Mongolia's education system has undergone colossal changes in the 20th century. The education reforms during communist times were a stark break with traditional education that was often religious and esoteric. These reforms were modeled on the Soviet education system and greatly expanded access to education for Mongolian citizens. Among the changes was a transition from the traditional Mongolian script, from 1941 to 1946, to the Cyrillic alphabet. Literacy was greatly expanded as most of the population enjoyed free primary school. However, the move to democracy and free markets in the 1990s has had some negative impacts on education in Mongolia, though these setbacks have been ameliorated somewhat by an improving economy and policy reforms. Many adults benefit from the non-formal distance education programmes sponsored by the government in conjunction with foreign NGOs. Today education in Mongolia is overseen by the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science.
In 2020, the Ministry of Education announced its collaboration with Cambridge Assessment International Education to reform the secondary education on par with international standards.
Education today
In June 2011, VSO Mongolia published a report on the education sector which looked at progress, challenges, and future priorities given the current socio-economic changes in Mongolia.Tsolmon Gundenbal & Aliénor Salmon, The Mongolian Education Sector and the Role of International Volunteers, () VSO Mongolia 2011 The report, which was launched to commemorate IYV+10 (10th Anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers), showed that there were numerous opportunities presented by the high level of economic growth, which has brought more resources into the sector. However, it showed that as Mongolia emerges onto the world stage, the disparity between rich and poor could leave many marginalized when it comes to benefiting from education. The report argued that the Mongolian government has made an immense effort to develop the education sector at all levels since its transition to democracy with an admirable openness and willingness to progress towards its further development. This was particularly noted in accommodating for Mongolia's unique country characteristics such as the nomadic lifestyle, low population density in remote areas, and striving toward meeting international standards.
The report also showed that Mongolian people have always valued education over other attributes and have habitually made it their priority to educate their children. Due to these efforts, the findings showed that overall the parents were satisfied with their children’s progress at school. However, there were still many challenges that remain to be tackled. The findings also showed that amongst all stakeholders, there was an overwhelming majority who gave a negative response when asked about the performance of the sector at present; this was in the quality of education (68%), access to education (83%), and the inclusiveness of the system for disadvantaged groups (76%).
In concluding what VSO Mongolia achieved in its education program over the last 20 years, the report showed that international volunteers have and continue to make a significant impact in the development of the education sector. Stakeholders who took part in this research generally held a positive view of the role and influence of the international volunteers, with 67% of respondents regarding them as having played a crucial role in education. While just over half of respondents had an experience of working with international volunteers, 94% of respondents were willing to work with them in the future. At this stage in Mongolia’s development, the relevance and impact of international volunteering were highlighted when addressing these challenges and future priorities in taking the education sector forward to achieve its ultimate goal of "Education for All."
Pre-school education
Mongolia has an extensive, state-financed pre-school education system. There are over 700 state and private kindergartens (name for daycare). During socialist times, every sum had at least one nursery school and a kindergarten. Currently, there are only kindergartens that enroll children over the age of 3. In Ulaanbaatar, there are some privately run nursery schools and kindergartens; many offer language training, for example, Russian.
Primary and secondary education The system for lower-level education in Mongolia has been similar to the one used during communist times, though the government has begun reforms to expand it. The original system included four years of compulsory schooling followed by a further four years of compulsory lower-secondary education. There were then two years of upper-secondary non-compulsory education that either have a vocational, technical, or general education focus. The expansion began in 2004 with the official school entry age dropping from age 8 to 7. A further expansion was set to take place in 2008 with the entry grade level dropping one more year to age 6. The goal is to have a 12-year 6-4-2 system for primary and secondary education."Mongolia." World Bank, June 2007. Retrieved 3 July 2008.
As of 2003, there were 688 primary and secondary schools with about 528,000 students and 20,725 teachers. There were 32 vocational and technical training centers with 20,000 students and over 800 teachers."Education." Mongolian Embassy to the United States. Mongolianembassy.us. No date. Retrieved 3 July 2008. General education starts at age 6. In 2015, Mongolian children enroll in school at the age of six for 12 years (5-4-3) of education.
Schools
As in many post-socialist countries, Mongolia's school system, previously based on the ten-year school, has been shifting towards twelve-year education. The official school entrance age was lowered to six starting in 2008. Compulsory education is nine years. The school year begins on 1 September.
