This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Calsamiglia, Caterina (2014), Matching Practices for elementary and secondary Schools – Spain, MiP Country Profile 17.”
A seat in a public school is guaranteed to every child starting at age 3. That is when families enroll their children to school, since most schools include both preschool and primary school. School becomes compulsory in primary school, which starts at age 6, but more than 95% of the children attend school earlier. Most public schools include either preschool and primary school, or secondary school. This implies that at the end of primary school children need to be reallocated to a secondary school.
This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Hiller, Victor and Olivier Tercieux (2013), Matching practices in secondary schools – France, MiP Country Profile 16.”
The French education system is divided into public schools and private schools. Overall 85% of primary school students and 80% of secondary school students attend public school (this has been a rather stable proportion over the last decade).[1] Private schools are mostly made of schools that have a contract with the State, which specifies that they should respect the official curriculum (in return, teachers are paid by the State) – these are mainly catholic schools. A small proportion of private schools do not have such a contract (because they do not respect the curriculum) and rely on a strong financial participation of families.
This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Manlove, David (2012), Matching Practices for Primary and Secondary Schools – Scotland, MiP Country Profile 12.”
Attendance at primary and secondary school in Scotland is compulsory for all children aged between the ages of 4-16. To start primary school in the August intake a child must have reached 4 on or before the 28 (or 29) February of the same year. Parents can defer entry to primary school for a year for children who are 4 years old between 31 December and 28 (or 29) February, at the discretion of the local authority. To start secondary school in the August intake, a child must usually have reached 11 on or before the 28 (or 29) February of the same year. General education policy is determined at a national level by the Scottish Government and is implemented at a local level by the Scottish local authorities (there are currently 32 of these). Admission to schools is devolved to local authorities.
This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Merlino, Luca Paolo and Antonio Nicoló(2012), University admissions practices – Italy,MiP Country Profile 15.”
Students typically enter university at age 19 in Italy, one year later than in most EU countries. Following the Bologna harmonization process, universities are organized in a first cycle of 3 years (BA), followed by a 2-year secondary cycle of two years (MA).
This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Merlino, Luca Paolo and Antonio Nicoló (2012), Matching practices for Elementary Schools – Italy, MiP Country Profile 13.”
The Italian school system is governed by the central government that defines the schools’ organization, the curriculum, and allocates funds to schools, primarily based on the number of students. Nonetheless schools have, since 2000, been granted some autonomy regarding the curriculum, the day schedule, the material taught and extra-curriculum activities. They can do this also in collaboration with other schools, e.g., through school networks. The autonomy of organization is higher in the 5 regions that have a special autonomous status (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-Alto Adige and Valle d’Aosta) and (in some cases) recognized languages other than Italian taught in schools.
This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Kübler, Dorothea (2011), University admission practices – Germany, MiP Country Profile 2.”
Education in Germany is only partially regulated at the national level through federal law (Hochschulrahmengesetz, HRG). Most issues of education are determined by the 16 German states (Bundesländer). Thus, each state has its own law that complements the federal rules (e.g. Berliner Hochschulgesetz (Berl HG) or Bayerisches Hochschulgesetz (BayHSchG)).
This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Merlino, Luca Paolo and Antonio Nicoló(2012), Matching practices for Secondary Schools – Italy, MiP Country Profile 14.”
The Italian school system is governed by the central government that defines the schools’ organization, the curriculum, and allocates funds to schools, primarily based on the number of students. Nonetheless schools have, since 2000, been granted some autonomy regarding the curriculum, the organization of the day, the material taught and extra-curriculum activities. They can do this also in collaboration with other schools, e.g., through school networks. The autonomy of organization is higher in the 5 regions that have a special autonomous status (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-Alto Adige and Valle d’Aosta) and (in some cases) recognized languages other than Italian taught in schools.
This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Chen, Li (2012), Matching Practices for Secondary Schools – Ireland, MiP Country Profile 11.”
