Difference between Education in Germany and China - Essay Example

Education in Germany vs. Education in China Introduction Education is referred as the most important form of learning that can be transferred from one generation to another. Through education, skills and knowledge are imparted over generations by way of training and teaching. Education is provided to individuals with the help and guidance of others and can also be autodidactic. It is basically subdivided into many stages, namely pre-school, primary, secondary school, college and lastly, university (Li, 2013; KPMG, 2010). The right of individual to get educated is recognised by several governments, who have supported building of a strong educational system. This has allowed every individual to get educated and encourage others to join educational institutions so as to acquire knowledge and skills. Education enlightens thoughts and beliefs of individuals, making them eligible for this competitive world. So, education is encouraged by every developing and developed country since they require highly educated workface for its industries in order to add value to the economy (Li, 2013; KPMG, 2010). Germany and China forms two different systems and follow individual traditions. Both the countries are approaching globalisation and have already encountered a number of challenges, which have strengthened their determination towards overcoming any further issues. China is identified as a booming market for future generation and Germany as the driving force of economy in Europe (KPMG, 2010; Rudolph, 2014). The countries in order to maintain this position try to employ the best and modern technology, which provides them the support to stay ahead of other nations. For maintaining best technology and apply most apt process, efficient employees are required. The employees are basically residents of the countries who give in their full effort for contributing to companies wherein they work as well as development of the economy (KPMG, 2010). Education in China and Germany The famous slogan “Education needs modernization and modernization needs education” (KPMG, 2010) highlights the problems encountered by China. The country is experiencing stages of rapid transformation from an agrarian society to modern and globalised economy. However, it is observed that education has always been given high priority in China. Globalization and invention of advanced technology have escalated the procedure, which had commenced in 1979 with Third Conference of the Eleventh Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party (KPMG, 2010). Modernization is highly dependent on development of economy, which basically concentrates on trade of goods and services. To develop a modernized society in China, a strong education system is promoted so as to inject skills and knowledge in the Chinese students, thereby creating a bright future for the country. Various researches have indicated that economic history of China is defined on grounds of the ratio of education funding to Gross Domestic Product. The ratio is identified to have increased from 3.4 % in 1997 to 5.1 % in 2002 (KPMG, 2010; The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2014). The striking increase in the funds for educational system has encouraged formal education. The Chinese economy has transformed from planned to market economy. The transformation is basically supported by educational services, which are encouraged by the country. The educational horizon has expanded over the last 15 years (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2014). It can be observed that ten years earlier, Master in Business Administration (MBA) was unknown, but post-2004, there were around 47,000 MBA students, who have been trained by 62 MBA schools (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2014). It is worthy to mention that being a developed nation, the education system of Germany is quite strong than that of other countries. The Ministry of Germany ensure that financial allocation is appropriate for growing educational expenditure all over Germany. So, as per governmental regulations, educational institutions need to make higher amount of investments compared to that of their regular revenue. The investment program, on part of the government, aimed to account for 4% of GDP at a particular period of time (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2014). The time set by government is one year, within which development and improvement is expected to materialize in overall education system of Germany. All these investments are particularly directed at enhancing compulsory education system of Germany. This marks a huge change in the educational system, which were made possible by the reforms (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2014). The non-compulsory education in Germany has already adopted a shared-cost mechanism. It charges tuition fee as a percentage of the cost. The educational system of Germany ensures that even the low-income group of individuals are able to enjoy the benefit of receiving education and subsequently gain knowledge from best sources possible. The government has started to take initiatives, which will support the policies encompassing reforms that have been made. Proper subsidies are allowed to students who cannot afford higher tuition fees and scholarships are also offered to meritorious students (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2014; Winands, 2011). Comparison between education in Germany and China The comparison drawn between the education systems in China and Germany highlight certain elements that are vital for evaluating their performance. The most important elements are social and cultural factors. In general, schools closely and largely depict the social patterns, which are prevalent in a country. The educational system all over the world is viewed as a social factor, which highlights ethos of individuals living in respective societies and benefits of their education system. It is observed that the primary aim of few developed countries is to