Education is the key to Growth when it comes to creating a Demography to produce world leaders. Despite several major destinations for education in the world, the Nordic Education Model offers an education that is state-funded and stresses the overall development of the children rather than making them a learning machine.
The Nordic Education Model–
The Nordic country is a geographical term used for 5 countries that are Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. You pull out any ranking in the world and you will find these countries as a regular top scorers. These countries are some of the most developed and democratic countries around the globe. The standard of living in these countries is the highest making them very costly but one needn’t worry about the education of their child from primary to university level. Education in these countries is totally or partially state-funded, in some countries even the stationary and the books involved are provided in the school without charging a penny from the parents.
For example, the Norwegian government in 2005 passed a law declaring private schools illegal except for those that offer religious or pedagogic education, like Christian schools, missionary schools, Montessori, etc. But this is not the only part of it, the best part is the modeling of the education system, which is one of the most peculiar ones on the planet. In Norway, schooling is divided into three parts -1. Elementary for ages 6-13, then 2. Lower Secondary (Ungdommsskole) for ages 13-16 or 8 to 10 standards and the last 3. Upper secondary (Videregaende skole) for ages 16-19. Education in Finland is compulsory for 6 to 16 years of students.
Some of the features that make this education model stand apart from the rest of the world are that it focuses more on the overall development of the children rather than making them a learning machine, they don’t even give homework to the students as they want them to socialize and go outside. The first standardized test for the students is only after they reach the level of upper secondary school, hence before that, they don’t fail a student. Another unique feature of this model is the recruitment and treatment of teachers. Teaching in Finland or any other Nordic country is a noble and highly sought-after profession with only a 10% acceptance ratio. So, these were the things that make the education of Nordic countries the best.
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The prospect of higher education for foreign nationals–
College and university education is also free, especially in state-funded universities which rank among the top 100 universities in the world. Norway and Finland are the destinations for a lot of foreign students, especially from developing countries in Asia and Africa. In Norway, there are around 15000 to 20000 international students. Although elementary education in Nordic countries is in vernacular medium but on the university scale, there are several courses in English Medium which makes it a dear destination for students of different nationalities around the world. The graduate program in Nordic countries is of 3 years, a Master’s would take 2 more years, and if one wants a doctoral degree that will be another 3 years (Ph.D.).
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