School leaving qualification in the context of "GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)"

The Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) is a provider of secondary school leaving qualifications and further education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. While the 'T' in BTEC stood for Technical, according to the DfE (2016) it now stands for Technology. BTECs originated in 1984 and were awarded by Edexcel from 1996. Their origins lie in the Business Education Council, formed in 1974 to "rationalise and improve the relevance of sub-degree vocational education". They are the responsibility of the Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education in the Department for Education.

A report by the Social Market Foundation in January 2018 found that more than a quarter (26%) of university applicants in England entered HE with at least one BTEC qualification. The research found that BTECs provide a particularly significant route to higher education for specific groups, with almost half students entering university with a BTEC, alongside large numbers of students in specific regions, including the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, North East and West Midlands. This followed a separate report published by HEPI in 2017 on BTECs and higher education.

A high school diploma (sometimes referred to as a high school degree) is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school. A high school diploma is awarded after completion of courses of studies lasting four years, from grade 9 to grade 12. It is the school leaving qualification in the United States and Canada.

The diploma is awarded by the school in accordance with the requirements of the local state or provincial government. Requirements for earning the diploma vary by jurisdiction, and there may be different requirements for different streams or levels of high school graduation. Typically they include a combination of selected coursework meeting specified criteria for a particular stream and acceptable passing grades earned on the state exit examination.

Education in Germany is primarily the responsibility of individual German states (Länder), with the federal government only playing a minor role.

While kindergarten (nursery school) is optional, formal education is compulsory for all children from the age of 6-7. Details vary from state to state. For example, in Bavaria, children need to attend school for a total of 12 years (of which 3 may be for an apprenticeship); while in Brandenburg, school must be attended until the end of the school year in which the pupil turns 18. Students can complete three types of school leaving qualifications, ranging from the more vocational Hauptschulabschluss and Mittlere Reife over to the more academic Abitur. The latter permits students to apply to study at university level. A bachelor's degree is commonly followed up with a master's degree, with 45% of all undergraduates proceeding to postgraduate studies within 1.5 years of graduating. While rules vary (see → § Tuition fees) from Land (state) to Land, German public universities generally don't charge tuition fees.

A European School (Latin: Schola Europaea) is a type of international school emphasising a multilingual and multicultural pedagogical approach to the teaching of nursery, primary and secondary students, leading to the European Baccalaureate as their secondary leaving qualification. Each European School is set up, financed, and operated by the international organisation, the "European Schools", controlled jointly by the member states of the European Union and the European Commission. The schools prioritise, for enrolment purposes, the children of EU staff.

The first European School, founded in Luxembourg, in 1953, had the objective of providing an education to the children of employees of the institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community — a forerunner of today's European Union. Originally, a private initiative of employees of the ECSC, the concept attracted the attention of EU founding father, Jean Monnet as capturing the spirit of the post-war effort to reconcile and integrate Europe.