Press release
Key Data on Higher Education in Europe – 2007 Edition
Higher education in Europe is experiencing major changes concerned with establishing a
European area of higher education by 2010, the ultimate aim of the Bologna process. It is
also expected to play an important part in the Lisbon strategy so that the European Union
becomes the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world.
Besides detailed information on trends in funding and in participation in higher education as a
whole, this new publication produced jointly by Eurydice and Eurostat focuses in particular on
the social dimension of higher education and student mobility. It demonstrates that much
more still needs to be done to boost international mobility and reveals the wide variety of
policies that have been developed, with due regard for the economic and social contexts to
which they apply, in order to meet the common challenge that the social dimension
represents.
This publication has been produced with the support of the European Commission.
Who pays for higher education? What level of public funding is involved?
Higher education is largely provided and funded by the public sector, and enrols over 70 % of
students in the European Union. The independent private sector is virtually non-existent
except in Cyprus, Poland, Portugal and Romania.
Direct funding of institutions is the dominant form of support, the major share of which is
allocated to teaching.
Greece, Slovakia and Sweden are exceptions. In Greece, buildings and infrastructure comprise the largest element
of expenditure (40.8 %). In Slovakia operating costs take up a larger share of the budget (46.8 %) than personnel. In
Sweden, the amount allocated to research is nearly as high as that allocated to teaching.
Academic teaching staff resources can vary by up to threefold depending on the country.
In some countries there are, on average, ten students per teacher (Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and Iceland), and this
figure rises to more than 25 in Greece and Slovenia.
Expenditure per student is generally lower in countries in which the number of students per
teacher is amongst the highest and vice versa. Nevertheless, the link between these two
elements is strongly tied to the salaries of academic staff; this may explain why some
countries spend more per student than others even when the student/teacher ratio is the
same.
Three countries (Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia) clearly reflect a different pattern with low student/teacher ratios
(less than 15 students per teacher), yet with among the lowest levels of teaching expenditure in Europe in 2004. On
the other hand, in the United Kingdom, in which this expenditure was among the highest in European countries, the
student/teacher ratio was 18:1.
Eurydice European Unit – 240 Avenue Louise – B-1050 Brussels
Tel. +32 2 600 53 53 – email: info@eurydice.org
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Do students everywhere contribute to the cost of their tuition?
Access to full-time undergraduate study may be regarded as free in a dozen countries.
In three countries (Finland, Sweden and in the public sector in Norway), only subscriptions to student organisations
are required; in Denmark no contribution is due. In these Nordic countries, therefore, access to tertiary education
may be regarded as free. The situation is similar in the case of all programmes in Estonia, Ireland, Cyprus, Greece,
Slovenia, and Scotland, and for students with a subsidised place in Latvia (around 25 %). It also exists in the Czech
Republic in long theoretical programmes and in Spain in short vocational programmes.
Fourteen countries require their students to pay tuition fees. In most of them, the annual
amounts vary between PPS EUR 200 and PPS EUR 1 000 ( 1 ). Institutions are often free to
determine the precise amount subject to a fixed upper limit.
In Italy and in the government-dependent private sector in Norway, institutions are completely free to set the
amount. Where an upper limit is set, it can reach more than PPS EUR 6 000 in the public sector for students without
a state-subsidised place in Latvia and in some programmes in Portugal. Since 2006/07, in England and Northern
Ireland, institutions have been able to determine tuition fees, without exceeding the fixed maximum of PPS EUR
4 031.
Fifteen countries have demonstrated their wish to set a limit on the period intended for study
by increasing the fees due from students who take longer to complete their course. The actual
amount concerned is often left to the discretion of institutions.
Tuition fees are increased in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Turkey. In six countries, namely the Czech Republic (long
theoretical programmes), Ireland, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Scotland, as well as in six Länder in Germany,
the only instance in which student nationals have to pay a contribution is when they have fallen behind schedule.
However, tuition free of charge is maintained in Denmark, Greece, Spain (in short vocational programmes), Cyprus,
Malta, Sweden, Finland and Norway (in the public sector).
What main forms of financial support exist for students? What amounts are involved
and who are the recipients?
In many countries in which personal contributions are expected, exemptions or reductions are
available from the public authorities. Such support is generally awarded on the basis of
parental income. In some countries, support takes the form of grants, loans or both.
Grants, or grants and loans in combination, are the most common forms of student support.
The continuation of support is often conditional on students progressing satisfactorily with
their studies.
Loans are non-existent in Belgium (the German-speaking and Flemish Communities), Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Ireland, Greece, Italy, Malta, Austria, Portugal and Slovenia. Iceland is the only country to award solely loans.
The level of loans is generally higher than that of grants, and in most cases ranges from PPS
EUR 1500 to PPS EUR 4 500 a year.
