Sounds like the French system. Largely free (taxpayer-funded) at all levels but if you want to go into the best schools you better bring in your A-game because

Sounds like the French system. Largely free (taxpayer-funded) at all levels but if you want to go into the best schools you better bring in your A-game because entrance requirements it to sit series of 4 hour long tests graded anonymously. You don't have to pretend to be a native American competitive rower who plays the trombone, but you need to know how to calculate Fourier series by hand.