Education in Libya is free for everyone from elementary school up to university level, at home or abroad. Schools are located throughout the country. The policy is to reach out even to nomadic hard-to-reach areas, and mobile classrooms have been introduced to cover all of Libya.

Libya’s population of approximately 6.31 million includes 1.7 million students, over 270,000 of whom study at tertiary level, including those in the higher technical and vocational sector. This number represents an increase of over 200,000 since 1975, when just over 13,000 were enrolled.

Pre-university schooling is divided into three sections: primary, preparatory and secondary.

The first nine years of education are compulsory and are known as basic education. They consist of six years of primary school and the first three years of secondary school. Primary education covers six years divided into a four-year period and a two-year period, and secondary education covers six to seven years divided into a three-year cycle (compulsory) and a three to four-year intermediate cycle.

The basic level allows students who drop out before completing the full nine years of the opportunity to enrol in vocational programmes of one to three years in length. Intermediate vocational training centres train students for various skills-based professions. Vocational schools offer programmes for 44 different vocations in seven major fields.

Higher education in Libya is provided by universities (both general and specialised) and higher technical and vocational institutions. The higher education system is financed by, and under the authority of, the state. The Open University is the only institution within the public sector that relies to some extent on tuition fees paid by students.

Policymakers have in recent years allowed the establishment of private institutions of higher education through what are known as educational co-operatives (Tasharukiat Talimia). There has also been considerable research into the possibility of developing partnerships between the public (shabiat) and private sectors to finance higher education, which, in a three-year period between 1997 and 2000, resulted in the establishment of more than five private university colleges and higher education institutes.

Education is free up to university level. Post-graduate studies are subsidised. For example, a master’s degree course at the Academy of Postgraduate Studies would cost around 3,000 Libyan dinars or about USD$2,300 for three years.

Selected Education Data

The following table provides a quantitative perspective of some selected system indicators: