Mongolia's education system has undergone major changes in the past 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 Soviet education systems 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 some by an improving economy and policy reforms. Many adults benefit from the non-formal distance education programs sponsored by the government in conjunction with foreign NGOs. Today education in Mongolia is overseen by the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science.
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.[1] 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 marginalised 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 towards 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 programme 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 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 was highlighted when addressing these challenges and future priorities in taking the education sector forward to achieve its ultimate goal of "Education for All."
Mongolia has an extensive, state-financed pre-school education system. There are over 700 state and private kindergartens (name for day care). 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.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.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.
As in many post-socialist countries, Mongolia's school system, previously based on the ten-year school, has been shifting towards eleven years of education. The official school entrance age was lowered to six starting in 2008. Compulsory education is eight 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 eighth 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.
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.
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 90s, fees have been introduced, though the government offers grants and scholarships. The quality of education in the privately owned institutions is usually perceived as inferior.[citation needed]
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 with practical ends in mind.