International comparisons in higher education - Education at a Glance 2008 (Autumn 08)
- Summary
- Introduction
- Comparing UK Graduates
- Public and private spending on education
- The International Student Factor
- Subject Choice
- Slow down in science and low levels of women
- Access and Participation
- Further information:
Summary
In this article, Kathrine Jensen from the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) looks at some key findings relating to tertiary1education from the 2008 Education at a Glance report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD. The 2008 report provides a comparable and up-to-date array of indicators on the performance of education systems. The indicators look at who participates in education, what is spent on it and how education systems operate and at the results achieved.
Introduction
Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, highlighted the growing demand for highly qualified workers during the presentation of Education at a Glance 2008:
“Education at a Glance shows not just the individual earnings and employment benefits of better education, but also the growing labour market demand for highly qualified workers: on average, during each of the eight years between 1998 and 2006, 0.5% of the total workforce has shifted to skilled occupations”2
The report presents data and analysis concerning four key areas:
• The output of educational institutions and the impact of learning
• Financial and human resources invested in education
• Access to education, participation and progression
• The learning environment and organisation of schools
The report covers primary, secondary and tertiary education. Some of the key findings are an increase in graduation rate in the UK, the high number of international students in the UK, the continued gender segregation in subject choice, the growth of public and private investment in education and the influence of parent’s socio-economic status on student’s participation in higher education.
Comparing UK Graduates
• The graduation rate for first degree programmes in the UK is 39%, which is above the OECD average of 37%.
• In the UK, 2.2% graduated with an advanced research qualification such as a Ph.D. The OECD average is 1.4%, putting the UK at rank four with Sweden, after Germany, Portugal and Switzerland.
However, more countries are likely to surpass UK graduation rates. The increase in tertiary enrolment between 1995 and 2005, which will influence future graduation rates, was 33% whereas the OECD average level was at 40%. In comparison, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Korea, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic and Sweden and partner countries Brazil, Chile, Estonia and Israel, had an increase in enrolment ranging from 44% to 161% during the same period.
• The private rates of return to tertiary education study in the UK are above average at around 14% for both males and females compared with OECD average rates of 12% for males and 11% for females.
• The UK has the highest private rate of returns to upper secondary education or post-secondary non-tertiary education among the 19 OECD countries with available data
• In the UK, around 80% of those who enter tertiary-type A programmes (and more than 90% in Japan) go on to successfully complete their programme. This is well above the OECD average of 69%
Public and private spending on education
Another interesting finding from the report is that private investment in tertiary education over the last decade rose on average of 186% compared to public investment with an average of 26%. OECD suggests that this represents a marked shift in the ways in which the costs for tertiary education are shared between those who directly benefit and society at large.
• In tertiary education the proportion funded privately varies widely, from less than 5% in Denmark, Finland and Greece, to more than 40% in Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States and in the partner country Israel, and to over 75% in Korea and the partner country Chile.
• Public spending on tertiary education in the UK rose by 48% between 2000 and 2005 accompanied by a 53% increase in private spending.
• The highest spenders on educational institutions are Denmark, Iceland, Korea and the United States, with at least 7% of GDP accounted for by public and private spending on educational institutions, followed by Mexico and New Zealand with more than 6.5%. By contrast, seven out of 28 OECD countries for which data are available spend less than 5% of GDP on educational institutions; in Greece, the figure is 4.2 %.
The International Student Factor
International students make a significant contribution to the tertiary graduate output in the UK. Among tertiary-type A second degrees (mainly Masters programmes) and advanced research programmes (including PhDs), more than one-third of the graduate output can be attributed to international graduates. They make up 36% for tertiary-type A second degrees and 40% for advanced research programmes. In the United Kingdom, universities have been able to generate significant additional income from international students.
Subject Choice
The social sciences, business and law are the major educational fields in most countries. Across OECD countries, they constitute 28% of the overall university level attainment in the population. On average, there are 3.6 times as many individuals with degrees in these fields in the younger cohort (25-34 year olds and 30-39 year olds) entering the labour market than in the older one (55-64 year olds) nearing retirement age. Overall, women represent 54% of new entrants in tertiary education in OECD countries. However, the breakdown by gender varies considerably according to the field of education.
Slow down in science and low levels of women
On one hand, the OECD report shows that in the UK there are some 1 974 people with university-level or advanced research qualifications in science per 100 000 employed 25-34-year-olds, compared with an OECD average of 1 340. On the other hand, a comparison of younger to older age groups with science as a field of study shows that the increase in science graduates over recent decades has been faster in OECD countries on average than in the UK.
