The UK NARIC International Comparisons database has information on the education systems of 209 countries and territories. This information is continually updated in a number of different ways. Education system descriptions, higher education listings and/or qualification comparabilities for over 100 countries have been updated so far in 2019.
Comprehensive updates
Since the beginning of this year, comprehensive updates, covering all sections of the country file, have been published for 16 countries and territories.
Updates for Costa Rica, Italy and Poland all went live in July.
The Italian upper secondary school qualification, the Esame di Stato, was reformed in 2018; fewer examinations are taken and more points are now awarded for school credit. The new requirements are explained in full within the pages covering school and grading systems.
The updated Poland file includes full details of the recent changes to secondary education, more information on the stanine grading system used for the Egzamin Dojrzałości (Maturity Examination) and a new section on transnational education.
Targeted updates
Alongside a plan for comprehensive updates, changes are made to specific sections of files to reflect developments or to enhance existing information. So far this year, 48 of these updates have been published, improving information provision for an additional 31 countries.
Highlights for July included: updates to the education system chart and qualifications listing for Thailand, and a new section on transnational education in Morocco.
Higher education institution listings
The UK NARIC International Comparisons database lists over 40,000 recognised higher education institutions. So far in 2019, the Research and Data Group have added, edited or removed 1,888 entries on these listings.
As well as making changes as we become aware of new universities, name changes, mergers and closures, all listings are reviewed on a rolling basis.
In July, the lists for Nepal, Oman and Thailand were updated in full; a significant number of changes were made for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, France and Japan; entries for 21 different countries were edited in total.
Qualifications
Qualifications are reviewed monthly; 9 new qualification assessments or changes to levels of comparability were published in July. These included qualifications from Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Romania and Thailand.
UK NARIC members can view the latest updates by checking the Databank Latest Updates news feed on the top right of the member hub.