Baccalauréat in the context of Lycée

In France, secondary education is in two stages:

• Collèges (French pronunciation: [kɔlɛʒ]) cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14.
• Lycées (French pronunciation: [lise]) provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between the ages of 15 and 19 (although some lycées host higher education courses like CPGE or BTS). Pupils are prepared for the baccalauréat (French pronunciation: [bakaloʁea]; baccalaureate, colloquially known as bac, previously bachot), which can lead to higher education studies or directly to professional life. There are three main types of baccalauréat: the baccalauréat général, baccalauréat technologique and baccalauréat professionnel.

Education in Iran is centralized and divided into K-12 education plus higher education. Elementary and secondary education is supervised by the Ministry of Education and higher education is under the supervision of Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and Ministry of Health and Medical Education for medical sciences. As of 2016, around 94% of the Iranian adult population is literate. This rate increases to 97% among young adults ages between 15 and 24 without any gender consideration. By 2007, Iran had a student-to-workforce population ratio of 10.2%, standing among the countries with the highest ratio in the world.

Primary school (Dabestân, دبستان) starts at the age of 6 for a duration of six years (previously 5 years). Junior high school (Dabirestân دوره اول دبیرستان), also known as middle school, includes three years of Dabirestân from the seventh to the ninth grade. Senior high school (Dabirestân, دوره دوم دبیرستان), including the last three years (previously 4 years), is mandatory. The student at this level can study theoretical, vocational/technical, or manual fields, each program with its specialties. Ultimately, students are given a high school diploma. The requirement to enter into higher education is to have a high school diploma, and passing the national university entrance examination, Iranian University Entrance Exam (Konkur کنکور), which is similar to the French baccalauréat exam (for most of universities and fields of study). Iran suffers from a problem of over education and falsified academic degrees.

The Classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (French pronunciation: [klas pʁepaʁatwaʁ o ɡʁɑ̃dz‿ekɔl], Higher school preparatory classes, abbr. CPGE), commonly called classes prépas or prépas, are part of the French post-secondary education system. They consist of two years of study (extendable to three or exceptionally four years) which act as an intensive preparatory course (or cram school) with the main goal of training students for enrolment in one of the grandes écoles. Whereas enrollment in public universities in France is open to any school leaver with an adequate baccalauréat, enrollment in the grandes écoles is restricted to the highest-ranked students in a separate national competitive examination. Preparation for this examination entails one of the highest student workloads in Europe (29 to 45 contact hours a week, with up to 10 hours of guided tutorials and oral exam sessions).

The grandes écoles are higher education establishments (graduate schools) delivering master's degrees and rarely doctorates. They include science and engineering schools, business schools, the four veterinary colleges, the four écoles normales supérieures and the École Nationale des Chartes but do not include medical or law schools, nor architecture schools. Because of the competitive entrance exams, having attended one of the grandes écoles is often regarded as a status symbol, as they have traditionally produced most of France's scientists, executives and intellectuals. Each grande école uses one of three different examinations, each with its own prépas: scientific, economic, and literary.

The Brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS) senior technologist’s certificate (in English: "Advanced Technician Certificate") is a national diploma of higher education in France, established in 1959.

The technician certificate is usually earned in two years, after graduating with a "Bac" (baccalauréat) in a section of senior technician (STS) or a general section such as Science, Economics depending on the program. The training curriculum includes periods of internship.

Khâgne (French pronunciation: [kaɲ] ), officially known as classes préparatoires littéraires ([klas pʁepaʁatwaʁ liteʁɛʁ]), is a two-year academic program in the French “post-bac” (≈undergraduate) system, with a specialization in the humanities (A/L) or social science (B/L). It is one of the three main types of Classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles (CPGE, informally classe prépa), contrasting with other CPGE majors such as Maths Sup (fr) in mathematics and engineering, or Prépa HEC (fr) in the business domain.

Strictly speaking, the word khâgne refers to the final year of that program. In fact, the course articulates into two years with separate names: