Archive:Enlargement countries - education statistics

Data extracted in September 2015. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database. Planned article update: October 2016.

This article is part of an online publication and provides information on a range of education statistics for the enlargement countries, in other words the candidate countries and potential candidates. Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Turkey currently have candidate status, while Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo ^[1] are potential candidates.

The article gives an overview of education developments in these seven countries, presenting an analysis of the different educational levels in terms of enrolment, educational attainment and tertiary education.

Table 1: Number of pupils and students by education level, 2014 (¹)
(thousand)
Source: Eurostat (educ_ilev) and (cpc_pseduc)

Figure 1: Early leavers from education and training among those aged 18–24 years, 2014 (¹)
(% of male / female 18–24 year olds)
Source: Eurostat (edat_lfse_14) and (cpc_pseduc)

Table 2: Upper secondary and tertiary educational attainment among those aged 20–24 years, 2004, 2009 and 2014 (¹)
(% of 20–24 year olds)
Source: Eurostat (edat_lfse_06), (edat_lfse_07) and (cpc_siinr)

Figure 2: Average rate of change for the number of students in tertiary education, 2009–14 (¹)
(% per annum)
Source: Eurostat (educ_enrl1tl) and (cpc_pseduc)

Figure 3: Proportion of 30–34 year olds having completed tertiary or equivalent education, 2014 (¹)
(%)
Source: Eurostat (edat_lfse_07) and (cpc_pseduc)

Figure 4: Tertiary graduates in science and technology among those aged 20–29 years, 2012 (¹)
(per 1 000 male / female inhabitants aged 20–29)
Source: Eurostat (educ_itertc) and (cpc_scienc)

Main statistical findings

Number of pupils and students

In 2012, there were 109 million pupils and students in the EU-28 across all forms of education from pre-primary to tertiary. In the enlargement countries, there were approximately 26 million pupils and students enrolled (see Table 1 for the latest period available for each country); this was almost one quarter (23.4 %) of the total number of pupils and students within education in the EU-28.

While the absolute number of pupils is closely linked to the size and structure of populations, there are a range of other factors that influence how long pupils remain in the education system (such as the length of compulsory schooling, opportunities in the labour market, the availability and cost of tertiary education). In recent years, policy interest has focused on encouraging young persons to remain within the educational system so they may develop skills and gain qualifications that may help in the search for work in an increasingly knowledge-driven economy.

Within the EU-28, some 18.6 % of the overall number of pupils and students in 2012 were attending tertiary education establishments (as covered by ISCED level 5 and ISCED level 6; based on the 1997 version of this classification). Across the enlargement countries the share of tertiary students was generally close to the EU-28 average, as all but one country lay within the range of 16.7 % (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) to 21.6 % (Albania; 2013 data); Kosovo (13.8 %) was the only country to record a notably lower share.

Early leavers from education and training

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia reported a high proportion of students remaining within the education system

In 2014, the proportion of early leavers from education and training (the share of persons aged 18–24 who finished no more than a lower secondary education and were not involved in further education or training) stood at 12.7 % in the EU-28 among males and 9.5 % among females (see Figure 1). There were lower proportions of early leavers from education and training in Serbia and in Montenegro, while the proportions in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were of a similar magnitude to those in the EU-28. By contrast, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Turkey recorded much higher proportions of early leavers from education and training than in the EU-28, peaking in Turkey at 35.5 % for males and 41.0 % for females.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina the proportion of male early leavers from education and training was considerably higher than the corresponding share for females, with a difference of 9.5 percentage points. In Montenegro and Albania, the proportion of early leavers was slightly higher for males than for females, as it was in the EU-28. Elsewhere among the enlargement countries shown in Figure 1 the proportion of early leavers was higher among females than among males, most notably in Turkey where the gender gap was more than 5 percentage points.

Youth education attainment

Albania’s youth education attainment level increasing rapidly

An alternative measure for analysing the outcomes of education systems is the youth education attainment level. This indicator is defined as the proportion of 20–24 year olds who have achieved at least an upper secondary level of education attainment (as defined by ISCED level 3).

