Countries that have world class education Essays - Education

Countries that have world class education A few countries have been listed down to be on top 100 for their world class universities such as in United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Japan. According to Vivien Stewart in her book, A world Class Education, looks at five countries which are Singapore, Canada, Finland, China and Australia where students are significantly better on global assessments than students in the U.S. Despite differences in the political systems and cultural contexts of these countries, there are some common policies and practices that drive success. Singapore Singapore decided that its future lay in tapping its human capital. In the Singapore system, all the key elements work closely together to produce continuous improvement. Over the last decade, Singapore has introduced innovative and flexible learning choices for students. It even has a policy called "teach less, learn more" that's designed to encourage more innovative curricula and use of classroom time. Singapore also is investing significantly in teacherswith strong teacher evaluation and personnel systems and intensive training. With all this, it's not really a surprise that Singapore's students rank near the top in international assessments, or that its per capita GDP is higher than the U.S., Canada, or most countries in Europe. Finland Finland is an interesting example because as recently as 1970, only 40 percent of Finnish adults held a high school diploma. Today, its students rank among the top on global assessments of student learning.One key to Finland's success was the decision in 1979 to require a two-year master's degree for all teachers, even those teaching primary school. Teachers are trained to spot students who aren't doing well early on, and each school has a multidisciplinary team of education professionals available to support students and help them catch up. Finland also did away with traditional structure and replaced it with a more flexible approach that encourages creativity and problem solving, individualized learning, and a wider range of academic and vocational options. EducationinFinlandis an education system with notuition feesand with fully subsidised meals served to full-time students. The Finnish strategy for achieving equality and excellence in education has been based on constr ucting a publicly fundedcomprehensive schoolsystem without selecting, tracking, or streaming students during their common basic education.Part of the strategy has been to spread the school network so that pupils have a school near their homes whenever possible or, if this is not feasible, e.g. in rural areas, to provide free transportation to more widely dispersed schools. Inclusive special education within the classroom and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement are also typical of Nordic educational systems. Chinese The degree to which Chinese higher education has maintained some institutional diversity is quite remarkable, in spite of pressures to conform to the model of a global research university. Chinese higher education has been reshaped in the massification process towards a highly hierarchical system, with substantive priority funding given to the top 100 institutions in Project 211, initiated in 1993. Chinese universities are better funded than they have ever been, they are filled with academics with more opportunities to travel and study abroad with many being returnees from overseas degree courses. The Chinese tertiary level system now takes a higher proportion of the population than ever before. Research and development funding has risen exponentially under the central government's strategy of supporting innovation financially in the last decade. The campuses of Chinese universities are some of the most spectacular in the world, with excellent facilities and vastly impr oved libraries and laboratories. The onset of the Internet means that textbooks and information are now widely available electronically, and access to knowledge has been democratized. Australia While Australia has a long and proud tradition of world class research and development that has benefited millions around the world. From the discovery of penicillin in 1945 and the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance in 1960, through to observations which led to the discovery of the accelerating Universe in 2011. Australia has a proud record of contributing to the benefits of the world; through the Backing Australia's Ability initiative, A$2.9 billion will be invested over the next five years to fund research that will stimulate economic and scientific innovation. Australia is also investing over A$140

