The UK has been ranked second among European countries and sixth place in the global education rankings in new listing compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

South Korea is top, with three other Asian countries and Finland making up the top five.

Higher education and international school tests were included in the ratings, compiled for Pearson by the EIU.

Higher education and international school tests were included in the ratings. Credit: PA

The top 10 education systems, according to the analysis, are as follows:

South Korea

Japan

Sinapore

Hong Kong

Finland

UK

Canada

Netherlands

Ireland

Poland

These latest findings emphasises the success of Asian education systems, with South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Honk Kong rated as the highest performing.

But UK showed a strong performance which ranked sixth, behind only Finland in Europe and ahead of countries such as Germany, France and the United States.