EU report: Adjust HE capacity, funding

For almost a decade nearly every European country saw more andmore students enrolling at universities. A recent EU reportpredicts that this picture might change fundamentally. EspeciallyCentral, Southern and Eastern European countries will see youngcohorts shrink by up to 34% until 2025.
The Netherlands face the opposite trend. More young people willpush into the higher education sector.
Need for greater capacity and funding in theNetherlands
“Modernisation of Higher Education in Europe: Funding and theSocial Dimension 2011” was published by Eurydice, an EU agencyspecialized in collecting data on higher education in Europe. Basedon data from 31 countries the
Denmark (10.9%), Luxembourg (17.8%) and Norway (9%) are alsoexpected
to feature growing populations of youngsters. In terms of studentnumbers, Turkey features even greater growth. Alone between 2000and 2008, this number increased by 149.4%. The Turkish economy grewa staggering 8.2%
in 2010 which is well in the league of booming countries likeChina. Greater wealth has now led to a HE boom in Turkey.
A greater influx of students must also be considered in the HEeducation agendas, demands Eurydice. Already now, Norway and Turkeymake plans “to increase existing higher education capacity andprovide additional funding”. Will the Netherlands implement similarpolicies?
Consolidation and life-long-learning for therest
The rest of Europe faces different worries. Even though Germanuniversities are currently
European countries will see an extreme decline with Latvia(-34.2%) topping the list.
The report urges these countries to act accordingly andconsolidate their higher education sector over time. This wouldalso involve rethinking over what the average student should looklike. Life-long-learners and students from lower social economicbackground need to be targeted to ensure a sufficient supply ofqualified graduates.
Deep HE cuts in PIIGS
Due to the Euro crisis, especially PIIGS (Portugual, Ireland,Italy, Greece, Spain) already now
European leaders have set a target for 40% of 30-34 year olds tohave a higher education qualification by 2020 – an increase fromjust over 33% today. “We are failing to make the most of the talentavailable to us in Europe. Unless we change path, we will fallbehind our global competitors. We need to widen access to highereducation to the largest proportion of citizens possible,” saidAndroulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture,Multilingualism and Youth.
Continued growth in studentnumbers 2000-2008
Source: Eurostat
Growth and decline 18-34 agegroup until 2025
Source: Eurostat
Meest Gelezen
Wat vindt BBB eigenlijk van hoger onderwijs?
Susanne Täuber: "Wie haar klacht niet laat afzwakken, wordt kapotgemaakt"
Europese Unie: ‘Academische vrijheid in Nederland verslechtert’
'Studentenwelzijn verbeteren zonder wetenschappelijk bewijs kan veel schade toebrengen'
Nederlandse universiteiten dalen op vrijwel alle domeinen in de QS-ranking
