Albania In Albania, a gymnasium () education takes three years following a compulsory nine-year elementary education and ending with a final aptitude test called . The final test is standardized at the state level and serves as an entrance qualification for universities. These can be either public (state-run, tuition-free) or private (fee-paying). The subjects taught are mathematics, Albanian language, one to three foreign languages, history, geography, computer science, the natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics), history of art, music, philosophy, logic, physical education, and the social sciences (sociology, ethics, psychology, politics and economy). The gymnasium is generally viewed as a destination for the best-performing students and as the type of school that serves primarily to prepare students for university. While in European countries a gymnasium tend to be the highest level of high school, in Albania a gymnasium is used to describe high school as a general category. Three quarters of Albanian high school students attend a gymnasium, while just a quarter attend vocational schools.
Austria In Austria the has two stages, from the age of 11 to 14, and from 15 to 18, concluding with
Matura. Historically, three types existed. The focuses on
Ancient Greek and
Latin. The puts its focus on actively spoken languages. The usual combination is English, French, and Latin; sometimes French can be swapped with another foreign language (like Italian, Spanish or Russian). The emphasizes the sciences. In the last few decades, more autonomy has been granted to schools, and various types have been developed, focusing on sports, music, or economics, for example.
Belarus In Belarus, gymnasium is the highest variant of secondary education, which provides advanced knowledge in various subjects. The number of years of instruction at a gymnasium is 11. However, it is possible to cover all required credits in 11 years, by taking additional subjects each semester. In Belarus, gymnasium is generally viewed as a destination for the best-performing students and as the type of school that serves primarily to prepare students for university.
Czech Republic and Slovakia In the
Czech Republic and
Slovakia, (also spelled
gymnasium) is a type of school that provides secondary education. Secondary schools, including , lead to the exam. There are different types of distinguished by the length of study. In the Czech Republic there are eight-year, six-year, and four-year types, and in
Slovakia there are eight-year and four-year types, of which the latter is more common. In both countries, there are also bilingual (Czech or Slovak with English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, or Russian; in Slovakia, bilingual are five-year) and private .
Germany – picture showing church and courtyard ,
West Germany, 1988 German gymnasiums are selective schools. They offer the most academically promising youngsters a quality education that is free in all state-run schools (and generally not above €50/month cost in Church-run schools, though there are some expensive private schools). Gymnasiums may expel students who academically under-perform their classmates or behave in a way that is often seen as undesirable and unacceptable. Historically, the German also included in its overall accelerated curriculum post-secondary education at college level and the degree awarded substituted for the bachelor's degree (Baccalaureate) previously awarded by a college or university so that universities in Germany became exclusively graduate schools. In the United States, the German Gymnasium curriculum was used at a number of prestigious universities, such as the University of Michigan, as a model for their undergraduate college programs. Pupils study subjects such as German, mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, biology, arts, music, physical education, religion, history and
civics/citizenship/
social sciences and
computer science. They are also required to study at least two foreign languages. The usual combinations are English and French or English and
Latin, although many schools make it possible to combine English with another language, most often Spanish,
Ancient Greek, or Russian. Religious education classes are a part of the curricula of all German schools, yet not compulsory; a student or their parents or guardians can conscientiously object to taking them, in which case the student (along with those whose religion is not being taught in the school) is taught
ethics or philosophy. In-state schools, a student who is not baptized into either the Catholic or Protestant faiths is allowed to choose which of these classes to take. The only exception to this is in the
state of
Berlin, where the subject ethics is mandatory for all students and (Christian) religious studies can only be chosen additionally. A similar situation is found in
Brandenburg where the subject life skills, ethics, and religious education () is the primary subject but parents/guardians or students older than 13 can choose to replace it with (Christian) religious studies or take both. The intention behind LER is that students should get an objective insight on questions of personal development and ethics as well as on the major world religions. For younger students nearly the entire curriculum of a gymnasium is compulsory; in higher years additional subjects are available and some of the hitherto compulsory subjects can be dropped, but the choice is not as wide as in other school systems, such as US high schools. Although some specialist gymnasiums have English or French as the language of instruction, at most gymnasiums lessons (apart from foreign language courses) are conducted in
Standard German. The number of years of instruction at a gymnasium differs between the states. It varies between six and seven years in Berlin and
Brandenburg (primary school is six years in both as opposed to four years in the rest of Germany) and eight in
Bavaria,
Hesse and
Baden-Württemberg among others. While in
Saxony and
Thuringia students have never been taught more than eight years in Gymnasium (by default), nearly all states now conduct the examinations, which complete the Gymnasium education, after 13 years of primary school and Gymnasium combined. In addition, some states offer a 12-year curriculum leading to the ''''. These final examinations are now centrally drafted and controlled () in all German states except for
Rhineland-Palatinate and provide a qualification to attend any German university.
Italy In Italy originally the indicated a type of five-year
junior high school (age 11 to 16) and preparing to the three year
Classical Lyceum (age 16 to 19), a high school focusing on
classical studies and
humanities. After the school reform that unified the junior high school system, the term stayed to indicate the first two years of , now five years long. An Italian high school student who enrolls in follows this study path: (gymnasium fourth year, age 14), (gymnasium fifth year, age 15), (lyceum first year, age 16), (lyceum second year, age 17) and (lyceum third year, age 18). Some believe this still has some sense, since the two-year has a differently oriented curriculum from the . students spend the majority of their schooling studying Greek and Latin grammar, laying the bases for the "higher" and more in depth set of studies of the , such as Greek and Latin literature and philosophy. In July 1940 the fascist Minister of National Education
Giuseppe Bottai got a bill of law approved that abolished the first three years of the gymnasium and instituted a unique path of studies for children aged from 12 to 14. The last two years of the gymnasium kept the previous denomination and the related scholastic curriculum for the following decades.
