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Key Data on Education in Europe 2005


File number :
IST-DSC-09e

Bibliographic reference :
European Commission (2005). Key Data on Education in Europe 2005. Eurydice, The information network on education in Europe. [On line].
<http://www.eurydice.org/>
Consulted February 13, 2006

Abstract :

Eurydice is a European information network interested in the educational systems and policies of European Union (EU) countries. All teaching levels are taken into account, from preschool to higher education.

This report presents an overview of how the educational systems of 30 European countries function and the participation of students at all teaching levels, based on 153 indicators taken from three sources: the Eurydice network, the Eurostat statistics system and the international PISA databases. Only the last section on graduates and qualification levels is discussed in this abstract.

Intergenerational Comparisons
There are several emerging trends with regard to completion and levels of qualification, particularly concerning lifelong learning across generations.

It has been observed that EU youth are becoming more qualified over time in comparison with previous generations. For instance, only 25% of youths aged 25 to 34 did not have an upper secondary school diploma in 2002 compared to 50% of individuals aged 55 to 64.

This trend is more prevalent in the last ten countries to join the EU (Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia et Slovakia). In these countries, the share of individuals without an upper secondary school diploma was half as high as that of all other EU countries, with every generation considered. More precisely, 11% of youth were without a diploma compared to 38% of individuals aged 55 to 64.

In Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Cyprus, qualification levels improved the most. In countries where the qualification level was already high, particularly in Germany, improvement according to age was less marked.

Southern EU countries exhibited a lower qualification level (less than half of individuals aged 25 to 64) in comparison with other EU countries.

Completion of Upper Secondary Education
In all EU countries, 76% of youths aged 20 to 24 obtained an upper secondary school diploma. This share was 87% in all the latest countries to join the EU.

The situation was more or less the same for all EU countries. Only three countries (Malta, Portugal and Iceland) exhibited a completion rate below 60% and three other countries (Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia) exhibited a completion rate above 90%.

Completion According to Gender
With every generation taken into account, women had a lower qualification level than men; however, this inequality no longer affects young generations. Indeed, there were 134 upper secondary female graduates in 2002 compared to 100 male graduates. Germany, Ireland and Sweden alone exhibited completion rates more or less the same for female and male students.

Generally speaking, the improvement of female students’ qualification level was more marked than that of male students. Consequently, there were fewer women than men aged 25 to 34 without an upper secondary school diploma.

Access to Higher Education
In 2002, about 35.5% of youths aged 20 to 24 did not have the required qualifications to access higher education.

The EU countries with the lowest (below 20%) share of youths aged 20 to 24 unable to access higher education were Estonia, Cyprus, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Conversely, the countries with the highest (above 55%) share of youths aged 20 to 24 unable to access higher education were Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and Iceland.



Links :
http://www.eurydice.org/

Key Words :
Qualification Level, Completion, International Comparisons, Gender, Educational Inequalities, Preschool, Primary, Elementary, Secondary/High School, Newsletter2

Monitored Countries :
European Union (30 countries)