Higher Education: Trends and Challenges

by Dr. Jarl BengtssonCounsellor and Head of the Centre for Educational

Research and Innovation (CERI), OECD

• OECD 30 countries covering the 3 main geo-economic parts of the world, i.e. EU, NAFTA, and the Pacific;

• E in OECD means economics not education;• Work on education at OECD horizontally linked to the

economy, labour market, science and technology• Education priority for OECD;• OECD Secretary-General Mr. D. Johnston “Education

should be the priority of priorities”;• Education priorities for OECD Ministers of Education:

•1996 Lifelong learning for all•2001 Investment in competencies for all

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Presentation is set out in three parts

• Higher education -- some basic trends

• Challenges for higher education in the new millenium

• After the Humboldt university tradition: what is next?

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• OECD Education at a Glance: the reference for international comparison•input data•process data•output data

Higher Education - Some Basic Trends

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•Participation in Higher Education OECD countries

• 1 in 4 young people enter higher education

• 20% growth 1990-97 in all but 5 OECD countries

• in 8 countries more than 50%(Data from Education at a Glance 2000, OECD)

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•Success and failure in higher education•On average, 1/3 of all entrants leave without completing a degree•Great variations between countries:

•Japan, UK: 80-100% complete courses•U.S. Germany: 60-80%•France, Portugal, Turkey: 40-60%•Italy: 20-40%

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•Funding and spending in education general• in general most public but increasingly private

funding•77: public•23% private

• public expenditure on education grew faster than GDP in most OECD countries during the 90s from 5.2% to 5.8% of GDP

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• Spending on higher education grew fastest during 90s but enrolment even more so:

•spending growth on average 28%•but enrolments increased by 40%

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• Average spending per student in US dollars:

•Early childhood………………..3463

• Primary………………………..3851

•Lower secondary……………….4791

•Upper secondary………………..5790

•Tertiary (non university)………..7295

•University……………………….8434

Denmark - 1.5 more on higher education than on primary; the US, Mexico, Australia, and Ireland 3 times more.

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• Returns to higher education•great individual returns “ University premium”

ranging from 20-40% (Australia, Denmark and Sweden) to 80-100% (Portugal and USA)

•but greater social returns to secondary education - social returns (i.e. better health, lower crime, economic growth and social cohesion) are generally higher from upper secondary education than university education*

*Human Capital Investment, OECD, 1998

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• The global picture of higher education•Gross enrolment 1990s*

•secondary education in developing countries 54%•secondary education in OECD countries 100%•tertiary level in developing countries 9%•tertiary level in OECD countries 64%

*Human development Report 2001, UNDP

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• High quality /quantity of secondary education needed for increasing enrolment in higher education - ex. Singapore, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong

• Importance of SMT subjects (science, maths, technology) i.e. four “ tigers” 3 million students of which 1 million in SMT

• Where to find resources to finance campus-based higher education in less developed countries? (2-3% of age cohort to 25-30% of age cohort)

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• The advantages of international comparisons in education

•move the debate towards an assessment of outcomes rather than inputs like education budgets

•provide benchmarking measures for counties ‘ own progress and in comparasion to others

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Challenges for higher education in the new millenium

•The emerging knowledge economy•different interpretations of new economy

•casino•new synergy; old and new economics•knowledge-based economy

•knowledge the driving force in the new economy (OECD growth project)

•huge returns to its investment, particularly if coupled to take full advantage of ICT

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•The emerging knowledge economy (continued)• Private sector competition from access to new

technology through best trained work force to competition in knowledge production, mediation and use.

• Competition in explicit and tacit knowledge• A new dilemma between sharing knowledge and

intellectual property rights• The bottom line - university knowledge monopoly

coming to an end.

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• Internationalisation of higher education and the penetration of ICT

•trade in education services WTO/OECD

•e-learning and an emerging international market of higher education

•quality control and assessment in the new market

•OECD ongoing work through fora involving four stakeholders: government; university; private sector; and students

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• Demographic development and the imperative of lifelong learning in higher education

• OECD countries ageing population, but produce 70% of world goods and services with 16% of world population

• age structure of population: 1950-2050*: Elderly share: 1950 2050 OECD 8% 25-30% Developing countries 0.3% 15% Youth share: 1950 2050 OECD 27% 15% Developing countries 38% 20%*UN Population Prospects 1050-2050, UN, 1998)

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•Demographic development and the imperative of lifelong learning in higher education (continued)

•2025 most students in higher education above 25 years of age

•major challenge for higher education in lifelong learning

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• Partnership•Difference in R&D spending public/private sectors

•75% private

•25% public

•The need for partnership in research

•The need for links between research and teaching also through partnerships

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• 800 years of history and experience• From teaching university through research university to a

new challenge of services to society•the teaching university - young students of school age,

main function conservative, to safeguard received knowledge and provide elite training, limited number subjects

•the research university - the 19th century scientific revolution, mature student, unlimited search for truth in many subjects. The Humboldt tradition is born

•the addition of the objective of providing services to society in second part of the 20th century

After the Humboldt university tradition, what is next?

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• The critical issue of university governance - New partners of the Board

• Academic freedom and academic responsibility - the need for a new balance

•800 years thanks to support from society•“If institutional autonomy and academic freedom are

regarded as absolute requirements, then the future is hopeless”.*

* Professor Sheldon Rothblatt, University of California, Berkeley and Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, “ Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy in Historical Perspective, 1999

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• Towards a new balance between freedom and responsibility - two principles:

•First, ease the internal differences between disciplinary have and have-nots. Avoid that the house will be ruinously divided;

•Second, the best guarantee of institutional initiative and freedom is a healthy engagement with all parts of society

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• What is next? Two key forces shaping future higher education:

•Changing demand

•from teaching to learning;

•from young students to mature students

•from long to many shorter courses over the individuals lifecycle

•from national to international markets for higher education

•The knowledge economy

•competition in knowledge production and mediation

•the private sector university initiative with ambition of high quality but less costly

•from mode 1 to mode 2 type of research

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• Who will survive and how?

•Elite universities

•the need for a niche along the three key objectives, teaching, research and services

•from knowledge monopoly and privileges to knowledge sharing and actions with value-added ethical responsibility