Signs Youre Meant to Go to Law School

Signs Youre Meant to Go to Law School Think that law school is for you? Law school is notoriously expensive, hard, and often boring. Moreover, jobs are hard to come by, not as lucrative as depicted by TV, and certainly not as interesting. Many law students and graduates are dismayed to learn that a career in law is nothing like they imagined. How do you avoid disappointment and disillusionment? Make sure that you are going to law school for the right reasons and after seeking the right experiences.   1.  You Know What You Want to Do With Your Degree Law school is for making lawyers. Be sure that you want to practice the law. Sure, law degrees are versatile  Ã‚  you do not have to be a practicing attorney. Plenty of  lawyers work in other fields, but a law degree isn’t needed to work in these areas. Should you seek an extraordinarily expensive degree and acquire massive loan debt to get a job that does not require your degree? Make sure that you know what you want to do and that a law degree is essential to accomplishing your career goals. 2.  You Have Some Experience in Law Too many students apply to law school without having spent even an afternoon in a legal setting. Some law students get their first taste of the law on their internships, after a year ​or more of law school. What’s worse is that some of these inexperienced law students decide that they dislike working in legal settings but after investing the time and money in law school stick it out and potentially become more miserable. Make an informed decision about whether law school is for you based on having some experience in the field. Entry level work in a legal environment can help you see what a legal career is really like a lot of paper pushing and decide if it is for you. 3. You Have Sought Career Advice From Lawyers What is a career in law like? You can spend time in legal settings and observe, but it’s always useful to get the perspective of a few lawyers. Talk to experienced lawyers:  What is their job like? What do they love about it? What isnt so fun? What would they do differently? Also approach more junior lawyers. Find out about their experiences transitioning from law school to a career. What was their experience on the job market? How long did it take to find a job? What do they like best about their career, and least? What would they do differently? Most importantly, if they could do it over, would they go to law school? In today’s difficult market more and more young lawyers answer, â€Å"No.† 4. You Have a Scholarship With three years of tuition and expenses running $100,000 to $200,000, deciding whether to go to law school is more than an educational and career decision, it is a financial decision with life-long repercussions. A scholarship can ease that burden. Recognize, however, that scholarships are renewed only when students maintain a given GPA and grades are very tough in law school. It is not uncommon for students to lose scholarships after the first year of law school, so beware. 5. You Cannot See Yourself Doing Anything Else in Life Than Practice Law Be honest. It is easy to make this claim, but research job options and do your homework as outlined above. Whatever you do, do not go to law school because you do not know what else to do with your life. Make sure that you have an informed understanding of the field and what success in law school requires. If so, prepare your law school application and plan ahead.

Impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization Assignment

Impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization - Assignment Example Impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization The term leadership simply means the method of influencing a group of people & guiding them towards the accomplishment of a common objective. Presently it is required to discuss the impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization where I have worked. Generally the organizations get highly benefitted by the implementation of proper leadership approaches as it effects in improved quality of the goods & services produced by the organization. The organization where I used to work had a business of Herbal Products. The company mainly dealt with ointments for joint pains & muscle aches, syrups for immunity building, moisturizer & body-oil for soft & supple skin & many such products for the day-to-day use by the consumers. The organization followed a combination of centralized & decentralized structure. The various departments worked on a decentralized manner where there was no specialization & everyone knew the task of the other person. Job Rotation was being practiced on a regular basis. However at the end of the month, all the departments were accountable to present their whole month’s report to the top management. The overall functioning of the organization was based on the framework of situational leadership style. This style is based on the attitude of people towards the work delegated to them & their response towards the act of being led by a leader. (Clark, n.d.). The concept of situational leadership is depen dent on the key elements of relationship behavior & task behavior. The relationship behavior refers to the amount of emotional & social support provided by the leader. It indicates the communication flow between the leader & his followers. Task behavior refers to the direction & guidance provided by the leader. It is highly work- centered & focuses on the efficient accomplishment of the objectives. In the situational style of leadership, four basic situations have been identified by the leadership experts that are based on task behavior on one axis & relationship behavior on the other axis of the graph. The following illustration exhibits the diagram of a situational leadership framework- The four styles as shown in the diagram are- Style 1 (S1 or Directing): High task/low relationship This leader is considered to be very strict who only focuses on the accomplishment of the task & maintains very low level of relationship with the followers. Style 2 (S2 or Coaching): High task/high r elationship This leader is highly committed towards the task as well as towards maintaining a healthy relationship with the employees. Style 3 (S3 or Supporting): High relationship/low task This leader puts more emphasis on dealing with the followers & maintaining better relations with them. Style 4 (S4 or Delegating): Low relationship/low task This leader puts lesser stress on both the task & relationship behavior. These styles represent the leadership approach that entirely depends on the situation faced by the organization. In case of the organization where I