In Ireland, secondary education (sometimes referred to as post-primary) caters students in the 12 to 18 years old group. Students start with the 3-year junior cycle study, followed by the 2-year senior cycle study. They can take an optional 1-year transitional study to bridge the two cycles, which leads to 5 years or 6 years in total for the secondary education. An evaluation test takes place at the end of each of the two major cycles (i.e. junior and senior cycles). The results obtained on the Leaving Certificate Examinations at the end of senior cycle year are important criteria for admission at universities.
This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Cantillon, Estelle (2015), Belgium (French-Speaking Region), MiP Country Profile 12 .”
Education policies in Belgium are organized at the (language) community level. There are three language communities in Belgium: Dutch (Flemish Community), French and German. The Flemish Community and the French-speaking Community share responsibility for the delivery of education in the bilingual Brussels Capital Region and thus the two education systems overlap in Brussels (in addition to the European school system).
School education is compulsory and free from age 6 to age 18. Schools are all publicly funded (as long as they respect the curriculum of one of the communities) and are not allowed to charge registration fees. [1] Primary school covers age 6 to 12. Secondary school covers age from 12 to 18. Preschool for children aged 2.5 and above is also offered and publicly funded, but it is not compulsory.
The members of Matching in Practice are involved in a large-scale mapping of matching practices in education and related markets in Europe. If you have comments on some of the descriptions included herein or want to contribute comments or expertise, please contact us.
In practice, there are many other markets that are connected to education markets and several of them are regulated in some form. These include the market for daycare places, the market for teachers, which is centralized or semi-centralized in some countries, and the allocation of young graduates to internship positions that are an intrinsic part of their training (clerk positions for lawyers and medical internships for doctors). This page describes some of these practices.
Countries or regions with available information are coloured blue, please click on each country or region for related profile. A list of profiles on related markets can be found here.
UK (Scotland)
What is allocated?
Foundation training program.
Who is in charge?
NHS Education for Scotland; the matching scheme is run in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow (Rob Irving & David Manlove).
Restrictions on preference
Applicants must provide a preference list of a specified length, currently 10.
Matching procedure
A heuristic to find a stable matching in the presence of couples.
Priorities & Quotas
Applicants are ranked globally by score; quotas are decided by individual units.
Tie-breaking
random tie-breaking, but with repetition in an attempt to maximize the size of matching
Other features
Couples are accommodated.
France
What is allocated?
Teaching positions in public schools.
Who is in charge?
The central administration for the inter-regional phase.
Regions for the intra-regional phase.
Restrictions on preference
Inter-region mobility: no restrictions. Intra-region mobility: at most 20 schools (or cities, department…) ranked.
Matching procedure
The assignment uses a variant of the school-proposing deferred acceptance algorithm, followed by cycles.
Priorities & Quotas
There are no quotas. A point system, based on legal criteria and individual characteristics, is used to rank teachers.
Tie-breaking
Inter-region mobility: date of birth (rarely used given the numerous criteria entering priorities over teachers) Intra-region mobility: teachers have the possibility to rank large geographic areas. Tie-breaking might be used to select a school within this area.
Israel
What is allocated?
Medical internships.
Who is in charge?
The Ministry of Health and a committee elected by the student body.
Restrictions on preference
Students must rank all hospitals.
Matching procedure
Variant of competitive equilibrium with equal incomes (CEEI).
Priorities & Quotas
Proportional to hospitals’ size, and extra for periphery.
Other features
Couples are to the same hospital.
Germany
What is allocated?
Trainee teacher positions
Who is in charge?
Ministries of Education at the state level
Restrictions on preference
Preference lists limited to three to four teacher seminars
Matching procedure
Varies across states; commonly serial-dictatorship, first-preference-first or combinations of both
Priorities & Quotas
States set legal framework and provide priority criteria and quotas
Tie-breaking
Varies. Seminars mostly use subordinate criteria such as subject combination and a lottery as last option
Other features
Consideration of social scores in priority rankings varies between states
