illiterate Countries
What is the hardest subject on earth?
What are the hardest degree subjects? – The hardest degree subjects are Aerospace Engineering, Law, Chartered Accountancy, Architecture, Chemistry, Medicine, Pharmacy, Psychology, Statistics, Nursing, Physics, Astrophysics, Biomedical Engineering, Astronomy, and Dentistry. Let’s dive right in, and look at why these courses are the hardest degree subjects.
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What states is #1 in education?
Education Rankings
| Rank | State | Pre-K-12 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey New Jersey | 1 |
| 2 | Massachusetts Massachusetts | 2 |
| 3 | Florida Florida | 16 |
| 4 | Washington Washington | 11 |
When did the US rank #1 in education?
In the 1960s and 1970s, the United States had the best-educated young people in the world, or pretty close to it. But a disturbing new report from the Council on Foreign Relations says that the generations who’ve followed the boomers haven’t been able to maintain that global edge – and that, as a result, America’s ability to compete economically is suffering as well.
Related: Are We Teaching Our Next Generation the Right Stuff? The council, a nonpartisan think tank whose 4,700 members include such luminaries as journalist Fareed Zakaria and actress-activist Angelina Jolie, notes that among people ages 55 to 64, Americans rank first in the percentage who’ve earned high school degrees and third in those who’ve earned college and graduate degrees.
But Americans ages 25 to 34 only rank 10th in the world in high school diplomas, and they’ve dropped to 13th in attaining post-secondary degrees. 
It’s not that 25-to-34-year-olds are less educated than boomers: 88 percent of them earned high school diplomas, compared with 90 percent of boomers, and they actually managed a tiny edge – 42 percent to 41 percent – in post-secondary degrees. The real problem is that they’re slipping in relation to their global counterparts.
Paradoxically, younger Americans are entering college at a higher rate – 70 percent – than the boomer generation managed. In 1970, only 48.4 percent of high school graduates went on to higher education, according to a study published in 2010 in the American Journal of Applied Economics, But that edge is negated, because fewer than half of today’s students manage to stay in school and earn degrees, a slightly lower completion rate than boomers.
According to the CFR report, the United States has the highest dropout rate in the developed world. A likely reason is the astronomical rise in tuition costs during that time: from 1970 to 2007, tuition costs at colleges and universities rose by nearly 1000 percent, according to personal finance blogger and author Trent Hamm,
Why Are Boomers Retiring So Early? 1 In 4 Older Adults Can’t Come Up With $2,000 Join AARP : Savings, resources and news for your well-being
What is America ranked 1 in?
The United States of America is a North American nation that is the world’s most dominant economic and military power. Likewise, its cultural imprint spans the world, led in large part by its popular culture expressed in music, movies and television. The country is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing deep economic recession.
And calls for greater social justice reignited in the country following the death of Black American George Floyd at the hands of police in May 2020. Public demands to address racial inequality in the country, expressed in institutions such as the criminal justice system and health care, spurred similar movements in countries around the world.
In November 2020 the country’s voters elected Joe Biden as the nation’s 46th president, removing Donald Trump after one term. The country in 2021 is wrestling with deeply polarized politics. The deadly Jan.6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who rejected the November 2020 election result underscores concerns about the health and future of American democracy.
- Following the terrorist attacks on Sept.11, 2001, the U.S.
- Launched its War on Terror, including the Iraq War, the ongoing war in Afghanistan and other military strikes, including the 2011 killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
- The war has had wide-reaching effects on the country’s politics, economy and global alliances that resonate to this day.
The American colonies declared independence from the British Empire in 1776 and were recognized as a new nation in 1783. The country nearly split in two during a civil war in the mid-1800s, but regained its footing in the 20th century, during which time it was on the winning side of both world wars.
- The U.S. is a constitution-based federal republic composed of 50 states. The U.S.
- Economy is the world’s largest in terms of gross domestic product, and also the most technologically powerful.
- The country’s most significant exports are computers and electrical machinery, vehicles, chemical products, food, live animals and military equipment.
The U.S. also has the world’s largest coal reserves. The U.S. is culturally and racially diverse, and was shaped by large waves of immigration from Europe and beyond. American literature, art and music reflect the rich heritage of the country’s people. The U.S.
is the birthplace of jazz, and Louis Armstrong, an African American, is one of the country’s most recognized and admired musicians. Prize-winning Jewish writers Saul Bellow and Philip Roth are some of the best known literary figures in the U.S. The media industry in the U.S. has a global audience, with its television shows, music videos and films distributed worldwide.
