Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

F5: Education, health and social protection

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

This domain covers statistics and indicators on key aspects of the education systems across Europe. The data show entrants and enrolments in education levels, education personnel and the cost and type of resources dedicated to education.

The standards on international statistics on education and training systems are set by the three international organisations jointly administering the annual UOE data collection:

• · The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation Institute for Statistics (UNESCO-UIS),
• · The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and,
• · The Statistical Office of the European Union (EUROSTAT).

The following topics are covered:

• · Pupils and students – Enrolments and Entrants,
• · Learning mobility,
• · Education personnel,
• · Education finance,
• · Graduates,
• · Language learning.

Data  on enrolments in education are disseminated  in absolute numbers, with breakdowns available for the following dimensions:

• ISCED level of education
• Sex
• Age or age group
• NUTS1 and NUTS2 regions
• Type of educational institution (public or private) – referred to as the ‘sector’ in Eurobase
• Intensity of participation (full-time, part-time, full-time equivalent) – referred to as ‘working time’ in Eurobase
• Programme orientation (general/academic or vocational/professional)
• Type of vocational programme (school-based only or combined school and work-based)
• Level of attainment that can be achieved upon programme completion (e.g. insufficient for level completion or partial level completion, sufficient for partial level completion without direct access to tertiary education)
• Field of education (ISCED-F13)

Additionally, the following types of indicators on enrolments are calculated (all indicators using population data use Eurostat’s population database (demo_pjan)):

• Participation rates by age or by age groups as % of corresponding age population.
• Participation rates by age as % of total population.
• Pupils from age 0, 3, 4 and 5 to the starting age of compulsory education at primary level, as % of the population of the corresponding age. In some countries, the start of primary education is not compulsory and in some countries compulsory education starts at pre-primary level. This indicator calculates the participation rates of pupils up until (but not including) the starting age of formal education that is both compulsory and at the primary level. This age varies from 5 years to 7 years across countries and the national starting ages for compulsory primary education used in the calculation of this indicator are listed in the file Ages_educ_indicators which is available to download in the Annexes section of this page.
• Pupils under the age of 3 as % of corresponding age population. This indicator does not include 3 year olds (includes ages 0, 1 and 2).
• Out-of-school rates at different ages. This indicator is calculated as 100 – (students of a particular age who are enrolled in education at any ISCED level / Total population of that age *100).
  • Out-of-school rates in population of lower secondary school age and in population of upper secondary school age. This indicator is calculated as 100 – (students who are of the official age range for ISCED X who are enrolled in education at any ISCED level / Total population in the official age range for ISCED X *100). The official age range for each ISCED level varies across countries, and national age ranges for lower and upper secondary used in the calculation of this indicator are listed in the file Ages_educ_indicators which is available to download in the Annexes section of this page.
  • Students in education of post-compulsory school age - as % of the total population of post-compulsory school age. The final age at which formal education is considered as compulsory in national education systems in the calculation of this indicator are listed in the file Ages_educ_indicators.
  • Students participation at the end of compulsory education - as % of the corresponding age population. Indicator is calculated for age (X-1), (X), (X+1), (X+2) where X = the final age at which formal education is compulsory in national education systems. The final age at which formal education is considered as compulsory in national education systems in the calculation of this indicator are listed in the file Ages_educ_indicators.
  • Students in education aged 30 and over - per 1000 of corresponding age population
    • Expected school years of pupils and students at different levels of education
    • Distribution of pupils and students enrolled in general and vocational programmes by education level and NUTS2 regions 
    • Distribution of students in different fields of education
    • Ratio of the proportion of the population who are tertiary students in NUTS1 regions to the proportion of the population who are tertiary students in NUTS2 regions

Data  on entrants in education are disseminated  in absolute numbers, with breakdowns available for the following dimensions:

• ISCED level of education
• Programme orientation (general/academic or vocational/professional)
• Sex
• Age or age group
• Field of education (ISCED-F13)

Additionally the following indicator on entrants is calculated:

