Institutional diversity: some trends and some hypotheses

Richard YellandOECD Directorate for Education

OECD/France International ConferenceCNAM, 8-9 December 2008

Tertiary education has been growing for 50 years… but in some

places much faster than others

Growth in all tertiary qualificationsThe percentage of persons with a minimum of 2 years of tertiary education born in the

period shown below (2005)

EAG, 2007 A1.3a

Tertiary education is expensive to provide…but in some places more

so than in others

B6.2

Expenditure on educational core services, R&D and ancillary services in higher education institutions as

a percentage of GDP (2004)% of GDP

1. Some levels of education are included with others. 2. Total expenditure at tertiary level including R&D expenditure3. Year of reference 2005.4. Total expenditure at tertiary level excluding R&D expenditure

The US spends more than twice as much per higher education student as the European Union.

Higher education is becoming an increasingly international concern

… especially in the English-speaking countries

Student mobility in tertiary education (2005)Percentage of international students enrolled in tertiary education

C3.1Note: The data on the mobility of international students presented are not comparable with data on foreign students in tertiary education (defined on the basis of citizenship) presented in pre-2006 editions of Education at a Glance .

There are big differences in what students are expected to pay,

although fees are not the only cost factor for students and their families

Average annual tuition feescharged by public colleges and universities for full-time national

studentsin US Dollars converted using PPPs (school year 2004/2005)

Italy (56%)Austria (37%), Spain (43%),

Czech Republic (41%), Denmark (57%), Finland (73%), Ireland (45%), Iceland (45%), Norway (76%), Poland (76%), Sweden (76%)

Canada (m)

Israel1 (55%)

Australia (82%), Japan (41%), Korea (51%)

United Kingdom1 (52%)New Zealand (79%), Netherland1s (59%)

United States (64%)

Belgium (Fr. and Fl.) (33%)

Turkey (27%), France (m)

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B5.11. Public institutions do not exist at this level of education and most of the students are enrolled in government dependent institutions.

This chart does not take into account grants, subsidies or loans that partially or fully offset the students’ tuition fees.

Although institutions have grown in size, the number of higher education

institutions has grown ,from about 1000 in 1955, and about 5000 in

1970 to maybe 17000 today

This growth in numbers has been accompanied by a diversification of

institutional type

Growth in the number of higher education institutions 1955-2004

What do we know about the future?

• Wealthy, ageing and diverse Societies

• The global knowledge economy

• The expanding web

• Social and cultural change

• Economic crisisTrends shaping education, OECD 2008

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A11.1

Policy futures: a focus on quality

• OECD Education Ministers’ meeting Athens June 2006

• OECD/UNESCO guidelines on cross-border tertiary education

• Proposed international assessment of higher education outcomes

– Experts’ meetings– Feasibility study

• IMHE Conference Paris 8-10 September 2008– Outcomes of higher education: quality, relevance and

impact

The challenge for higher education

• Improving access while maintaining and improving quality

– addressing the needs of the twenty-first century for human capital and innovation

– securing adequate funding– Improving efficiency

What are the implications for institutional differentiation?

• Factors that foster diversity– History– Location– Growth– Competition– Demand– Autonomy

• Factors that foster homogeneity– Rankings– Internationalisation– Regulation– Accountability

The problem we have to resolve

• Finding reliable and practical ways to value the various outputs of higher education so that diversity of institutional mission can be achieved without reinforcing hierarchies between institutions. – Can we do this without creating an excessive

administrative burden or causing new distortions?

Thank you

www.oecd.org/higher