Netherlands In the Netherlands, gymnasium is the highest variant of secondary education, offering the academically most promising youngsters (top 5%) a quality education that is in most cases free (and in other cases at low cost). It consists of six years, after eight years (including
kindergarten) of primary school, in which pupils study the same subjects as their German counterparts, with the addition of compulsory
Ancient Greek,
Latin and (Classical Cultural Education), history of the Ancient Greek and Roman culture and literature. Schools have some freedom in choosing their specific curriculum, with for example Spanish, Philosophy and , a very technical and highly demanding course, being available as final exams. Usually, schools will have all classes mandatory in switching combinations for the first three or so years (with the exception of which is a free choice from the second year onward), after which students will choose their subjects in the directions of Economics and Society, Culture and Society, Nature and Health, Nature and Technology or Technology. The equivalent without classical languages is called , and gives access to the same university studies (although some extra classes are needed when starting a degree in classical languages or theology). All are government-funded. See (in English) for the full article on Dutch "preparatory scientific education".
Nordic and Baltic countries (
Kuopion Lyseo), a gymnasium in
Kuopio, Finland , Estonia In
Denmark,
Estonia, the
Faroe Islands,
Finland,
Greenland,
Iceland,
Latvia,
Norway and
Sweden, gymnasium consists of three years, usually starting at the year the students turn 16 years old after nine or ten years of primary school. In
Lithuania, the gymnasium usually consists of four years of schooling starting at the age of 15–16, the last year roughly corresponding to the first year of
college. Most gymnasiums in the Nordic countries are free.
Universal student grants are also available in certain countries for students over 18. In Denmark (see also
Gymnasium (Denmark)), there are four kinds of gymnasiums:
STX (Regular Examination Programme),
HHX (Higher Business Examination Programme),
HTX (Higher Technical Examination Programme) and
HF (Higher Preparatory Examination Programme). HF is only two years, instead of the three required for STX, HHX, and HTX. All different types of gymnasiums (except for HF) theoretically gives the same eligibility for university. However, because of the different subjects offered, students may be better qualified in an area of further study. E.g. HHX students have subjects that make them more eligible for studies such as business studies or economics at university, while HTX offer applied science and mathematics that benefit studies in Science or Engineering. There is also EUX, which takes four to five years and ends with both the HTX (or HHX for EUX-business) exam and status as a journeyman of a craft. Compared to the somewhat equivalent A-levels in the UK, Danish gymnasiums have more mandatory subjects. The subjects are divided into levels, where A-levels usually run through all three years, B-levels usually two years and C-levels one year (apart from PE which exists as a C-level lasting three years). In
Sweden, there are two different kinds of branches of studies: the first branch focuses on giving a vocational education while the second branch focuses on giving preparation for higher education. While students from both branches can go on to study at a university, students of the vocational branch graduate with a degree within their attended program. There are 18 national programs, 12 vocational and 6 preparatory. In the
Faroe Islands, there are also four kinds of gymnasiums, which are the equivalents of the Danish programmes: (equivalent to STX), (HHX), (HTX) and
HF (HF). and HF are usually located at the same institutions as can be seen in the name of the institute in
Eysturoy: Studentaskúlin og HF-skeiðið í Eysturoy. In
Greenland, there is a single kind of gymnasium, Ilinniarnertuunngorniarneq/Den gymnasiale Uddannelse, that replaced the earlier Greenlandic Secondary Education Programme (GU), the Greenland Higher Commercial Examination Programme (
HHX) and the Greenland education to Higher Technical Examination Programme (
HTX), which were based on the Danish system. This program allows a more flexible Greenland gymnasium, where students based on a common foundation course can choose between different fields of study that meet the individual student's abilities and interests. The course is offered in
Aasiaat,
Nuuk,
Sisimiut and
Qaqortoq, with one in
Ilulissat to be opened in 2015, latest in 2016 if approved by . In Finland, the admissions to gymnasiums are competitive, the accepted people comprising 51% of the age group. The gymnasiums concludes with the
matriculation examination, an exam whose grades are the main criteria for university admissions.
Switzerland In Switzerland, gymnasiums (, ) are selective schools that provide a three- to six-year (depending on the canton) course of advanced secondary education intended to prepare students to attend university. They conclude with a nationally standardized exam, the or , often shortened to "
Matura or
Matur", which if passed allows students to attend a Swiss university. The gymnasiums are operated by the
cantons of Switzerland, and accordingly in many cantons they are called (cantonal school). Several of them offer
bilingual education in English.
Former Yugoslav countries in
Sremski Karlovci,
Serbia in
Zagreb,
Croatia In
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia,
Montenegro,
North Macedonia,
Serbia, and
Slovenia, a gymnasium education takes four years following a compulsory eight or nine-year elementary education and ending with a final aptitude test called
Matura. In these countries, the final test is standardized at the state level and can serve as an entrance qualification for universities. There are either public (state-run and tuition-free), religious (church-run with secular curriculum and tuition-free) or private (fee-paying) gymnasium schools in these countries. The subjects taught are mathematics, the native language, one to three foreign languages, history, geography, informatics (computers), the natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics), history of art, music, philosophy, logic, physical education, and the social sciences (sociology, ethics or religious education, psychology, politics, and economy). Religious studies are optional. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia,
Latin is also a mandatory subject in all gymnasiums, just as
Ancient Greek is, with Latin, in a certain type of gymnasiums called Classical gymnasiums (). In all of the countries, the gymnasium (/) is generally viewed as a destination for best-performing students and as the type of school that serves primarily to prepare students for university studies, while other students go to technical/vocational schools. Therefore, gymnasiums often base their admittance criteria on an entrance exam, elementary school grades, or a combination of the two. ==Countries with gymnasium systems==