The situation in the broad field of sciences differs to that in the other fields of education. Over 77% on average of those entering the field of engineering, manufacturing and construction for the first time are men. This proportion exceeds 85% in Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The proportion of women in this field, although a minority, is highest in Denmark and Iceland at over 30%. Men also account for 76% of new entrants in mathematics and computer science. Table 13 outlines the percentage of women entering the different fields of education.
| All fields of study | Health and welfare | Life sciences, physical sciences & agriculture | Mathematics and computer science | Humanities, arts and education | Social sciences, business, law and services | Engineering, manufacturing and construction | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of women | % of women | % of women | % of women | % of women | % of women | % of women | |
| Australia | 55 | 74 | 52 | 19 | 68 | 53 | 22 |
| Austria | 53 | 66 | 51 | 22 | 72 | 57 | 24 |
| Belgium | 53 | 73 | 45 | 11 | 62 | 53 | 23 |
| Czech Republic | 56 | 77 | 58 | 21 | 71 | 60 | 25 |
| Denmark | 56 | 81 | 46 | 32 | 35 | 50 | 35 |
| Finland | 56 | 89 | 54 | 32 | 74 | 67 | 19 |
| Germany | 55 | 77 | 49 | 35 | 71 | 53 | 16 |
| Hungary | 59 | 77 | 46 | 24 | 70 | 65 | 19 |
| Iceland | 60 | 84 | 59 | 17 | 72 | 59 | 33 |
| Ireland | 54 | 80 | 58 | 30 | 68 | 55 | 13 |
| Italy | 55 | 67 | 56 | 26 | 73 | 54 | 29 |
| Japan | 49 | 62 | 31 | x(5) | 69 | 48 | 13 |
| Korea | 48 | 68 | 46 | 29 | 67 | 44 | 24 |
| Mexico | 50 | 65 | 46 | 35 | 66 | 57 | 24 |
| Netherlands | 53 | 76 | 45 | 10 | 69 | 48 | 15 |
| New Zealand | 58 | 80 | 56 | 34 | 70 | 55 | 23 |
| Norway | 59 | 81 | 57 | 22 | 69 | 56 | 23 |
| Poland | 53 | 75 | 54 | 15 | 68 | 56 | 23 |
| Portugal | 58 | 79 | 60 | 23 | 70 | 56 | 27 |
| Slovak Republic | 57 | 81 | 50 | 18 | 72 | 61 | 28 |
| Spain | 55 | 78 | 50 | 16 | 70 | 59 | 23 |
| Sweden | 56 | 80 | 54 | 27 | 67 | 59 | 25 |
| Switzerland | 47 | 68 | 43 | 16 | 68 | 47 | 13 |
| Turkey | 44 | 62 | 48 | 34 | 50 | 46 | 20 |
| United Kingdom | 59 | 81 | 48 | 28 | 65 | 56 | 19 |
| OECD average | 54 | 75 | 50 | 24 | 68 | 55 | 22 |
| EU19 average | 55 | 77 | 51 | 23 | 69 | 57 | 23 |
Access and Participation
Among the countries providing information on the socio-economic status of students in higher education it appears that inequalities in previous schooling are reflected in the intake of students from less advantaged backgrounds. The countries providing more equitable access to higher education – such as Finland, Ireland and Spain – were also the countries with the most equal between-school performances, as show by data collected in 2000 by OECD PISA. When measuring the socio-economic status of students in higher education by their fathers’ educational background large differences between countries emerge. In many countries, students are substantially more likely to be in higher education if their fathers completed higher education.
• In the UK, 54% of higher education students had a father with a higher education qualification.
Further information:
Direct link to full OECD report which can be downloaded free of charge at www.oecd.org/edu/eag2008
Direct link to the briefing note for the United Kingdom prepared by Andreas Schleicher, Head of Indicators and Analysis Division at the OECD Directorate for Education.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/21/15/41278761.pdf
1 In the OECD report “tertiary-level education” is defined as higher education (HE). This includes vocational courses like HND (Type B) and full-length (duration of more than three years) theory-based degrees (Type A), including bachelor and masters degrees
2 Read the whole speech at http://www.oecd.org/document/2/0,3343,en_2649_34487_41280002_1_1_1_1,00.html
Or view the video at http://www.viewontv.com/oecd/100908_education-at-a-glance-2008/
3 This is an extract of OECD table A2.6. The full table is available online at http://ocde.p4.siteinternet.com/publications/doifiles/962008041P1G002.xls
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