• Distribution of new entrants in different fields of education

Data  on learning mobility is available for degree mobile students, degree mobile graduates and credit mobile graduates. Degree mobility means that students/graduates are/were enrolled as regular students in any semester/term of a programme taught in the country of destination with the intention of graduating from it in the country of destination. Credit mobility is defined as temporary tertiary education or/and study-related traineeship abroad within the framework of enrolment in a tertiary education programme at a "home institution" (usually) for the purpose of gaining academic credit (i.e. credit that will be recognised in that home institution). Further definitions are in Section 2.8 of the UOE manual. 

Degree mobile students are referred to as just ‘mobile students’ in UOE learning mobility tables. Data is disseminated for degree mobile students and degree mobile graduates in absolute numbers with breakdowns available for the following dimensions:

• ISCED level of education
• Sex
• Field of education (ISCED-F13)
• Country of origin (defined as the country of education prior to entering tertiary although there may be national deviations. These are listed in the Helpsheet of the latest footnotes report available to download in the Annexes section of this page) – referred to as ‘Geopolitical entity (partner)’ in Eurobase

Additionally the following types of indicators on degree mobile students and degree mobile graduates are calculated ((all indicators using population data use Eurostat’s population database (demo_pjan)):

• Share of all students/graduates who are mobile students/degree mobile graduates from abroad
• Distribution of mobile students/degree mobile graduates from abroad in different fields of education

For credit mobile graduates, data are disseminated  in absolute numbers, with breakdowns available for the following dimensions:

• ISCED level of education
• Sex
• Type of mobility scheme (e.g. Credit mobility under EU programmes i.e. ERASMUS, Credit mobility in other international/national programmes)
• Type of mobility (study period only or study period combined with work placement)
• Country of destination – referred to as ‘Geopolitical entity (partner)’ in Eurobase

Data  on personnel in education are available for classroom teachers/academic staff, teacher aides and school-management personnel. Teachers are employed in a professional capacity to guide and direct the learning experiences of students, irrespective of their training, qualifications or delivery mechanism. Teacher aides support teachers in providing instruction to students. Academic staff are personnel employed at the tertiary level of education whose primary assignment is instruction and/or research. School management personnel covers professional personnel who are responsible for school management/administration (ISCED 0-4) or whose primary or major responsibility is the management of the institution, or a recognised department or subdivision of the institution (tertiary levels). Full definitions of these statistical units are in Section 3.5 of the UOE manual.

Data are disseminated on teachers and academic staff in absolute numbers, with breakdowns available for the following dimensions:

• ISCED level of education
• Programme orientation (general/academic or vocational/professional)
• Sex
• Age group
• Type of institution (public or private) – referred to as the ‘sector’ in Eurobase
• Employment status (part-time, full-time, full-time equivalent)

Additionally the following types of indicators on personnel are calculated (all indicators using population data use Eurostat’s population database (demo_pjan)):

• Classroom teachers - as % of total active population
• Ratio of pupils and students to teachers/academic staff 
• Ratio of pupils to teachers+teacher aides
• Distribution of teachers/academic staff in different age groups
• Female teachers - as % of all teachers
• Female school-management personnel - as % of total school-management personnel
• Teachers working part-time - as % of all teachers

Data  on education finance is available for expenditure on education, expenditure of/on educational institutions and on enrolments adjusted to statistics on educational finance and aligned to the financial year. The database calls this expenditure ‘of/on’ educational institutions because it is the sum of expenditure of educational institutions themselves (expenditure of educational institutions) and expenditure on the programmes they are running which comes from external sources and does not pass through the educational institutions’ accounts, for example when the government pays for teachers’ salaries directly, the UOE reports an expenditure of educational institutions even though the money did  not pass through the educational institution’s account (expenditure on educational institutions).

