My first essay in english :) will anybody check it ?

As I wrote in the title of the post
It's my first essay

Title:POLISH AND AMERICAN TERTIARY EDUCATION
Similarities and Differences between Higher-Education Systems

Although both countries have very distinctive social, economical and geographic background, when it comes to tertiary education, there are evident affinities. Firstly, both education systems insure access to equal educational opportunity for every individual. Secondly, they are offering the same basic graduation levels: bachelor “licencjat”, master “magister” and PhD “doktor”. Thirdly, the duration of one’s study in both countries is approximately the same. Both systems have a lot in common; however it is not as relevant as differences between both of them.

One of the easiest examples of distinction between both tertiary education systems is the yearly academic schedule. Here, the polish norms are much stricter then those applied in USA. In America students begin the year late August or early September and they continue through May or June. In Poland, however, the academic year begins precisely on first October and continues up to 24th June. Both schedules vary also in terms. In America, universities usually have either two terms per academic year (semesters), three terms (trimesters) or four terms (quarters). Polish universities apply only one system of terms, one that divides an academic year into two semesters.

The next example can be noticed in the grading system. Most American universities tend to use letter grades, sometimes with their numerical equivalent. At the end of each term student receives grades, those are used to present his G.P.A. - Grade Point Average. The information about G.P.A. can be used by potential employers in the future. Whenever student receives an “F” (the lowest grade), it means that he will not receive credit points for the failed subject. Credit points are vital to receive a degree diploma in USA. Situation in Poland, however, looks much different. The grading system is based on numeric grades from “one” till “six”, where “one” is the lowest. To pass, one needs to receive at least “three”. On most of the polish universities there is officially ECTS system, but practically it is not been used. There is also no official average grade system but students like to compare their achievements, comparing their grades using easy mathematical equations.

Much more distinctive than examples mentioned above, is the matter of financing higher education institutions in both countries. Polish government universities can be subsided from government funds as well as from local self-governments' budgets. They can also receive donations. That goes the same for American universities. The only difference is that USA, one of the richest countries in the world, can spend much more on education system. Continuing, a huge number of American universities apply yearly fees. According to polish law, government universities cannot apply such a fee. That cuts down a huge source of income. The money from college fees can be used in many ways, upgrading existing student facilities, building new ones and many, many more. This is main reason of opening private universities in Poland, which have wider choice of financing and witch began to be very attractive to students, not only by more advanced facilities but also by very good level of teaching. Sometimes even better than the one, offered by public universities. Private universities apply fees; unfortunately most of ambitious student cannot afford it even though the fees are almost nothing comparing those in USA. Again comes up the economical factor of the country.

Considering the arguments mentioned above, it is fare to say that Polish Tertiary education system needs some years before it can be as good as American one. There should applied changes in financing, grading and credit-point systems, and organization matters. Tertiary education system in America seems to work very good on the first look. Hopefully, when nobody will try to look at it with a magnifying glass, he might see some dirt after all. There is no perfect solution on how to deal with education system.

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please free to give your opinion,
please spare me, I'm new here
constructive critic is welcome
any grammar mistakes ? ( I checked it with word first ofcourse )

Thanks in advance for your time