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Study and find schools in Greenland

Click on one of the following types of study for Greenland:

Cities to study in Greenland

Nuuk

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, and is situated between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, just east of the Canadian Archipelago.  Although physically a part of North America due to its location, the country has been much more politically and culturally associated with Europe, particularly the countries of Norway and later Denmark, for more than one thousand years.  With a total geographic land area of just over 836,000 square miles, Greenland is the largest island in the world that is not a continent, and with a population of merely 57,000, or .07 inhabitants per square mile, it is by far the least densely populated country or dependency in the world.  The capital and largest city in Greenland is Nuuk, previously known as Godthab.
 
From an ethnic standpoint, Greece is fairly homogenous, with over 88 percent of the total population being Kalaallit, or Greenlandic Inuit—native Greenlanders with roots dating back over 5,000 years.  The remaining 12 percent of the population consists mostly of people from Northern Europe, particularly the Danish, who account for the largest minority in the country.  Greenland has a notoriously frigid climate, and most of the population lives in the southern and western portions of the main island, along the fjords where the climate is mild in comparison to other regions. 15,000 Greenland inhabitants, or roughly 26 percent of the population, live in the capital city of Nuuk.  Although Greenlandic is the official language of Greenland, since the establishment of the home rule in 1979, both Greenlandic and Dutch have been used in the country’s official dealings, and the majority of the population can now speak both languages fluently.  Christianity is practiced by nearly 90 percent of the population, most of whom are Lutherans and members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark.
 
Education in Greenland
 
Education in Greenland is the responsibility of the national government and is free and compulsory for students between the ages of 7 and 16.  The system is divided into four distinct stages:  primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education and higher education, the latter of which is conducted at two distinct types of institutions:  universities and polytechnics.
 
Primary and lower secondary education are the only two compulsory levels in Greenland.  These two types of schools provide a broad academic curriculum, in which students receive instruction in subjects such as reading, writing, mathematics, Greenlandic and Danish language arts and culture, science, history, geography, music, art and sport.  Upper secondary education, while not compulsory, consists of institutions that provide either academic instruction or vocational training, the former preparing students for university admission, and the latter giving students the vocational and technical training they’ll need to perform specific functions in careers important to the Greenlandic economy.
 
Higher education in Greenland consists of one major university and several polytechnics.  Both types of institutions, similar to institutions in Europe, have recently restructured their credit and degree system to make it easier for students to transfer between universities throughout Europe and North America.  The new degree structure is three-tiered, consisting of a three-year Bachelor degree program, a two-year Master’s degree program and a doctorate or PhD-level degree track that spans 3-5 years depending on the subject area.
 
Recognizing the relatively low educational attainment of its citizens and the affect it was having on economic and human development, the Parliament of Greenland, in 2005, adopted the Greenland Education Program (GEP), whose focus is to ensure at least two-thirds of the eligible workforce has an appropriate education, one that provides them with either the advanced academic knowledge or vocational skills needed to further the interests of the country.  Prior to its enactment, the majority of students in Greenland concluded their education following lower secondary school, the last compulsory stage of education, but since that time, increased focus has been placed on upper secondary, polytechnic and university education, as well as distance education for those students who live in the more remote areas of the country.