Comparing and Contrasting the Higher Education System of UK and Kuwait

Running head: HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM OF UK AND KUWAIT
Comparing and Contrasting the Higher Education System of UK and Kuwait
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1HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM OF UK AND KUWAIT
Introduction
The report aims at comparing and contrasting the higher education system of United
Kingdom (UK) and Kuwait. The expansion of higher education in UK took place around the
19th century with royal charters awards to some of the Universities and colleges. The later
part of the century witnessed the foundation for the engineering and science colleges that
later amalgamated with the redbrick universities of Bristol, Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool,
Sheffield and Manchester. On the other hand, the literacy rates at Kuwait stands at 94 percent
and hence the country is striving hard in improving the quality of its education at all the
levels. Kuwait has four higher education institutions supported by the state. Each passing
year shows an increase in the number of enrolments for these institutions.
Discussion
United Kingdom (UK) has developed a global importance for the excellence in its higher
education thereby attracting students across the world that makes massive cultural and
economic contribution towards the nation (Hazelkorn 2015). In terms of higher education
UK offers its students world class research and teaching facilities. The colleges and
universities of UK provide high end facilities in terms of science and computer laboratories,
libraries, theatres and sports and music facilities. Most of the higher education courses are
mostly taught by the universities but there are also certain arts institutions, colleges, business
schools and agricultural institutes where it is taught. However, higher education in UK starts
at the age of 18.Students attaining their International Baccalaureate, A-Levels or certain
equivalent qualification have the eligibility of studying in the higher educational institutions
of UK. There exist some excellent higher educational courses of UK that are honoured and

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acknowledged by the academics and employers worldwide. The Higher education
qualifications of UK include (Stephenson and Yorke 2013):
Bachelor Degrees: This is a three year course offered by the institutions of UK
Diplomas: This is a two year diploma course offered by the higher education
institutions of UK
Foundation Degrees: This is Year 0 program aimed at the students wanting to enter
the specific subject areas of engineering and science but do not have the necessary
qualifications.
Postgraduate Degrees: This is known as a Master’s degree and lasts from a period of
one to four years.
Doctoral Degrees: This represents the highest qualification and takes around three to
four years to finish.
According to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), there has
been an increase of 4 percent applicants to the universities of UK. In the year, 2014, around
there were around 580,000 applicants for pursuing higher education.
The higher education courses of UK have modular structure that implies that the
students can opt for a personalized course by choosing units or modules from varied areas of
the subject (Warwick 2014). There is also the option of choosing more than a single subject
as a part of a particular course. However, the structure of the higher education system of UK
is independent and autonomous and not run or owned by the government.