Essay

Comparison education systems Germany and USA

Topic: 

Compare and evaluate the perspectives of two different
cultures/countries in relation to the reasons (at least three) that
influence the push (or otherwise) for citizens to gain an
education internationally. In your conclusion relate your
secondary research to your personal decision to study abroad.

Unit Name: Communication for Business 1

Jan Borsdow

Semester 2

Contents

1. Introduction  2

2. Reasons that influence the push (or otherwise) for citizen to gain an education internationally ..  2

3. Conclusion  6

4. References  7

1. Introduction

Nowadays, an international education becomes more and more important. Young graduates are required to be flexible, well educated as well as international skilled. This may be the reason which lets people strive for an international education. To outline the importance Germany and USA will be compared to the reasons of gaining an education internationally. The internationality of an education system in a country can be measured in different ways, e.g. how many people studying abroad, the student’s language skills, foreign students enrolled and many more (International Educator, 2006: 47).

To demarcate multitude of influences, the focus will be on the willingness of students to study abroad. The reasons which influence this willingness can be government influence, school system/university influence and the culture.

2. Reasons that influence the push (or otherwise) for citizens to gain an education internationally

The government lays the foundation stone of the countries education system. This includes the financial support, direction of the education and the creation of clearance for students. Both, USA and Germany are countries which takes high responsibility for their education. This reflects the existence of several institutions for education support as well as a separate education policy. To have a closer look at the governments support, two organisations will be investigated and compared.

The first one is the DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service. The DAAD is “one of the world′s largest and most respected intermediary organisations in its field” (DAAD, 2006). Thought its support a lot of students have gained valuable experience abroad. The institute was found to provide scholarships to students who focused on exchange activities. The DAAD has currently about 200 programs which ensure the internationality of the German higher education.

To high variety of programs can be summarized in five goals: Scholarships for foreigner, Scholarships for Germans, Internationalising the higher education institutions, Promoting German studies and German language abroad and Educational cooperation with developing countries. The DAAD spend more than 250 million Euros to make an international education possible (DAAD Portrait, 2006). Furthermore there are scopes of possibilities offered by DAAD to expand international academic opportunities and encourage students to go abroad. In comparison to Germany USA have also a huge number of institutions which support students to go abroad. Beside IIE (Institute of International Education), the world largest and most experienced international education and training organization (IIE, 2006), the U.S. Department of Education supports the internationalisation of education. They provide nearly 80 organisations that can help students to go abroad as well as networks and necessary informations. More than US$ 60 billion had been granted for approximately 8 million students (ED.gov, 2006).

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