The highest annual grants are awarded in Denmark (a universal flat rate of PPS EUR 5 759), Luxembourg (a flat
rate of EUR 7 383) and Austria (a maximum grant of EUR 7 013).
1
()
Purchasing power standard (PPS): The artificial common reference currency unit used in the European Union to
express the volume of economic aggregates for the purpose of spatial comparisons in such a way that price
level differences between countries are eliminated. Economic volume aggregates in PPS are obtained by
dividing their original value in national currency units by the respective purchasing power parity (PPP). PPS thus
buys the same given volume of goods and services in all countries, whereas different amounts of national
currency units are needed to buy this same volume of goods and services in individual countries, depending on
the price level.
Eurydice European Unit – 240 Avenue Louise – B-1050 Brussels
Tel. +32 2 600 53 53 – email: info@eurydice.org
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Loans are made on favourable terms as regards interest rates and repayment often begins
when students have finished their studies, but the amount repaid each month is tied to
graduate income in only four countries (Poland, Iceland, the United Kingdom and Hungary).
However, debts may be cancelled or reduced under certain conditions in the majority of
countries.
Only Romania allocates loans at market rates, requires repayment during the study period and does not link
repayment to income.
Satisfactory completion of studies within the prescribed period is a criterion for cancelling the debt (the Netherlands)
or reducing it (Germany and Luxembourg). In six countries (Spain, France, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Finland),
debt cannot be cancelled or reduced on the basis of any formal criteria and loan repayments are not proportional to
income.
Out of the 22 countries with student accommodation at preferential rents, only seven –
Bulgaria, Germany, France, Cyprus, Lithuania, Romania and Turkey – have set a maximum
rent (of between PPS EUR 61 et PPS EUR 338 depending on the country). The number of
places is often very limited: less than 15 % of students can be accommodated in this way,
except in Bulgaria (24 %) and Hungary (22 %).
There are no regulations governing support for accommodation in Belgium, Sweden, the United Kingdom or
Norway.
Eighteen European countries prolong financial support for the parents of students in tertiary
education, whether as family allowances, tax relief or both.
Bulgaria, Spain, Malta, Romania, the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries provide neither of these forms of
support for the parents of students. The Netherlands and Ireland do so under specific circumstances.
What is the situation regarding the mobility of students: which students are the most
mobile and where do they go in Europe?
Excluding the EU mobility programmes, still no more than a few students (less than 2 %)
undertake some or all of their studies in another European country – for the most part men
and doctoral students. They are not evenly distributed across Europe. Some countries
(Belgium, Austria and the United Kingdom) host many more students than others. Almost all
countries offer support for mobility but usually subject to certain conditions, the most common
one being that students continue with the programme begun in the home country.
Students from Cyprus (55 %), Iceland (15.5 %) and Liechtenstein (34 %) are very mobile because educational
opportunities are less developed in these countries. Conversely, Spanish, Polish and British students are the least
mobile (at levels of 1.2 %, 1.2 % and 0.6 % respectively).
What are the trends in participation at doctoral level?
While doctoral graduates account for a very small proportion of the population (generally
under 1 % of those aged between 25 and 64), student numbers in advanced research
(doctoral) programmes are increasing faster than overall enrolments for tertiary education in
many countries. These programmes, in which the great majority of students are men, are
mainly in science and technology which account for 39 % of doctoral students. This pattern
contrasts sharply with participation in bachelor and master programmes in which women form
an overall majority, and in which the fields of 'social sciences, business and law' account for
most enrolments.
Eurydice European Unit – 240 Avenue Louise – B-1050 Brussels
Tel. +32 2 600 53 53 – email: info@eurydice.org
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Background note
Key Data on Higher Education in Europe – 2007 Edition
Title of the publication:
Key Data on Higher Education in Europe – 2007 edition
Publisher:
Eurydice
Publication date:
September 2007
Language versions:
French and English (German due in December 2007)
Online location:
http://www.eurydice.org/portal/page/portal/Eurydice/showPresentation?pu
bid=088EN
This report was prepared by the Eurydice European Unit with EURYDICE data gathered from the
EURYDICE Network, as well as EUROSTAT data. It covers the 31 countries in the Network.
Information from EURYDICE sources relates to 2005/06.
The reference years of EUROSTAT data (UOE data and the Labour Force Survey (LFS)) are 2003
or 2003/04.
This publication is financed by the European Commission Directorate-General for Education and
Culture.
Other Eurydice publications on higher education
(at http://www.eurydice.org):
o
Focus on the Structure of Higher Education in Europe 2006/07: national trends in the
Bologna process
o
Decision-making, advisory, operational and regulatory bodies in higher education, Volume
5, European Glossary on Education
o
Governance in Higher Education (due for publication at the end of 2007)
Eurydice European Unit – 240 Avenue Louise – B-1050 Brussels
Tel. +32 2 600 53 53 – email: info@eurydice.org
http://www.eurydice.org
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