Governance News Alert: Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - Education at a Glance 2024

The annual publication from the OECD provides information on the state of education - from pre-nursery to tertiary - around the world. It covers differences in education systems, participation, spending and outcomes and also provides more than 40 “country notes” - including one for the UK - which compare country-specific data with OECD averages. The 2024 edition’s theme is “equity in education”. 

The full report can be found here

The UK Country Note can be found here

At-a-glance:

• Between 2016 and 2023, the share of 25-34 year olds with a tertiary qualification increased from 52 per to 60 per cent in the UK, compared with an OECD average increase from 42 per cent to 47 per cent. The share of young adults in the UK without upper-secondary attainment stagnated at 12 per cent between 2016 and 2023, while it improved from 17 per cent to 14 per cent on average across the OECD 
• Reducing the proportion without upper secondary attainment is particularly important in the UK where labour market outcomes are weaker for this group than in most other OECD countries. In the UK, those without upper secondary attainment earn on average 40 per cent less than their better educated peers. This is the second largest gap among OECD countries (after Chile) and much larger than the average gap of 15 per cent 
• Educational attainment varies more between regions in the UK than in many other OECD countries. For example, while 71 per cent of 25-64 year olds in London have obtained a tertiary qualification, the corresponding proportion in North East England is only 42 per cent 
• The distribution of expenditure across levels of education in the UK differs from most other OECD countries. While expenditure per student in tertiary education (excluding R&D) is almost twice the OECD average (£20,815 compared to £10,759), it is almost identical to the OECD average in lower secondary education (£10,436 compared to £10,339). In early childhood education, expenditure per child in the UK is well below the OECD average and is among the lowest of all OECD countries 
• By almost all available measures, girls and women have better educational outcomes than boys and men, and in many cases the gap is widening. In all OECD member countries, women aged 25-34 are as likely or more likely than their male peers to have a tertiary qualification. With a tertiary educational attainment rate of 63 per cent for women and 57 per cent for men, the gap in the UK is much narrower than the OECD average 
• However, tertiary attainment does not help to reduce the wage gap between men and women. Across the OECD, young women with a tertiary qualification earn on average 83 per cent of the wage of their male peers, while the corresponding fraction is 81 per cent in the UK 
• Women are significantly over-represented at university level and the gap is widening in most countries. In the UK, 57 per cent of new entrants to tertiary education are women, more or less on a par with the OECD average of 56 per cent. However, there are large differences between fields of study in all OECD countries. In the UK, only 13 per cent of women entering tertiary education were studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, while only 3 per cent of men were entering education-related fields 
• Parents’ education has a strong impact on the educational attainment of their children. In the UK, 74 per cent of 25-64 year-olds who have at least one parent with tertiary attainment also attained a tertiary qualification. In contrast, only 25 per cent of 25-64 year-olds with parents without an upper secondary qualification have obtained a tertiary qualification themselves. This compares to the OECD averages of 72 per cent and 19 per cent 
• Many countries seek to attract internationally mobile tertiary students, as they often pay higher tuition fees. Across the OECD, a total of 6 per cent of all university students are internationally mobile in 2022. In the UK, the share is 22 per cent, up from 17 per cent in 2013 
• The UK spends 6.2 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on educational institutions at primary to tertiary levels (including R&D). This is more than the OECD average of 4.9 per cent of GDP 
• Private expenditure makes up a greater share of tertiary education in the UK than in many countries. Here, the share of public expenditure for tertiary education is 23 per cent, compared to an OECD average of 68 per cent 

Implications for governance:

On the face of it, the OECD report highlights the success of UK higher education, with participation rising between 2016 and 2023 to 60 per cent, well over the OECD average of 47 per cent. 

With its theme of equity this year, however, the main focus of the report is on those young people who are not in this proportion and suffer worse consequences in terms of employment and earnings as a result.

For university governors, widening participation and improving access is at the heart of the HE mission and a key performance indicator. Activities in this area, and the substantial resources universities are committing to fund them, will be laid out in the new Access and Participation Plans (AAP) for the 2025-26 academic year, most of which have been submitted to the Office for Students in the past few months (the deadline for some institutions is October 1). These are the first full set of APPs to use the Office for Students equality of opportunity risk register, and will be published later this year. 

A key element of the OfS’s new approach to WP is for universities to work more closely with schools to raise attainment. The importance of this focus is backed-up by the OECD report findings on outcomes for students who have low upper secondary education attainment. In the UK in particular, the fate of these young people is stark, with the group earning on average 40 per cent less than those with good qualifications at this level – the largest gap across OECD countries apart from Chile.[DT1] 

Another feature of the UK landscape is the wide variation of educational attainment across regions - disparities that were all too obvious in this summer’s A-level and GCSE results. While 71 per cent of 25-64 year olds in London have obtained a tertiary qualification, the corresponding proportion in North East England is only 42 per cent, according to the OECD report. This is seen as one of the key issues that universities can address in collaboration with schools and local education authorities in their area. While a great deal of work has already been done, there is clearly scope for more progress and governors will need to be aware of how their region compares with others on this measure.

One well known factor affecting attainment across the OECD is parental education. In the UK, this link is more apparent than in the OECD generally. Nearly three quarters of 25-64 year-olds here who have at least one parent with a degree also attained a tertiary qualification. [DT2] In contrast, only a quarter of 25-64 year-olds with parents without an upper secondary qualification obtained a university degree themselves. Helpful reading for governors here is a report on research published earlier this year by Universities UK which has highlighted best practice and some of the issues facing institutions and students, as part of its 100 Faces campaign. 

The OECD report points out that some countries appear to have tackled the problem. In Switzerland, education outcomes for young people depend “very little” on parents’ education, according to Andreas Schleicher, the OECD director of education and skills, speaking at the report launch. He suggested that some education systems have become “really good at mediating background” and that “if you want a level playing field, starting in the early years is essential.”

While across the OECD female educational attainment is a success story, this advancement has not translated into superior salaries, with the gender pay gap still very much evident.  While there will be a variety of reasons for this, including perhaps the lower proportion of women studying high-earning STEM subjects, university careers support could have a part to play in encouraging female undergraduates to consider all possible options and supporting them in taking the necessary steps.

Section C5 of the report, entitled How much do tertiary students pay and what public support do they receive?, shows England to be an outlier as a country that provides only government-guaranteed private loans, with no system of public grants or scholarships (although this does not take into account the millions of pounds of bursaries/scholarships that universities pay out from their own coffers). In one-third of the countries with data, public institutions either offer tuition free to national students or charge less than £840 a per year in fees. In another third of countries, annual tuition fees average between £1,068 and £2,366 per student. In the remaining countries “fees are considerably higher, exceeding £2,366 a year”.

While acknowledging that student loans allow a larger number of students to benefit from the available resources and shift some of the cost of university to those who benefit from it the most, the report points out that fees can be a barrier to access for low-income students and that high levels of student debt may have adverse effects on both students and governments if large numbers are unable to repay their loans.

The pros and cons of these trade-offs will undoubtedly form part of the review into England’s university finances that the sector is expecting the new government to commission any time soon. 

In the meantime, the higher fees paid by international students will continue to be vital to keeping some institutions afloat; as the report reveals, the UK’s share of “international mobile tertiary students” is 22 per cent, up from 16 per cent in 2013, against the OECD average of just 6 per cent. In the current financial environment, governors will be well aware of how important it will continue to be for their institution to maintain or increase activity in the global market.