In the Buddhist system of education, higher education was placed at:

Concept — A tiered education system is described as an ordered set of stages, each stage fixed by the rite that admits a learner to it, the number of years it runs, and the band of subjects it covers. Calling one stage "higher education" is therefore a claim about rank: its position in the sequence equals one more than the number of stages a learner must complete before entering it.

Application — The Buddhist monastic course, in the standard account, ran for about twenty-two years and was organised in two tiers:

1. Pabbajja ("going forth"), taken at about the age of eight, admitted the boy to the vihara as a shramana and opened the elementary tier — roughly twelve years of reading, writing, arithmetic and the basic scriptures.

2. Upasampada, the full ordination that could not be taken before the age of twenty, opened the advanced tier — roughly ten further years of religion, philosophy, logic (Hetuvidya), metaphysics (Abhidharmakosa), medicine (Ayurveda) and military science.

Only the elementary tier precedes the advanced band, so the rank of the advanced band is two: higher education sat at the second level of the system.

Cross-check — The rank holds across both accounts in circulation, and the ordination rites are not themselves stages:

• The two-tier account used in most university course material lists popular or elementary education and then higher education, placing the advanced band second.

• The three-stage account (elementary study at roughly ages six to twelve, advanced study to about twenty, then specialised Bhikshu training) also places the advanced band second, with the specialised stage third.

• Pabbajja and Upasampada are the ceremonies that open the tiers rather than tiers of their own, so no standard account inserts a stage ahead of the advanced band that would push it to a third or fourth rank.

Hence, in the Buddhist system of education, higher education was placed at the second level.