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For many people, the U.S. is thought to be an amazing place to get an education. The variety of subjects to study, the diversity on campuses and even the scenery are all points of pride. But many countries go about education a lot differently than America.

In the United Kingdom, it is common for university students to take a year off after high school to spend time working, traveling or just making up their mind on the future they want to have. They then return to school and get their bachelor’s degree in as little as three years. U.S. bachelor degrees typically take four years or more to obtain.

“I feel like right after high school you have a lot of pressure to get right into college and to know exactly what you want, but you have no idea what you really want to do with the rest of your life,” Emily Stewart, a student at Grand View, said. “I took a year off, and I feel like it helped me a lot.”

Other students, such as Hanna Wall, feel that this way of learning could hurt a student’s college experience.

“I would worry that (a three-year bachelor’s degree) would overload students,” Wall said. “For some students, taking a slower pace works best for them.”

For some people, a three year program may have more positives than negatives.

“There’s been a lot of talk in higher education about streamlining some bachelors programs to make them three-year programs,” said Kevin Gannon, director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Grand View. “I see a lot of discussion of students benefiting from a gap year. I think part of the reason you see a different landscape in Britain is (because) the level of public support for higher ed in terms of financial resources in Great Britain is significantly more than it is here.”

Regarding institutional meal plans, in the U.S. most colleges have all-you-can-eat buffet-style cafeterias implemented for students. This is not the norm elsewhere. According to Universitylanguage.com, some other countries have “meal limits” on the amount of food each student may take. Some Grand View students, such as Toni McPhee, said the international norm might actually benefit athletes on campus.

“Coaches want their players eating healthy rather than eating a buffet every day,” McPhee said.

According to Universitylanguage.com, college students around the world are also likely to spend 20-25 hours in class each week, with less time spent on homework outside of class. In America, 12-20 hours a week in a classroom is average.

Grand View student Kendall Walker sided with the way the U.S. does class, and said, “Sometimes it’s nice to do homework outside of the classroom. Trying to do work or write a paper in class isn’t always the best environment.”

Other people, like Gannon, agree with the way other countries do things in the classroom.

“There’s a lot to like in the European higher ed model,” Gannon said. “The classroom contact and the way the courses are structured with lectures and then recitation and tutorials.”

Another significant difference between the U.S. and foreign education is the athletics on college campuses. Here in America, we place a heavy emphasis on the importance of sports in higher education. Having sports in college allows for students to save money through scholarship offers and makes school more enjoyable for many.

The United Kingdom and other foreign countries do not see sports as a priority in higher ed. The universities located there occasionally have sports teams. However, these sports teams offer little to no scholarships for student-athletes and do not compete as much as U.S. schools do.

“Athletics in higher ed in the U.S. is different than most of the world,” Gannon said. “A lot of it is schools competing for enrollment; that’s how schools make their revenue. If we can draw students to campus for academics but also other things, that sustains enrollment.”

So who runs colleges better, the U.S. or international universities? According to Gannon, there is always room for improvement with every education and we should always be looking around for good ideas.

“There are some things that can be very useful, and I would love to see how they work here,” Gannon said.