Education at a Glance 2013

Education Germany 2013

Annually published by the OECD, "Education at a Glance" provides an international perspective on questions of educational policy. The results offer guidance in evaluating the development of Germany's education system and in the further development reform strategies.

World's third lowest unemployment rates for academics


For academics in Germany, rates nearly reached full employment in 2011: Only 2.4% of higher education graduates were unemployed - the average for OECD countries was twice as high.

Rate of university entrants reached record level


In 1995, Germany's rate of university entrants was at 26%, but according to OECD criteria in 2011, it rose to 46%. In this area, the 2005 growth rates in Germany were significantly higher than the OECD average.

Germany leading the way with advanced research programmes (ISCED 6)


In Germany, 2.7% of the corresponding age group completed an advanced research degree (i.e. a doctorate) in 2011. Only in Switzerland and Sweden were there more graduates at this level: 3.2% and 2.8% respectively.

Increased investments in education


This year's Education at a Glance publication does not contain current financial data on Germany. This is because the OECD moved up this year's publication date from September to June due to additional publications planned for the autumn (PIAAC, PISA). The Federal Statistics Office was thus unable to provide the OECD with current data in time for its editorial deadline. Nevertheless, a portion of the data on education expenditure was made public in a press release regarding the budget for education, research and academia on 24.06.2013 (in German only). According to this, education expenditure increased from 172.4 billion euros in 2010 by around 5.7 billion euros - or about 3.3% - to reach 178.1 billion euros in 2011. As in the year before, this corresponds to 6.9% of the GDP. The OECD, however, only observes an internationally comparable portion of education expenditure, namely the direct financing of formal education institutions. In Germany, this portion was 137 billion euros in 2011 and 131.6 billion euros the previous year. In both years, these numbers correspond to 5.3% of the GDP (OECD average in 2010 was 6.3%).

The entire report is available on the OECD website.


Source: Federal Ministry of Education and Research Germany


published: 2013-07-19
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