For expenditure on education, data are disseminated in million units of national currency with breakdowns available for the following dimensions:

• ISCED level of education
• Programme orientation (general/academic or vocational/professional)
• Type of source (e.g. General government, households) – referred to as ‘sector’ in Eurobase
• Recipient of funding (e.g. public educational institutions, private educational institutions, households) – referred to as the ‘counterpart sector’ in Eurobase
• Expenditure category (e.g. direct expenditure, expenditure on ancillary services, capital expenditure, student loans) – referred to as ‘Expenditure and investment’ in Eurobase.

Additionally the following types of indicators on expenditure on education are calculated:

• Expenditure on education in million euro and in million purchasing power standards (PPS).
• Public expenditure on education in current prices
• Public expenditure on education - as % of GDP
• Public expenditure on education - as % of public expenditure or % of GNI
• Public expenditure on education per pupil/student based on FTE by education level 
• Financial aid to students by education level - as % of total public expenditure 
• Central, state and local government expenditure on education as a % of total government expenditure on education, before and after intergovernmental transfers

For expenditure of/on educational institutions, data are disseminated  in million units of national currency with breakdowns available for the following dimensions:

• ISCED level of education
• Programme orientation (general/academic or vocational/professional)
• Type of educational institution (e.g. public, private) – referred to as ‘sector’ in Eurobase
• Expenditure category (e.g. expenditure for compensation of personnel, capital expenditure, expenditure on ancillary services) – referred to as ‘Expenditure and investment’ in Eurobase

Additionally the following types of indicators on expenditure of/on educational institutions are calculated:

• Expenditure of/on educational institutions in million euro and in million purchasing power standards (PPS)
• Annual expenditure on educational institutions per pupil/student based on FTE
• Expenditure on public educational institutions - as % of total or current expenditure
• Ratio of annual expenditure per student at the tertiary level to annual expenditure per student at primary level of education

For enrolments adjusted to statistics on educational finance and aligned to the financial year, data are disseminated in absolute numbers with the following breakdowns:

• ISCED level
• Programme orientation (general/academic or vocational/professional)

For education and training outcomes, UOE data is available for graduates and first-time graduates. A graduate is a person who, during the reference school or academic year, has successfully completed an education programme. A first-time graduate at a given level of education is a person who, during the reference school or academic year, has successfully completed an education programme at the given level for the first time. For graduates and first time graduates, data are disseminated  in absolute numbers, with breakdowns available for the following dimensions:

• ISCED level of education
• Programme orientation (general/academic or vocational/professional)
• Sex
• Level of attainment (e.g. insufficient for level completion or partial level completion, sufficient for partial level completion without direct access to tertiary education)
• Age, age group
• Field of education (ISCED-F13)

Additionally, for graduates, the following types of indicators are calculated ((all indicators using population data use Eurostat’s population database (demo_pjan)):

• Distribution of graduates in different fields of education
• Graduates in STEM per 1000 of population. Graduates in STEM are calculated as the sum of graduates in the following fields of education (ISCED-F13): F05 Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics; F06 Information and Communication Technologies; and F07 Engineering, manufacturing and construction
• Graduates per 1000 of population
• Graduates – women per 100 men

Data on language learning is disseminated in absolute numbers with different combinations of the following breakdowns:

• ISCED level of education
• Modern foreign language studied
• Number of modern foreign languages studied (no languages, 1 language, 1 language or more, 2 languages or more)

Additionally, the following types of indicators are calculated:

• Pupils studying a modern foreign language – as a % of total modern foreign language courses taken at a particular level of education
• Pupils studying no languages, 1 language, 1 language or more, 2 languages or more – as a % of all pupils at a particular level of education
• Average number of foreign languages studied per pupil

- International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED).

• Non-finance education data up to reference year 2012 are based on ISCED 1997, as from the reference year 2013 ISCED 2011 is applied;
• Education expenditure data use respectively ISCED 1997 until 2011 data, and ISCED 2011 from the reference year 2012.

- International Standard Classification of Education Fields of Education and Training (ISCED-F 1999).

