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.
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.
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.
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.
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