| Education System in Scotland |
Education is Scotland is different from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, in that the focus is on the breadth of subject matter, as opposed to the depth of education in fewer subjects. Children may enter primary school between ages 5 and 6 depending on their month of birth, and remain there for 7 years.
Four years of compulsory education at secondary school continue. Standard grade examinations at age 15 / 16 cover 8 subjects, of which English, mathematics, a science subject and a social subject are compulsory. As they wish, students may then either leave school, or remain on to complete their higher or advanced examination. In certain private schools they may study A-Levels instead.
Students who have completed their compulsory standard grade at secondary school, also have the option of pursuing apprenticeships, or of enrolling for vocational education at further education colleges.
There are a large number of high quality and venerable universities in Scotland. Of these the most ancient is St Andrews, Fife, established by Papal Bull in 1413 and illustrated here. It is also the third oldest in the English-speaking world after the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
The University is also heaped in traditions that include a student oath in Latin, the wearing of academic dress and 2 University Chapels one with a full peal of 6 bells. The institution is divided into 4 faculties, namely arts, divinity, medicine and science, each comprising a number of departments.