- ISCED-F 2013 - ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013 - is a classification of fields of education, which accompanies ISCED 2011 (http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/isced-fields-of-education-training-2013.pdf ). It is implemented in UOE data collections from school year 2014/2015.

-  Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics: NUTS2.

Not available.

Countries participating in this collection are compiling their data according to the concepts and definitions of the UOE data collection manuals on education systems statistics. The concepts and definitions are available on this site.

There are country specific notes to all tables (See annex at the bottom of the page).

In the UOE data collection on education statistics, the statistical units collected are students enrolled, entrants, graduates, mobile students enrolled and graduated, education personnel and expenditure.

In the Eurostat data collection on language learning the statistical unit is enrolments in studies of foreign languages. The Eurostat data collection on regions includes students enrolled by age, sex and ISCED level by NUTS2 regions (See Ramon, Eurostat's classification server for more details on the NUTS).

The statistics refer to education in the school and university system, as defined in the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011). The basic unit of classification in ISCED 2011  is the educational programme.

The UOE data collection covers all organised and sustained learning opportunities for children, youth and adults, including those with special educational needs, irrespective of the institutions or organisations providing them or the form in which they are delivered. They cover school-based general education and vocational education/training (including combined school- and work-based programmes such as dual system apprenticeship). Exclusively (initial and continuing) work-based training is not included in the statistics. Programmes or studies designated as 'adult education' or 'continuing education' are included only if the content is similar to regular educational programmes or lead to similar potential qualifications.

The data collection covers all of a country's domestic educational activity (i.e. within its own territory).

The UOE data collection on education statistics covers the EU Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Hungary, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Finland, and Sweden), United Kingdom, the EFTA/EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), the candidate countries (Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey), as well as OECD Member States situated outside Europe (Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, United States) and other countries (e.g. Israel).

The dissemination of education statistics by Eurostat is generally limited to the EU Member States, the United Kingdom, and the EFTA/EEA and Candidate countries. Information on OECD Member States situated outside Europe can be provided by OECD.

Data cover mainly the period 1998 and onwards. A few data on enrolments, graduates and finance are available since 1990 or 1995.

For expenditure data, the base period is the financial year which is in general identical to the calendar year and thus running from 1st of January to 31st of December. However, there is one noticeable exception: in the United Kingdom the financial year is running from 1st of April to 31st of March.

For graduates, the base period is in general the calendar year and data refer to all graduates during the calendar year, with some exceptions, where graduate data refer to the academic year.

Data on students refer in general to the count on a given date at the beginning of the school/academic year, preferably at the end of the first month. Exceptions may be on pre-primary and tertiary levels of education, where enrolments can be counted as an average over several counting dates or as the count of individuals registered during the reference period. Data on personnel refer in general to a given date at the beginning of the school/academic year.

Students enrolled, mobile students, entrants, graduates, teachers, euros.

In education non-finance statistics such as enrolments, entrants, graduates, personnel, credit mobility and language learning "201X" stands for school/academic year 201X-1/201X.

In education finance statistics, the reference period is the financial year for expenditure data.

The basic legal act for UOE statistics is Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of 23 April 2008 concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning.

The following implementing regulations specify the details for data collection:

• From school year 2012-2013 onwards: Commission Regulation (EU) No 912/2013 of 23 September 2013 as regards statistics on education and training systems; derogations
• School year 2010-2011 and 2011-2012: Commission Regulation (EU) No 88/2011 of 2 February 2011 as regards statistics on education and training systems; derogations

The methodological requirements are set up by Eurostat in cooperation with the participating countries, UNESCO-UIS and OECD. The definitions and methodological requirements are available on this site.

The main source of data is the joint UIS (UNESCO Institute of Statistics)/OECD/Eurostat (UOE) questionnaires on education statistics, which constitute the core database on education.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

 Not available.

Data are disseminated on an annual basis, normally in May.

Not available.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Yearly.

Ad-hoc news releases on-line when required.

Publications

Online tables on education systems data from UOE data collection are available, see http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database.

 Not available.