In 2014, the share of the EU-28 population with at least an upper secondary level of education stood at 82.3 %, with a higher rate for females (84.8 %) than for males (79.8 %). The overall youth education attainment level in the EU-28 rose by 4.9 percentage points between 2004 and 2014. Compared with the EU, there were four enlargement countries which reported a higher proportion of persons aged 20–24 attaining at least an upper secondary level of education. This was particularly the case in Montenegro (94.6 %), Bosnia and Herzegovina (93.5 %) and Serbia (92.2 %). Lower levels of youth educational attainment (compared with the EU-28 average) were recorded in Albania (73.8 %; 2012 data), and especially Turkey (55.0 %; 2013 data) — see Table 2.

Although a time series is only available for a few of the enlargement countries it can be noted that the proportion of students attaining at least an upper secondary level of education rose rapidly in Albania between 2004 and 2014, increasing by just over 30 percentage points, while there were gains of just over 10 percentage points in Turkey (2004–13) and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2006–13).

Within the EU-28 the gender gap in youth education attainment levels showed levels for females in 2014 were 5.0 percentage points higher than for males. With the exceptions of Montenegro and Albania (2012 data), where the rates for males and females were almost equal, the remaining enlargement countries recorded higher youth educational attainment for males (compared with females). The biggest gender gaps (3.9–5.0 percentage points) were recorded in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey (2013 data) and Serbia.

Tertiary education

Figure 2 shows the annual average growth rate of students in tertiary education (ISCED levels 5 and 6) between 2009 and 2014. The number of tertiary students in the EU-28 rose, on average, by 1.1 % per annum (between 2009 and 2012). There was a small reduction in the number of students in tertiary education in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, while the expansion in the number of tertiary students was at a faster pace than the EU-28 average in each of the four remaining enlargement countries (no data for Kosovo). Turkey recorded the fastest annual average growth, its number of tertiary students increasing by 19.5 % per year on average during the period 2009–2012, while the average rate of change was 7.2 % per year in Albania (2010–13).

Less than one fifth of the population aged 30–34 had completed a tertiary level of education in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Figure 3 shows the proportion of 30–34 year olds who had completed a tertiary level of education. Within the EU-28, this ratio reached more than one third (37.9 %) of this subpopulation by 2014. All of the enlargement countries for which data are available (no data for Kosovo) reported lower proportions of 30–34 year olds having completed a tertiary level of education in 2014, ranging from less than one fifth in Albania (2012 data) and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to more than a quarter in Serbia and in Montenegro.

Relatively high proportion of women graduating from science and technology disciplines in Serbia

There has been considerable focus on differences between subjects that are studied by men and women at university. Figure 4 shows that across the EU-28 population aged 20–29 in 2012, the proportion of men with a science or technology degree (22.9 per 1 000 male inhabitants) was approximately twice as high as the corresponding ratio for women (11.2 per 1 000 female inhabitants).

In all of the enlargement countries for which data are available (no data for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Kosovo), the proportion of men having graduated from a science or technology discipline was lower than in the EU-28, peaking in Serbia at 18.2 graduates per 1 000 male inhabitants aged 20–29 in 2012. By contrast, Serbia stood out as its proportion of women having graduated from a science or technology discipline was almost the same as that recorded for men: in Serbia there were 17.6 female graduates per 1 000 female inhabitants aged 20–29 in 2012, which was considerably higher than the EU-28 average (11.2 per 1 000 female inhabitants); each of the remaining enlargement countries recorded ratios for female tertiary graduates in science and technology that were below the EU-28 average.

Data sources and availability

Data for the enlargement countries are collected for a wide range of indicators each year through a questionnaire that is sent by Eurostat to partner countries which have either the status of being candidate countries or potential candidates. A network of contacts in each country has been established for updating these questionnaires, generally within the national statistical offices, but potentially including representatives of other data-producing organisations (for example, central banks or government ministries). The statistics shown in this article are made available free-of-charge on Eurostat’s website, together with a wide range of other socio-economic indicators collected as part of this initiative.

