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Governments are increasingly looking to international comparisons of education opportunities and outcomes as they develop policies to enhance individuals’ social and economic prospects, provide incentives for greater efficiency in schooling, and help to mobilise resources to meet rising demands. The OECD Directorate for Education and Skills contributes to these efforts by developing and analysing the quantitative, internationally comparable indicators that it publishes annually in Education at a Glance. Together with OECD country policy reviews, these indicators can be used to assist governments in building more effective and equitable education systems.
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As countries struggle to respond to economic, environmental and social transformations – including technological advances, climate change and migration – intellectual capital has become the most valuable asset of our time. The core of intellectual capital is knowledge, and the development and transfer of knowledge is the primary mission of higher education. Tertiary education thus plays a central role in helping people and societies confront and cope with these profound changes.
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Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators offers a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators that reflect a consensus among professionals on how to measure the current state of education internationally. The indicators provide information on the human and financial resources invested in education, how education and learning systems operate and evolve, and the returns to investments in education. They are organised thematically, each accompanied by information on the policy context and interpretation of the data.
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Although a lack of data still limits the scope of the indicators in many countries, the coverage extends, in principle, to the entire national education system (within the national territory), regardless of who owns or sponsors the institutions concerned and regardless of how education is delivered. With one exception (described below), all types of students and all age groups are included: children (including students with special needs), adults, nationals, foreigners and students in open-distance learning, in special education programmes or in education programmes organised by ministries other than the ministry of education, provided that the main aim of the programme is to broaden or deepen an individual’s knowledge. Vocational and technical training in the workplace, with the exception of combined school- and work-based programmes that are explicitly deemed to be part of the education system, is not included in the basic education expenditure and enrolment data.
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In 2018, 44% of 25-34 year-olds held a tertiary degree, compared to 35% in 2008, on average across OECD countries. The expansion of the population of adults with a bachelor’s degree has contributed the most to this growth. The employment advantage of young tertiary-educated adults over those with upper secondary education has remained fairly constant over the past decade. Tertiary-educated adults are more resilient against long-term unemployment and, in 2018, their employment rate was 9 percentage points higher than that of adults with upper secondary education. Tertiary-educated adults also reap higher earnings, although this varies by field of study. Their advantage increases with age too: 25-34 year-olds with tertiary education earn 38% more than their peers with upper secondary education while 45-54 year-olds earn 70% more.
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SDG 4 and its associated targets set an ambitious agenda that encompasses quality learning and equity in education alongside the more traditional indicators of access and participation, at all levels of education. In doing so, it challenges every country in the world to improve its education system and marks a significant departure from previous global education goals and targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals, which were not as far-reaching and focused more on access and participation at primary level. The analysis below takes into account this lifelong learning approach and reports on youth pathways throughout their journey from education to the labour market.
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Education Indicators in Focus is a series of OECD briefs that highlight specific indicators in Education at a Glance that are of particular interest to policy makers and practitioners. These briefs provide a detailed look into current issues in pre-primary, primary and secondary education, higher education, and adult outcomes from a global perspective.
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