Eurydice, the information network on education in Europe, publishes in cooperation with Eurostat data and indicators on education in the publications ‘Key Data on Education' and ‘Key Data on languages'.

Key data on early childhood education and care in Europe (2019)

Key Data on Teachers and School Leaders in Europe (2013)

Key data on education in Europe (2012)

Key data on teaching languages at school in Europe (2023)

The definitions and methodological requirements for the joint UOE data collection and for the Eurostat data collection on regional enrolments and foreign language learning are available on this site.

The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011) is the basis for international education statistics.  The ISCED 2011 Operational Manual, elaborated by UIS, OECD and Eurostat, provides guidelines for classifying national education programmes and related qualifications according to ISCED 2011. It was prepared for national statisticians reporting data on education to international organisations and for all users interested in better understanding of these data.

Eurostat's mission is to provide the European Union with a high-quality statistical information service (see Eurostat quality framework).

The quality of the education systems statistics from UOE data collection is ensured through specific requirements set in Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 and the details provided in Commission Regulation (EU) No 912/2013 for data from 2013 onwards and Commission Regulation (EU) No 88/2011 for 2011 and 2012 data. Until 2011 data was collected based on gentlemen’s agreement.

Quality is also reflected through the use of harmonised definitions and concepts. Specific recommendations to help countries properly collecting the expected data are also available through a set of methodological documents and guidelines (see item 10.6. Documentation on methodology). The quality is discussed in working groups (such as the Education and Training Statistics Working Group) within the European Statistical System (ESS) and with other organisations involved in UOE data collection, namely UNESCO-UIS and OECD.

UOE data is provided in the standard questionnaires prepared jointly by the three organisations (UNESCO-UIS, OECD and Eurostat). For countries that are both EU and OECD members, a common validation process is carried out by the two organisations based on gentlemen’s agreement.

UOE statistics are considered to be of good quality thanks to a harmonised production process (as described in item 11.1. above).

Data quality requirements and standard quality reports are set out in Annex II of Commission Regulation (EU) No 912/2013. The EU Member States and EFTA countries are obliged to transmit to Eurostat the standard quality reports together with ISCED mapping of national programmes and qualifications every year.

National quality reports provide users with basic information on quality at national level and document compliance with the definitions and concepts as stated in the detailed guidelines for UOE data collection. Deviations from the definitions and concepts should be documented and explained, and if possible quantified.

The use of estimates and revisions should be clearly identified at the level of tables and breakdowns.

Statistics on education systems based on UOE data collection support monitoring the education participation and outcomes. They provide at EU level, detailed results on the pupil/student population, new entrants, graduates, learning mobility, education personnel, language learning and education finance. Numbers of students enrolled, entrants and graduates are collected by age, sex, education level, programme orientation and completion, type of institution, intensity of participation, field of study, and country of origin. Education finance data are important for monitoring investment in education.

UOE data is also used to measure one of the benchmarks which have been set for education in ET 2020 Strategy. At least 95% of children (from 4 to compulsory primary school age) should participate in early childhood education.

There is no satisfaction survey targeted at UOE users. The content of the UOE data collection and the type of results that are disseminated by Eurostat on its website was consulted by Eurostat with stakeholders as much as possible to get their opinion and to satisfy their needs in terms of data availability.

The data sent by participating countries to Eurostat are overall complete and match the requirements set out in the Commission Regulations or gentlemen’s agreement (before reference year 2011) respectively.

Nevertheless, some national datasets are not always fully matching the expected format because some content is missing or is not applicable. In those cases the data disseminated are displayed as ‘not available’ (‘:’) or ‘not applicable’ (‘:’z). This can be explained either because the country could not implement the variable for some reason and may have received a temporary derogation from implementing the Commission Regulations or because the concept does not exist in the country.

The overall accuracy of UOE statistics is considered as high.