Education statistics cover a range of subjects, including: expenditure, personnel, participation and attainment. The standards for international statistics on education are set by three organisations:

the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) institute for statistics (UIS);
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD);
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU).

The main source of data for the EU-28 aggregate is a joint UNESCO/OECD/Eurostat (UOE) questionnaire on education systems and this is the basis for the core components of the Eurostat database on education statistics; Eurostat also collects data on regional enrolments and foreign language learning. EU-28 data on educational attainment are mainly provided through household surveys, in particular the EU labour force survey (LFS).

Note that the collection of data on education is currently undergoing a considerable change as a result of the introduction of a new version of ISCED. Longer time series are generally available on the basis of ISCED 1997, while data are often available on the basis of ISCED 2011 from the 2014 reference period.

Tables in this article use the following notation:

Value in italics	data value is forecasted, provisional or estimated and is therefore likely to change;
:	not available, confidential or unreliable value.
–	not applicable.

Context

Each EU Member State is responsible for its own education and training systems. As such, EU policy in this area is designed to support national action and address common challenges, by providing a forum for exchanging best practices. Through the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (known as ET 2020), which was adopted by the Council in May 2009, EU Member States identified four common objectives for 2020: making lifelong learning and mobility a reality; improving the quality and efficiency of education and training; promoting equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship; and enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training. The strategy sets a number of benchmarks in relation to education that are to be achieved by 2020, including:

at least 95 % of children between the age of four and the age for starting compulsory primary education should participate in early childhood education;
the share of early leavers from education and training should be less than 10 %;
the share of low-achieving 15-year olds in reading, mathematics and science should be less than 15 %;
the share of 30–34 year olds with tertiary educational attainment should be at least 40 %.

While basic principles and institutional frameworks for producing statistics are already in place, the enlargement countries are expected to increase progressively the volume and quality of their data and to transmit these data to Eurostat in the context of the EU enlargement process. The EU standards in the field of statistics require the existence of a statistical infrastructure based on principles such as professional independence, impartiality, relevance, confidentiality of individual data and easy access to official statistics; they cover methodology, classifications and standards for production.

Eurostat has the responsibility to ensure that statistical production of the enlargement countries complies with the EU acquis in the field of statistics. To do so, Eurostat supports the national statistical offices and other producers of official statistics through a range of initiatives, such as pilot surveys, training courses, traineeships, study visits, workshops and seminars, and participation in meetings within the European statistical system (ESS). The ultimate goal is the provision of harmonised, high-quality data that conforms to European and international standards.

Additional information on statistical cooperation with the enlargement countries is provided here.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Database

Enlargement countries, see:

Candidate countries and potential candidates (cpc)

Population and social conditions (cpc_ps)

Candidate countries and potential candidates: education (cpc_pseduc)

Education and training, see:

Education and training (edtr)

Participation in education and training (educ_part)

Pupils and students — enrolments (educ_uoe_enrp)

Education and training outcomes (educ_outc)

Educational attainment level (edat)

Population with upper secondary educational attainment level by sex and age (edat_lfse_06)

Population with tertiary educational attainment level by sex and age (edat_lfse_07)

Transition from education to work (edatt)

Early leavers from education and training (edatt1)

Early leavers from education and training by sex and labour status (edat_lfse_14)

Education administrative data until 2012 (ISCED 1997) (educ_uoe_h)

Education indicators — non-finance (educ_indic)

Distribution of pupils / students by level (educ_ilev)

Tertiary education graduates (educ_itertc)

Enrolments, graduates, entrants, personnel and language learning — absolute numbers (educ_isced97)

Students by ISCED level, age and sex (educ_enrl1tl)

External links

Notes

↑ This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

[1] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

[1]