In china,the education is divided into three categories:basic education,higher education,and adult education.The Compulsory Education Law stipulates that each child has nine years of formal education.
Basic education in China includes preschool education,primary education and regular secondary education.Preschool,or kindergarten, can last up to three years ,with children entering as early as age three,until age six,when they typically enter elementary school.
Secondary education is divided into academic secondary education and vocational secondary education.Academic secondary education is delivered by academic lower and upper middle schools.
Lower middle school graduates wishing to continue their education take a locally administered entrance exam,on the basis of which they will have the option either of continuing in an academic upper middle school or of entering a vocational secondary school.Vocational schools offer programs ranging from two to four years and train medium level skilled workers ,farmers,and managerial and technical personnel.Technical schools typically offer four year programs to train intermediate technical personnel.Schools for skilled workers typically train junior middle school graduates for positions requiring production and operation skills.The length of training is typically three years.
Higher education at the undergraduate level includes two-year and three-year junior colleges,and universities offering programs in both academic and vocational subjects.Many colleges and universities also offer graduates programs in both academic and vocational subjects.Many colleges and universities also offer graduates programs leading to the master’s or Ph.D.degree.
Chinese higher education at the undergraduate level is divided into three-year and four-year programs.The former is offered not noly at short-cycle colleges,but frequently also at four-year colleges and universities.The latter is offered at four-year colleges and universities but do not always lead to the bachelor’s degree.
Myriad higher education opportunities also fall under the general category of adult education.
The adult edcation category overlaps all three of the above categories .Adult primary education includes Workers’ Primary Schools ,Peasant’s Primary Schools, and literacy classes.Adult secondary education includes radio/TV specialized secondary schools ,specialized secondary schools for peasants.in-service teacher training schools and correspondence institutes,workers’ colleges,peasant colleges,correspondence colleges and educational colleges.Most of the above offer both two-year and three-year short-cycle curricula;only a few also offer regular undergraduate curricula.