Chapter 493: Talent and Education

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

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

After all, if Spain does not intercept this talent, most of these scientists and technical experts who have left Europe will eventually choose to immigrate to the United States.

Rather than letting the Americans pick up the bargain for nothing, it is better to let Spain, which is also a European country, obtain the benefits. After all, Spain is also a part of Europe, and European people can accept Spanish prosperity more than American prosperity.

In order to increase Spain's attractiveness to these talents lost from Europe, in addition to wooing scientists from various European countries in the name of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, Gao Da also had various Spanish universities do their best to hire scientists and experts from various European countries.

"Expert" at this time does not have the derogatory meaning of later generations; those who can be hailed as experts are basically people who have certain contributions and abilities in their respective industries.

By inviting them to work at Spanish universities, not only can it help them avoid the war currently erupting in Europe, but it can also allow 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 Gao Da first became the ruler of Spain. Through the efforts of the Spanish government, the number of universities in all of Spain has broken through the triple digits, reaching as many as 127.

Among these 127 universities, there are 86 universities with relatively single subjects, 39 comprehensive universities, and 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 portion of the graduates cultivated by these two church universities will serve in various churches in Spain, which is 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 in various industries in Spain.

Different from the previous university environment in Spain, all universities in Spain currently attach more importance to subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, architectural engineering, and mathematics than to liberal arts subjects.

Among the 86 single-subject universities, 50 universities specialize in the above science subjects, cultivating a large number of science talents for Spain.

The remaining 36 universities include 4 Spanish military academies, which are the Ma Deli Royal Military Academy, the Zaragoza Royal Military Academy, the Valencia Naval Military Academy, and the Ma Deli Air Force Military Academy.

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 times.

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

On the contrary, science is not only related to industrial development but also linked to various technologies and construction; it is the category that Spain currently needs to develop most importantly and most urgently.

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

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

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

Simply put, an elementary school graduate who subsequently experienced complete technical school training would still be an elementary school diploma holder after graduation; there would be no change in academic qualifications.

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

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

Technical schools can be divided into two types: basic technical training schools and higher 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 elementary school to university, the educational environment can be divided into three stages: elementary education, secondary education, and university education.

Elementary education lasts for a total of 5 years. In addition to the teaching of basic knowledge in various subjects, it pays more attention to the cultivation of students' interests and hobbies, exercising brain thinking ability.

After graduating from elementary 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 elementary students is not that difficult; as long as they obtain a score above the passing line in the unified middle school entrance examination, the rest is just worrying about tuition fees.

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 for university.

Various universities in Spain still need to be applied for; one must meet the admission requirements of each university to finally obtain admission qualifications.

Take the currently most famous Royal Academy of Science and Technology in Spain as an example. As a comprehensive university established by the Royal Academy of Sciences, the Royal Academy of Science and Technology has attracted extensive attention at home and abroad since its establishment.

The latest admission conditions for the Royal Academy of Science and Technology are that one must obtain excellent grades in the national university entrance examination, and it also examines brain thinking ability and the cultivation of interests and hobbies.

Only under the condition of meeting all the above requirements will one be admitted by the Royal Academy of Science and Technology. Moreover, the Royal Academy of Science and Technology has an upper limit on the number of people admitted each year; once the admission requirement 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 the major they are interested in during high school, there are still some students who have not been able to clarify the direction they are more interested in.

In view of this reason, comprehensive universities in Spain have the option of changing 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 in the same school.

As long as one passes the exam, 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 period from freshman to sophomore year; changing majors is not allowed after sophomore year, unless one can demonstrate extremely strong potential and talent for other majors.

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