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 “Irving, Rob (2011), Matching practices for entry-labor markets – Scotland, MiP Country Profile 3.”

Relevant country background

Medical School graduates seeking to practice medicine in the UK must undertake two-years of a “foundation training programme”. For this purpose they are initially assigned to a “foundation school” by a national matching process overseen by the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO). The country is subdivided, essentially on a regional basis, into 21 foundation schools, of which Scotland is the largest. Details of this national scheme are available here.

Once applicants have been assigned to foundation schools, it is up to each school to decide how to match applicants with available positions. In Scotland, this process is overseen by NHS Education for Scotland (http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/), using a matching scheme known as the Scottish Foundation Allocation Scheme (SFAS) – see [5].

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 (2011), Matching Practices for Elementary Schools – Belgium (French Speaking Region), MiP Country Profile 1.”

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Relevant country background

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 publically funded (as long as they respect the curriculum of one of the communities) and are not allowed to charge registration fees.^[1] Elementary 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 publically funded, but it is not compulsory.