The country is home to some of the top universities in the world, including Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Despite being the foremost global power, the U.S. still faces domestic challenges, including racial tensions, income inequality and an increasingly polarized electorate.
- All of these fissures were on display during Trump’s presidency, as even his own party has been divided on some of the nation’s most important legislation.
- While national security is a concern, so too, is the debt incurred from wars and expenditures on an aging population. The U.S.
- Leads the developed world in deaths due to firearms.
The U.S. often takes a leading role in international organizations, and was a founding force behind institutions such as the United Nations, NATO and the World Bank. Following the terrorist attacks on Sept.11, 2001, the U.S. launched its War on Terror, including the Iraq War, the ongoing war in Afghanistan and other military strikes, including the 2011 killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
- The war has had wide-reaching effects on the country’s politics, economy and global alliances that resonate to this day.
- The American colonies declared independence from the British Empire in 1776 and were recognized as a new nation in 1783.
- The country nearly split in two during a civil war in the mid-1800s, but regained its footing in the 20th century, during which time it was on the winning side of both world wars.
The U.S. is a constitution-based federal republic composed of 50 states. The U.S. economy is the world’s largest in terms of gross domestic product, and also the most technologically powerful. The country’s most significant exports are computers and electrical machinery, vehicles, chemical products, food, live animals and military equipment.
The U.S. also has the world’s largest coal reserves. The U.S. is culturally and racially diverse, and was shaped by large waves of immigration from Europe and beyond. American literature, art and music reflect the rich heritage of the country’s people. The U.S. is the birthplace of jazz, and Louis Armstrong, an African American, is one of the country’s most recognized and admired musicians.
Prize-winning Jewish writers Saul Bellow and Philip Roth are some of the best known literary figures in the U.S. The media industry in the U.S. has a global audience, with its television shows, music videos and films distributed worldwide. The country is home to some of the top universities in the world, including Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Despite being the foremost global power, the U.S. still faces domestic challenges, including racial tensions, income inequality and an increasingly polarized electorate. All of these fissures were on display during Trump’s presidency, as even his own party has been divided on some of the nation’s most important legislation.
While national security is a concern, so too, is the debt incurred from wars and expenditures on an aging population. The U.S. leads the developed world in deaths due to firearms. The U.S. often takes a leading role in international organizations, and was a founding force behind institutions such as the United Nations, NATO and the World Bank.
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When was America #1 in education?
Was the USA ever No.1 in education? Was the United States of America ever number one in world rankings in education? If so, when did the ranking begin to change? Thank you. Larry Randolph ? ? ? As recently as 20 years ago, the United States was ranked No.1 in high school and college education.
Much of the boom in American education during the second half of the 20th century was fueled by the Montgomery G.I. Bill, which provided scholarships and student loans to veteran service personnel returning from World War II. Having matured on the battlefield, thousands of returning troops eagerly seized the opportunity to improve their postwar prospects in the civilian world, leading to a transformation of the American middle class in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 2009, the United States was ranked 18th out of 36 industrialized nations. Over that time, complacency and inefficiency, reflective of lower priorities in education, and inconsistencies among the various school systems contributed to a decline. The United States still ranks No.1 in the world’s higher education institutions (i.e., colleges), including their ability to help graduates transition into the job market, but the cost of higher education has become a challenge in itself.
Overall, the united States still has an excellent education system, even if it is not Number One it simply has been surpassed by those of other rising countries.Sincerely,Jon Guttman Research Director World History Group More Questions at
: Was the USA ever No.1 in education?
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Does the US lead the world in education?
Why It’s Never Mattered That America’s Schools ‘Lag’ Behind Other Countries The United States at the top of international education tests, since we began comparing countries in 1964, yet has been the dominant economic and innovative force in the world the entire time.
- Despite this fact, a popular annual education report has once again of America’s impending economic mediocrity with fresh stats on how far the U.S.
- Lags” behind the world in college attainment, pre-school enrollment, and high school graduation.
- The reason for the apparent disconnect is because schools don’t prepare students for the real world, so broad educational attainment will have a weak correlation with economic power.
