LatinaLista — When it comes to education, it’s universally agreed upon that an education is a valuable commodity in this global economy. The latest report from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, otherwise known as OECD, highlights the true impact, investment and value of higher education.
In Education at a Glance 2010: OECD Indicators, researchers surveying over 31 OECD member countries found that overall around the world, those people with higher education fared better during these recessionary times than their peers with only basic education.
Unemployment rates among people with a tertiary level of education have stayed at or below 4% on average across OECD countries during the recession. For people who failed to complete upper secondary education, by contrast, unemployment rates have repeatedly exceeded 9%.
Also, there was a time a country was judged by not only the high level of education it delivered to its own students but having a system that attracted foreign students. The report found that the United States is not attracting the number of foreign students to its universities as it once did.
New players are emerging in an increasingly competitive market for international education. The Russian Federation expanded its market share by two percentage points over the past decade and Australia, Korea and New Zealand each by one percentage point. Over the same period, the share of the U.S. dropped from 26% to 19%, and Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium also lost ground.
Yet, there is one country’s students who still see the U.S. as the Promised Land when it comes to getting an education:
The largest numbers of international students are from China and India. China accounts for 17% of all international students enrolled in OECD countries (not including an additional 1% from Hong Kong, China), with 21.6% of international students from China going to the U.S. and 15.3% to Japan.
Though the United States still remains the popular destination for foreign students, the U.S. falls behind ten countries in the number of years students are enrolled in school:
At least 90% of students are enrolled for a period of 14 or more years in Belgium, France, Germany, -Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Estonia. However, this enrolment period falls to 11 years in Greece, Korea, Mexico and the United States and to ten and seven years in Chile and Turkey respectively.
And in perhaps the saddest irony of all, the report discovered there is one job in the world, no matter which country, that receives less pay than comparable jobs in the same country with the same education:
Teachers are still paid less than other people with similar educational qualifications in most countries. Only in Spain does a lower secondary teacher with 15 years of experience earn more than the average for people with tertiary education. On average across OECD countries, a teacher at this level can expect to earn 79% of the average. In the Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy and Slovenia, this ratio falls below 60%.