Schools in sum centers usually have boarding schools for pupils from the countryside. Many of these sum schools only go to the ninth grade. Pupils who want to complete secondary school have to attend schools in the aimag centers.
In Ulaanbaatar and cities like Erdenet, there are private schools, though of mixed quality. Ulaanbaatar also has some foreign-language themed public schools, for example for Russian, Chinese, Turkish, English, and German.
In collaboration with Cambridge Assessment International Education, the Ministry of Education has undergone a major educational reform to match with international standards. As a result, numerous public and private schools have been established, offering Cambridge Pathway (Primary, Checkpoint, IGCSE, AS and A levels). Currently, there are three public schools with Cambridge programs, providing the opportunity for students nationwide to access international education while experimenting with and implementing the reform.
According to the ranking of Mongolia's high schools based on university entrance exam results, nine out of ten schools were private (with tuition), while three were Turkish schools. In Ulaanbaatar, there are several private secondary schools that have instruction in English and Mongolian, and just a few that have English-only instruction.
Adult education
Higher education
Higher education in Mongolia came with the communist revolution in the early 20th century and was based on a Soviet model. Since its inception the higher education system has seen significant growth to this day. As of 2003 there were 178 colleges and universities, though only 48 of those were public. However, there were 98,031 students at the public universities compared to 31,197 private students, indicating the continued importance of publicly funded higher education in Mongolia. Under communist rule all higher education was provided free of charge. Since the early 1990s, fees have been introduced, though the government offers grants and scholarships.Baasanjav, Mijid; Munkhbaatar, Begzjav and Lkhamsuren, Udval. "The Changing Structure of Higher Education in Mongolia." World Education News and Reviews. 16.4 (2003). The quality of education in the privately owned institutions is usually perceived as inferior.
There are many universities in Mongolia. The most prominent one is the National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, which was founded in 1942 (as Choybalsan University) with three departments: education, medicine, and veterinary medicine. The faculty was Russian, as was the language of instruction. In 1983 the university's engineering institute and Russian-language teacher training institute became separate establishments, called the Polytechnic Institute and the Institute of Russian Language, respectively. The Polytechnic Institute, with 5,000 students, concentrated on engineering and mining. Mongolian State University, with about 4,000 students, taught pure science and mathematics, social science, economics, and philology. More than 90 percent of the faculty were Mongolian; teachers also came from the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, France, and Britain. Much instruction was in Russian, reflecting the lack of Mongol-language texts in advanced and specialized fields.
Besides Mongolian State University there were seven other institutions of higher learning: the Institute of Medicine, the Institute of Agriculture, the Institute of Economics, the State Pedagogical Institute, the Polytechnic Institute, the Institute of Russian Language, and the Institute of Physical Culture. In the summer, all students had a work semester, in which they helped with the harvest, formed "shock work" teams for construction projects, or went to work in the Soviet Union or another Com-econ country. In early 1989, the education authorities announced that third-year and fourth-year engineering students would be told which enterprise they would be assigned to after graduation, so that their training could be focused on practical ends in mind.
Research and scholarship Scholars suffer from Mongolia’s isolation from the world's knowledge society. Mongolian scholars tend to be dissatisfied with their access to information in general and some are still uncomfortable with online databases. In many cases, university library resources are underdeveloped and not satisfactory to scholars. Furthermore, it may not be possible for scholars to subscribe to professional journals because of cost and language barriers. The most popular ways for scholars to find information are to borrow articles from colleagues, use a library copy, or get a copy from colleagues abroad. About 83% of scholars use the Internet for research, which is about the same percentage of English speakers. The increasing importance of the Internet in research and global academic exchanges has pushed more scholars to favor English over the language that used to dominate Mongolia's academia, Russian.Yadamsuren, Borchuluun. "Report of the Study on Information Needs of Mongolian Scholars." American Center for Mongolian Studies Library. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
Science Mongolia has a tradition of respect for knowledge and wisdom. Chinggis Khaan summoned scholars to The Council of Sages, highly respected helping run the state and domestic and foreign policies. Members were ranked according to function; for instance, some had to record the Khaan’s orders or announce them to the people. In 1264, Chinggis’s grandson Khubilai Khaan founded the Institute of Learned Scholars, from which came the concept of the Academy. Here, all the wise with their own tasks and duties were ranked and named.
Non-formal distance education