Research has consistently shown that on nearly every measure of education (instructional hours, class-size, enrollment, college preparation), what students learn in school does not translate into later life success. The United States has an abundance of the factors that likely do matter: access to the best immigrants, economic opportunity, and the best research facilities.
The U.S. ranks 14th in higher education attainment at 42% of 25-34 with a degree, 20 points behind the leader, South Korea. The U.S. ranks 26th in early childhood education (69%) The U.S. is the 6th worst in terms of high school graduation, with 23% failing to attain a diploma
“Based on these trends, the U.S. may find that an increasing number of countries will approach or surpass its attainment levels in the coming years,” the U.S. report card. However, the report implies that education translates into gainful market skills, an assumption not found in the research.
For instance, while Chinese students, on average, have as Americans, both countries have identical scores on tests of scientific reasoning. “The results suggest that years of rigorous training of physics knowledge in middle and high schools have made significant impact on Chinese students’ ability in solving physics problems, while such training doesn’t seem to have direct effects on their general ability in scientific reasoning, which was measured to be at the same level as that of the students in USA,” a team of researchers studying whether Chinese superiority in rote scientific knowledge translated into the kinds of creative thinking necessary for innovation.
In a massive review of research, the Department of Education’s research arm, the Institute for Education Sciences, could not find any evidence that college preparation actually prepared students for college, The only effective tools were (sadly) non-classroom-based strategies, such as teaching students how to fill out financial aid forms.
- Students’ time in college isn’t much better.
- Researchers Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa concluded in Academically Adrift that most students float through college without learning much in the way of critical thinking.
- Indeed, the students in our study who reported studying alone five or fewer hours per week nevertheless had an average cumulative GPA of 3.16,” they, “given such a widespread lack of academic rigor, about a third of students failed to demonstrate significant gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing ability (as measured by the Collegiate Learning Assessment) during their four years of college.” These facts should not come as a shock.
When I taught college, it was commonly known among the professors that incoming high schoolers were not prepared with the requisite critical-thinking skills for our classes. Now as a writer in the private sector, I don’t expect incoming employees to have been prepared in their college classes.
- Determination, raw intelligence, and creativity are the measures of a successful college student and employee — none of those factors are learned in school.
- So What Matters? It’s easier to know what doesn’t work than what does.
- We know schooling can’t broadly impact innovation much, because we can track learning step-by-step through the life of a student.
Tracking the countless variables that go into creating an innovation superpower is more daunting. But, we can make a few educated guesses. Most importantly, the innovators at the helm of an economy come from the top quarter of students. While the United States has a dismal track-record of inequality, we treat our brightest minds quite well.
The “average test scores are mostly irrelevant as a measure of economic potential,” Hal Salzman & Lindsay Lowell in the prestigious journal, Nature, “To produce leading-edge technology, one could argue that it is the numbers of high-performing students that is most important in the global economy.” The United States, they find, has among the highest percentage of top-performing students in the world.
Whether the abundance of smart students is a product of U.S. culture, an artifact of the genetic lottery, or some unknown factor hidden in our education system is anyone’s guess. We do know where some of our best talent comes from: other countries. In some ways, the United States steals its way to economic superiority: it rangles the world’s brightest minds to immigrate.
The U.S. roughly 17% of the world’s International students, compared to 2nd-place Britain (~12%) and far more than education powerhouses, Korea, Switzerland, and Sweden (all below 5%). A quarter of CEOs in technology and science are foreign born and 76 percent hold key positions in engineering, technology, and management, according to Stanford researcher and TechCrunch contributor, Vivek Wadhwa.
“More than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. were founded by immigrants or their children, and these firms alone employ over 10 million individuals. Some of our country’s most iconic brands – including IBM, Google, and Apple – were founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant.
And nearly half of the top 50 venture-backed companies in the U.S. had at least one immigrant founder,” Aol founder Steve Case (Aol is the parent company of TechCrunch ). And, our brightest native and immigrant minds are greeted with extraordinary research and economic opportunity. After World War II, the United States emerged as an economic superpower.
Massive investment poured into universities and scientific research, which became the genesis for the Internet, itself. While it’s difficult to speculate why the U.S. persists as a titan of innovation, we need not be scared into trying to be like other countries.
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