Incompleteness of private expenditure on education:

In many countries, private expenditure on education contained in some indicators is not comprehensive. This is in particular true for the payments of other private entities (e.g. firms, non-profit organisations, religious institutions) to educational institutions that are often very difficult to track back through administrative records. This can sometimes result in a significant under-evaluation of private expenditure on education that has to be taken into account when interpreting indicators on education finance statistics.

Influence of effects that are exogenous to the education system on some education finance statistics indicators:

Effects that are exogenous to the education system, but are contained in auxiliary indicators (e.g. Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Income, GDP-Deflator or Purchasing Power Parity) used to calculate indicators on education finance statistics may sometimes bias the interpretation of some indicators.

Not applicable.

The main type of non-sampling error is coverage error due to the divergence between the frame population and the target population. Detailed information on coverage errors is provided by countries in quality reports.

Pupils/students enrolled, entrants, personnel, language learning: 2 years after end of the reference period.

Graduates and Credit Mobility: 1.5 years after end of the reference period.

Finance: 2.5 years after end of the reference period.

Not available.

Differences in education systems

The education systems differ between countries. The ISCED 2011 classification makes it possible to compare educational levels in spite of these differences, but the differences may nevertheless affect certain figures. The degree structures differ between countries. To which extent students qualify for and receive more than one qualification differs between the countries, as well as the length of studies to obtain a degree.

National ISCED mappings, presenting classification of education programmes and qualifications in ISCED 1997 and ISCED are available on CIRCABC website (link: https://circabc.europa.eu/w/browse/c2dc65ad-5163-4935-b0c2-e5ea1f44929b)

Participation rates above 100%

In indicators on participation rates, enrolment statistics are related to population statistics. The reference date for ages is the same (1st of January) but differences in data collection dates or methodologies may result in slight differences, which affect the participation rates. Percentages above 100 percent can be due to such differences, but can also appear because of inflows or outflows of students. The enrolment statistics refer to all education enrolments within the country while population statistics refer to residents in the country. In some countries, where the outflow of students is substantial (Luxembourg, Cyprus), specific notes are added in the tables, but other countries' figures may also be affected.

Ambiguities of classification with regards to levels of government:

The classification of governments by level is clear in most cases, but there are some ambiguities. If a country only has two levels of government, the lower level usually is designated local, not regional. If there are four or more levels, the second level usually is designated regional and the third, local. If a city (such as the national capital) has dual status as both regional and local government, its expenditure is reported as expenditure of regional level of government (e.g. the Stadtstaaten Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin in Germany).

Different concepts used for "country of origin" in learning mobility data

Country of origin in the learning mobility data should in principle refer to the "country of prior secondary education". However, until the reference year 2016 countries might use instead country of prior residence or citizenship or other. From reference year 2016 onwards all countries should report data according to "country of prior education". Information on the specific definition currently used by countries is available in Chapter 3. Annexes "Footnotes - Learning mobility".

Introduction of the ISCED 2011 classification:

• Non-finance education data up to reference year 2012 are based on ISCED 1997, as from the reference year 2013 ISCED 2011 is applied;
• Education expenditure data use respectively ISCED 1997 until 2011 data, and ISCED 2011 as from the reference year 2012.

Compared to ISCED 1997 which had seven levels of education, ISCED 2011 now has nine levels of education, from level 0 to level 8:

• ISCED 0: Early childhood education;

• ISCED 1: Primary education;

• ISCED 2: Lower secondary education;

• ISCED 3: Upper secondary education;

• ISCED 4: Post-secondary non-tertiary education;

• ISCED 5: Short-cycle tertiary education;

• ISCED 6: Bachelor’s or equivalent level;

• ISCED 7: Master’s or equivalent level;

• ISCED 8: Doctoral or equivalent level.

Correspondence between ISCED 2011 and ISCED 1997 levels (at 1-digit ISCED 1997)

* Content of category has been modified slightly.

ISCED 2011 took into account the changes in education systems occurred over the last decade, mainly relating to the Bologna process in tertiary education (link: The Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area | European Education Area (europa.eu)), but also to the expansion of education programmes for very young children. With ISCED 2011 education programmes can be coded up to 3-digit-level.

