Chapter 493: Talent and Education

Alexander Fleming and his mentor Wright are just one example; the talent Spain has absorbed from various European countries since the outbreak of the First World War goes far beyond this.

Since European countries are bound to lose a large amount of talent during the World War, Spain naturally cannot let such a good opportunity slip by.

After all, if Spain does not intercept these talents, most of these scientists and technical experts lost from Europe will eventually choose to immigrate to the United States.

Rather than letting the Americans pick up a bargain for nothing, it is better for Spain, as a fellow European country, to reap the benefits. After all, Spain is also a part of Europe, and European people find a prosperous Spain more acceptable than a prosperous United States.

To increase Spain's appeal to these displaced European talents, in addition to wooing scientists from various European countries in the name of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, Yu Kaluo also had various Spanish universities do their utmost to hire scientists and experts from across Europe.

At this time, the term "expert" does not carry the derogatory connotation of later generations; those who could be honored as experts were basically people with certain contributions and abilities in their respective industries.

By inviting them to serve in Spanish universities, it not only helps them avoid the war currently breaking out in Europe but also allows more frustrated scientists to have more opportunities to showcase their talents.

The educational environment in Spain at this time is no longer what it was when Yu Kaluo first became the ruler of Spain. Thanks to the efforts of the Spanish government, the number of universities across Spain has now exceeded three digits, reaching as many as 127.

Among these 127 universities, 86 have relatively singular subjects, 39 are comprehensive universities, and there are 2 church universities.

Church universities are actually universities invested in and established by the Spanish Catholic Church, mainly cultivating knowledge related to religion. A considerable number of graduates from these two church universities will serve in various churches in Spain, which can be considered an important way for the Spanish Church to cultivate religious talent.

The remaining 125 universities either specialize in one or two subjects or cover a variety of subjects, serving as cradles for cultivating talent for all walks of life in Spain.

Unlike the previous university environment in Spain, all current Spanish universities place a higher degree of importance on subjects like physics, chemistry, biomedical science, architectural engineering, and mathematics than on liberal arts subjects.

Among the 86 single-subject universities, 50 focus on the aforementioned science subjects, cultivating a large number of science talents for Spain.

Of the remaining 36 universities, 4 are Spanish military academies, namely the Royal Military Academy of Madrid, the Royal Military Academy of Zaragoza, the Naval Military Academy of Valencia, and the Air Force Military Academy of Madrid.

The remaining 32 universities cover liberal arts categories, including language, philosophy, law, history, and economic management.

Spain's emphasis on science over liberal arts is an inevitability of the era's development.

Compared to the talent cultivated by liberal arts, the current Spain is more in need of talent cultivated by science. After all, the scale of Spain itself is only so large, and it does not need too many liberal arts talents.

On the contrary, science is not only related to industrial development but also linked to various technologies and construction; it is currently the most important and most needed category for development in Spain.

Under these hundred-plus universities, Spain also possesses hundreds of technical schools of various sizes.

After such a long period of development, technical schools have also developed rough classifications, running in parallel with the orthodox education system.

Originally, at the beginning, students graduating from technical schools did not have graduation certificates. Naturally, they did not have corresponding academic qualifications, and their qualifications remained at the highest level possessed within the traditional education system.

Simply put, a primary school graduate who subsequently underwent complete technical school training would still hold a primary school diploma after graduation; there would be no change in terms of academic qualifications.

After so many years of development, Spain's emphasis on technical schools has become increasingly high. Gradually, students graduating from these technical schools have also gradually obtained corresponding academic qualifications.

Of course, there is certainly a distinction between the academic qualifications of technical schools and those of regular higher education institutions.

Technical schools can be divided into two types: basic technical training schools and advanced technical training schools.

The graduates cultivated by these two types of technical schools possess academic qualifications that correspond to junior professional qualifications and senior professional qualifications, respectively.

Junior professional qualifications are equivalent to junior high school qualifications, and senior professional qualifications are equivalent to high school qualifications. This also means that these technical students graduating from technical schools can also apply for high schools and universities under the regular education system.

The current educational environment in Spain is relatively good; from primary school to university, the educational environment can be divided into three stages: primary education, secondary education, and university education.

Primary education lasts for a total of 5 years. In addition to teaching basic knowledge of various subjects, it pays more attention to cultivating students' interests and hobbies and exercising their mental thinking abilities.

After graduating from primary school, students will participate in a unified middle school entrance examination; after passing, they can enroll in 6 years of middle school study.

Middle school for primary school students is not that difficult; as long as they obtain a score above the passing line in the unified middle school entrance examination, the only thing left to worry about is the tuition fee.

And after the 6-year middle school study ends, they also need to participate in a university entrance examination.

University application is different from middle school application. Even if one can obtain a score above the passing line in the university entrance examination, it only represents having the qualification to apply to a university.

One still needs to apply to various Spanish universities and must meet the admission requirements of each university to finally obtain admission qualifications.

Take the Royal Academy of Sciences, which currently has the most prestigious reputation in Spain, as an example. As a comprehensive university established by the Royal Academy of Sciences, the Royal Academy of Sciences has attracted widespread attention at home and abroad since its inception.

Currently, the latest admission requirements for the Royal Academy of Sciences include obtaining excellent grades in the nationwide university entrance examination, as well as an assessment of mental thinking ability and the cultivation of interests and hobbies.

Only upon meeting all the above conditions will one be admitted to the Royal Academy of Sciences. Moreover, there is an upper limit to the number of people admitted to the Royal Academy of Sciences each year; once the admission quota is met, the rest, even if they meet the requirements, can only wait for the next year's university admission.

Although most high school graduates determine their interested majors during high school, there are still some students who have not clarified the direction they are more interested in.

Given this reason, comprehensive universities in Spain have the option to change majors. If one finds that they are not suitable for the chosen major in the first year of university, they can apply to change to other majors within the same school.

As long as one passes the examination, changing majors is very easy.

Of course, to prevent frequent changes of majors, such an opportunity to change majors will only appear once during the transition from freshman to sophomore year; after the sophomore year, changing majors is not allowed unless one can demonstrate extremely strong potential and talent for other majors.

Above the ordinary university degree, there actually exists a higher level of academic qualification, which is the master's degree.