Scholarship Programs in Major Countries In the Unite States, it is reported that about one fourth of the superior students who were ranked in the top 25 pet cent of pupils of an upper secondary school give up their wish to go on to institutions of higher education, inspire of the considetable increases in recent years in the number of applicants to universities and colleges. Under the circumstances, the system of providing undergraduate students with loans and students of graduate schools with fellowships, has been established on the basis of the National Defence Education Act of 1958. In the United Kingdom, pupils under 15 years old who are enrolled in compulsory education, are provided with study aids mainly by means of exemption front tuition and boarding expenses, while those who have entered the university upon passing the examination for the General Certificate of Education are eligible automatically for scholarships. The special examination for selection of applicants was recently abolished in an effort to lay stress on the economic situations of the pupils. In addition to the scholarships French students are provided with such welfare facilities as student hostels, health insurance, sanatoria, etc., all of which are managed with subsidies from the State.
University refectories are best furnished.
The per cent of younger and less-experienced teachers is higher in such schools than the averages throughout the country. The numbers of pupils from needy families and semi-needy families and pupils absent from school for a long period also show a fairly high rate in these areas, as compared with the national averages. Schools in isolated areas are found more in such prefectures as Hokkaido, Kochi, Wakayama, Nagasaki, Ehime, Oita, etc. In particular, more than half of the elementary and lower secondary schools in isolated areas are located in Hokkaido. In-service teacher training has also been provided by holding special seminars and training courses.