Data and indicators on education, where the data source is the joint UOE data collection, are also published by OECD and UIS.

The main OECD publication, 'Education at a Glance', is published on this site.

Access to UIS' database and tables (Select "View indicators").

Not applicable.

Indication of the cost associated with the collection and production of UOE data is provided by countries in quality reports. 

The general Eurostat revision policy applies to this domain.

Reported errors are assessed for seriousness to determine whether they should trigger a correction of already disseminated data. Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated. Data may be published even if they are missing or flagged as provisional for certain countries. They are replaced with final data once transmitted and validated.  

The main source of data is the joint UIS (UNESCO Institute of Statistics)/OECD/Eurostat (UOE) questionnaires on education statistics, which constitute the core database on education. The UOE data collection is an administrative data collection that is administered jointly by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation - Institute for Statistics (UNESCO-UIS), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Statistical Office of the European Union (EUROSTAT). Data on regional enrolments and foreign language learning are collected additionally by Eurostat.

Commission Regulation No 88/2011 regarding statistics on education and training systems was the first EU legal implementing act covering the above mentioned data. 2012 was the first year of application of the Regulation. The first data provided according to that Regulation refers to the school academic year 2010/2011 and, as far as data on education expenditure are concerned, to the financial year 2010. Data for previous years were reported on a voluntary basis from countries (i.e. so called gentlemen's agreement). in 2013, it was replaced by Commission Regulation 912/2013.

The results of the UOE data collection on education statistics are compiled on the basis of national administrative sources, reported by Ministries of Education or National Statistical Offices.

Countries provide data, coming from administrative records, on the basis of commonly agreed definitions.

The national data collections on enrolments, graduates, personnel etc. are in most countries census or in some cases extractions from administrative registers.

Moreover, auxiliary indicators from statistics on demography (e.g. population) or the National Accounts (e.g. Gross Domestic Product, Total Public Expenditure) are used to calculate some of the indicators.

Annual.

Data are collected through data collection tables in electronic questionnaires that are returned by countries to a unique e-mail address (estat-uoe-joint@ec.europa.eu). EU, EFTA and Candidate countries should use eDAMIS for sending the data that will be automatically forwarded to the unique e-mail address mentioned above. Afterwards Eurostat makes all data available to OECD and UNESCO via a restricted CIRCABC space. The international organisations process and verify the data after their reception.

Since 2012, first year of application of Commission Regulation No 88/2011, there is a joint data validation made by Eurostat and OECD on the data transmitted by the countries that are both EU or EFTA, and OECD members. Each organisation validates the data for the remaining member countries. The validated data are shared between the three organisations.

European aggregates in absolute figures are in most cases disseminated only if data are available for all countries. In some cases, the aggregates are estimated by for example imputing data for previous years.

European averages are computed by adding up the data provided by the countries. They are calculated taking into account all relevant countries for which data are available.

Data on educational expenditure are compiled on a cash accounting rather than an accrual accounting basis as many countries use this system to record government expenditure and revenues. Expenditure is recorded in the year in which the payments occurred. This means in particular that:

• Capital acquisitions are counted fully in the year in which the expenditure occurs;
• Depreciation of capital assets is not recorded as expenditure, though repairs and maintenance expenditure is recorded in the year it occurs;

Expenditure on student loans is recorded as the gross loan outlays in the year in which the loans are made, without netting-off repayments from existing borrowers.

Enrolment data are adjusted to the reference period of the financial year, by weighting the school years overlapping the financial year. These adjusted enrolment data are then used in combination with financial data to calculate financial indicators that are related to enrolment (e.g. expenditure per pupil/student).

Adjustments of educational expenditure figures are made when the financial year is not corresponding to the calendar year in order to ensure full comparability of the indicators across countries. The adjustment method is varying depending on the indicator on education finance statistics. Information about adjustments, if necessary, is provided through specific footnotes.

Not available.