"Germany Has Gained a Leading Position in Developing Higher Education"

Today, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the 2016 edition of Education at a Glance, comprising the OECD’s annual indicators on education. Dr. Friedhelm Pfeiffer, deputy head of the Research Department "Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy" at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), comments on how well Germany fares in international comparison in terms of education.

"The new OECD report once again confirms that a continuous expansion of universities and related higher educational institutions is taking place in the 35 countries of the OECD. In a comparison of all OECD countries, Germany recorded the second largest increase in the enrolment rate of 20-24 year-olds in tertiary education. The indicator rose by eight percentage points to 29 per cent in 2014.

Indeed, this value equals the value already averaged by all OECD countries ten years ago. However, since Germany has a highly developed system of education in secondary evening schools, technical secondary schools and colleges, it can be considered to have a leading position in the development of higher education according to these OECD calculations. Nevertheless, one must keep in mind that comparisons between OECD countries and country rankings based on indicators are limited by existing differences in national education systems."

For more information please contact

PD Dr. Friedhelm Pfeiffer, Phone +49(0)621/1235-150, E-mail pfeiffer@zew.de