2.6. Education

Education is another important factor to preserve and promote health. Significant differences are shown among EU Member States both in terms of total population having completed at least upper secondary education (Table 2.3) and of total early school leavers (Figure 2.4).

Table 2.3. Total population percentage having completed at least upper secondary education in EU Member States, candidates and EFTA countries.

The indicator shows the percentage of the adult population (25-64 years old) that has completed upper secondary education. The indicator aims at measuring the share of the population that is likely to have the minimum necessary qualifications to actively participate in social and economic life. It should be noted that completion of upper secondary education can be achieved in European countries after varying lengths of study, according to different national educational systems.

Figure 2.4. Early school leavers in EUGLOREH Countries, per gender, in 2006.

In the EU25 as a whole, women accounted for almost 55% of all students enrolled in tertiary level education (i.e. ISCED levels 5 or 6) in 2003/2004

This gap is evident throughout the EU. There are more women than men enrolled in ISCED in 5 level programmes in EU Member States. Women accounted for more than 60% of students enrolled in Sweden and the three Baltic States as well as in Iceland and Norway. The share of women among students increased between 1997/98 and 2003/04 in virtually all countries for which data are available for both years. The only exceptions are Finland and Lithuania, marginally, and, Cyprus and Bulgaria more markedly (EUROSTAT, 2008).

Men represent the majority of students enrolled in ISCED 6 or advanced research programmes in most European countries. In the EU25 as a whole, women made up almost 47% of students in 2003-04. In Belgium and the Czech Republic the figure was under 40%. Women outnumbered men, however, in the three Southern countries of Spain, Italy and Portugal, the three Baltic States, Luxembourg, Finland, Bulgaria and Romania as well as Iceland. Between 1997/98 and 2003/04, the number of women enrolled in ISCED level 6 programmes compared to men increased in nearly all countries, by an average of almost 3 percentage points in the EU25. The only exception is Italy, where women still outnumber men (EUROSTAT, 2008).

In 2004, women made up around 59% of students graduating with ISCED level 5 qualifications in the EU25, 4 percentage points more than the share of women in enrolments. More women than men graduated in 2004 in all countries except Turkey, where women make up a relatively small proportion of students enrolled. In Portugal, Poland and the three Baltic States, as well as Iceland, around two thirds or more of graduating students were women.

The situation is very different at post graduated level. In the EU25 as a whole in 2004, 57% of those successfully completing their studies were men. Men also outnumbered women in most countries. The exceptions are Ireland, Italy (though only marginally so), Cyprus, Portugal, the three Baltic states and Bulgaria. The share of men among graduates at this level, moreover, was more than their share of enrolments in most countries, which partly reflects the growing share of women enrolling in ISCED 6 programmes (i.e. those graduating are those who initially enrolled some years previously when the share of women was smaller). There is a marked difference between the fields of education in which women and men successfully complete the first stage of tertiary level programmes. While women make up a large majority of those graduating in health and welfare and teacher training and education programmes at ISCED level 5, outnumbering men by more than three to one on average in the Eu in 2004, the opposite occurs in engineering, manufacturing and construction.

The number of enrolled in education in EU is expected to decline from 91.8 and 91.6 millions in 2002 and 2003 respectively to 71.7 millions in 2050. For all age groups, the main explanation for the drop in the number of students is demographic, but for students aged 15 or more, labour market developments also influence the developments in enrolment rates. The number of students is expected to decline from 2002 to 2050 in all countries but Luxembourg. Measured as a share of working-age population, the average EU student ratio is expected to decline by 2.4 percentage points. Declines in this ratio are expected in all countries but Denmark and the Netherlands, and the strongest expected reductions are foreseen for Cyprus and Poland with reductions of about 10 percentage points (European Commission, 2006).

While education is primarily publicly founded in all Member States, private contributors also play some role. The share of public education expenditure varies across countries depending on the specific institutional setting for education and across ISCED levels of education. In most Member States, the share of publicly funded education is close to 100 for basic and upper-secondary education. For tertiary education, the shares of publicly funded education vary somewhat and are generally lower than at lower level (European Commission, 2006).

Considering the large increase of life expectancy and the rapidly charging contexts of working and social life, the need emerges for providing the opportunity of life-long education to help all citizens to better cope with the many innovations and developments taking place during their life-times. This is absolutely essential to ensure optimal performance in the working environment, but it is also important in the social context. How to succeed such as demanding task is one fundamental challenge we have to face.