10 most educated countries in the world

10 most educated countries in the world

Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Indeed it is as we can see it around the world.   

The non-profit Social Progress Imperative publishes the Social Progress Index report, which appraises the magnitude of the fulfillment of the social and environmental needs of the population of the respective country. The report is produced based on Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity of the citizens of the host country. 

The table below shows us the positions different countries occupy, and a closer look also reveals that the top-ranking countries are also the highest achievers in terms of providing quality education for their citizens.

The present world ponders Education as one of the fundamental human rights, and governments around the globe are conceptualized to corroborate access to primary Education. At the same time, citizens in many countries are often compelled by the law to obtain Education up to a certain basic level. 

But from a historical point of reference, it can be concluded that the above was not the case for a very long time. Though cogent evidence about literacy took us back to around 3500-3000 BC, Education was restricted for the upper echelon of the society by the powers that be. After a rather substantial hiatus, the production of books during the middle ages enabled the growth of Education and literacy had started to gain momentum. But the appeal of Education took another 1000 years or so to materialize. And the beginning of industrialization in the 20th century propelled the universality of Education to be spread out widely. But in actuality, the growth of Education experienced a drastic upward trend from the middle of the 20th century. And since only from that point of recent history, Education for the masses started to be perceived as a global priority. 

Now let’s shift our focus from history to the quality of the Education.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said, “Education is about more than literacy and numeracy – it is also about citizenry. Education must fully assume its central role in helping people to forge more just, peaceful, and tolerant societies.”

 As the UN has cited that the socioeconomic mobility to escape poverty can be warranted by Education, it has been enacted by the organization as the 4th of the SDG goals. It is imperative that every government prioritizes quality education for its people. But the definition of quality education is arbitrary. Though the statisticians have access to empirical data on the access of Education, the accomplishment and cognition of Education are sporadic. They are limited to spatial and terrestrial analysis on many different fronts.  

In light of the above discussion, it should be noted that the performance of the education system of the countries around the world has been scrutinized many times over. The UN and its subsidiary organs working for world educationOECDWorld BankEUROSTAT, many non-profit organizations, private statistical and research-oriented bodies, world-leading newspapers and publications, universities, philanthropic entities, etc. have ranked the countries based on their ability to bestow quality education to their respective citizens. Each ranking is usually done following different metrics to highlight the outcome and efficacy contributing changes for the better of the population of the respective countries. That’s why it has been observed that any two rankings compiled during the same time-frame to find the most educated countries of the world will not bring forth the same result. Still, it should be noteworthy that every ranking has its own merits and can objectively recapitulate distinct aspects of the education systems.

10 Most Educated Countries In The World:

So, which country is the proud winner?

The ranking we are going to discuss today has recently been completed by one of the world-leading business magazines CEOWorld Magazine.

The team of researchers collected data from 93 countries. The accumulation of raw data was dependent on the following two categories:

1.   Quality

2.   Opportunity

Each category was comprised of different individual indicators that signify the important aspects of services or opportunities made available by the governments. Let’s have a look at the key indicators of each data-collecting entry-point:

  1. Quality Index:

a.The General Education System for the Mass People.

b.Students’ Motivation for Higher Studies in Universities.

c.Availability of Research Institutions.

d.Allocation of Funds for the University’s’ Research Projects.

e.Promoting Expertise for Specialization in Vocational Curriculums.

f.Industrial Upward & Backward Linkage.

 g.Professional Excellence of Academia Determined by the Number of Ph.D. or Equivalent    Degrees Awarded to the Students.

 h. Output Achieved by Institutional Research Endeavors.

 i. Performance of Educational Institutions in the global rankings.

  1. Opportunity Index

 a.Rate of Overall Adult Literacy.

 b.Completion Rates of Graduates in Higher & Tertiary Educational Institutes.

 c.Completion Percentages of Primary Students.

 d.Completion Percentages of Secondary Students.

 e.Total Percentages of Government Expenditure on Education

A questioner was prepared based on the above indicators from both the indexes and raw data were collected from the following sources:

· The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 

· World Economic Forum        

· Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

· U.S. News & World Report 

· The United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (UNESCO)

· Times Higher Education´s World’s University Rankings 

· QS Top Universities 

· Shanghai Ranking Consultancy 

· The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 

· Center for World University Rankings (CWUR)

· CWTS Leiden Ranking

· University Ranking by Academic Performance,

· Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)

· The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

· Progress in International Reading Study (PIRLS) 

· The World Bank.

After amalgamating all the raw data into organized information, a weighted – average system was applied by the researchers to draw conclusions over each country i.e., to calculate the aggregate percentages scored by each state.

The top 10 most educated countries of the world were thus found by following the process mentioned above. The names of the countries are as follows:

1. United Kingdom

2. United States

3. Australia

4. Netherlands

5. Sweden

6. France

7. Denmark

8. Canada

9. Germany

10. Switzerland

Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea are the top-ranking Asian countries as per the ranking.

As I have mentioned earlier, educational excellence can largely be attributed to the good governance of the country, which ensures the important infrastructure development and application of research-induced trends to make the human capital more pertinent to face new challenges on a daily basis. Many bright and eager students from third world countries are stuck in their respective country’s inappropriate educational settings. Political turmoil, ethnic and racial unrest, corruption, etc. are detaining their country’s desire to march side by side with the developed nations. But today’s free modern world renders the opportunity for those who wish to pursue their dream of proper Education in the congenial surrounding. This phenomenon can be best exemplified by many South-East Asian students who prefer foreign soil rather than their motherland to chase their lifelong dream of better Education.

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On a parting note, I want to remind the readers that any ranking of any sort is arbitrary. My simple overview of the most educated countries in the world isn’t free from it.