encourage education system for improving and promoting the wide scope in employment to citizens, which in turn effectively liberates them, helping to earn their livelihoods. However, developing countries have also encouraged education, yet in comparison to developed nations, they have long way to go (Li, 2013). Germany is regarded as one of the developed nations in the world. Germany has developed an educated society in order to discourage tendencies of unemployment. It has concentrated upon building talented and skilled workforce, who can serve the nation responsibly. Germany has shaped new vocational educational system, which inspires other nations to adopt the same so as to make their students capable for employment (Rudolph, 2014). China is a developing nation, where education was not provided to all because of a large population. Nonetheless, the Chinese government has helped to increase the literacy rate by undertaking reforms for improving the whole educational system. Unlike Germany, China does not have a strong education system, which is required to support the earning of every individual. It is a developing nation and thus, has the urge to transform into a developed one, thereby enjoying the benefits (Rudolph, 2014). The population of China is a major problem that is being encountered. The lower class family cannot afford to send their children to colleges for receive higher education. Instead, they are forced to work at a young age without any scope of education and as a result, lose interest towards the same. Education could have enlightened their lives and increase the scope of employment for every individual (Rudolph, 2014). However, the education system had failed to deliver education in an appropriate manner to citizens of China. Unlike Germany, scope of employment in multinationals and well-known companies in China is limited since citizens lack basic skills and talents. Thus, China produces large number of cheap labour who is less educated and is only trained for specific tasks. Another important element of education is culture. Through cultural continuity, growth and development of national characteristics act as a stabilizing force (Winands, 2011). Culture can be defined as the way of living in a society. Every society worldwide consists of human beings and culture prevailing there highlights nature of their educational systems. The cultural factor in education system aims at protecting tradition of society and country as a whole so that sentiments and feelings of individuals are unaffected by any event. If close study and analysis is made pertaining to the education system, it will reveal that cultural factor is the most important one, which drives community and moral of individuals (Winands, 2011). Conclusion China is a developing country and Germany is already a developed country; hence, drawing a comparison between both the education systems is considerable to a great extent. The education system of Germany is well-structured and managed and that of China, needs more improvement in order to encompass the huge population under its umbrella. From the above discussion, I have learnt that the education market has escalated to a great extent with the boom for training and examination of professionals in context of computer and foreign languages. I have noticed that the increase in investment towards education in recent years has also been widely noticed. Since 1988, the budget for education has increased by 1% every year, which is indicative of the fact the Chinese government has concentrated upon improving the educational system to a great extent. As per my opinion, the programs organised by Ministry of Education have definitely encouraged the government to set up an educational finance system, which will run parallel to the public finance system. Hence, this will strengthen responsibility and sincerity of the government towards people of all levels in the society. According to my researches, I am confident about the fact that China fails to produce highly skilled and talented workforce due to the lack of proper education system. Though the Chinese government has promised to encourage investment in education, yet the system has been unable to draw in more students encompassing entire mass of China. The reforms have been directed towards improving the situation, but have failed to accomplish the same. So, I can sate that the educational system of Germany plays an important role in building a developed nation with a skilled and talented workforce. I have identified that in many countries the students do not respect teachers as had been in the earlier scenario. According to my opinion, the trait has clearly undergone a drastic cultural change. Even parents or guardians of these students do not pay due respect or show gratitude towards teachers. Such tendencies indicated the fact that relation between parents and children are inadequate and their behaviour towards each other has also changed over the years. From the discussion above I have understood that culture of people changes with time at a slow pace. However, there are certain values within a culture, which are not influenced by place and time. Lack of cultural elements can slow down implementation of essential reforms in a particular society. Thus, according to my opinion, this parity in culture is seen in Germany and China, which have proved greatly detrimental to the education system. Reference List KPMG, 2010. Education in China. [pdf] KPMG. Available at: [Accessed 17 May 2014]. Li, J., 2013. Pre-vocational education in Germany and China: a comparison of curricula and its implication. Berlin: Springer. Rudolph, H., 2014. The German educational system as a Role Model for Vocational Training in Republican China. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 May 2014]. The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2014. Much To Learn. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 May 2014]. Winands, G., 2011. Education in Germany - Current Developments. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 May 2014]. Read More