OECD (2000)

Access to and Participation in Tertiary Education
At the tertiary level, changes in enrolment rates are less closely tied to
changes in the size of the relevant age cohort than is the case at the primary
and secondary levels of education. Chart C3.3 decomposes the change in the
number of students enrolled into two components: changes in cohort sizes and
changes in participation rates. Growing demand, reflected in higher participation
rates, is the main factor driving expansion in tertiary enrolments. If there
had been no changes in the size of the relevant youth cohort, the number of
tertiary students in Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom would have
doubled over the period 1990-97. Whereas in Poland and Portugal the change
(123 and 168 per cent) was amplified by an increase of the population at the
relevant ages, the opposite was the case in the United Kingdom where the
population at the relevant ages declined and the actual increase in tertiary
participation amounted to 88 per cent. Mexico is the only country where an
increase in the population at the relevant ages contributed more to the
increase in the number of tertiary students than rising enrolment rates.
Age of entrants
Traditionally, entry to tertiary-type A education has typically occurred
immediately after the completion of upper secondary education. In a number
of countries this is still the case. In the Flemish Community of Belgium and
Ireland, for example, more than 80 per cent of all first-time entrants are about
20 years of age or younger (Table C3.1). In other countries, the transition to the
tertiary level is often delayed, in some cases by a period of time spent in the
labour force. In these countries, first-time entrants to tertiary-type A programmes
are typically older and show a much wider range of entry ages. In
Denmark, Iceland and Sweden, for example, more than half of the students
enter this level for the first time after the age of 22, and less than 20 per cent of
first-time entrants are 21 years of age or younger (Table C3.1).
The proportion of older first-time entrants to tertiary-type A programmes,
among other factors, may reflect the flexibility of these programmes and their
suitability for non-traditional students. In some countries, a sizeable proportion
of new entrants are much older than the typical age of entry. In Australia,
Iceland, Hungary, Norway, Sweden and New Zealand more than 20 per cent of
first-time entrants are 27 years of age or older.
Growing demand,
reflected in higher
participation rates, is
the main factor driving
expansion in tertiary
enrolments.
In the Flemish
Community of Belgium
and Ireland more than
80 per cent of all
entrants to tertiarytype
A programmes are
about 20 years of age
or younger.
C3
DEFINITIONS
Table C3.1 shows the sum of net entry rates for all ages. The net entry rate
of a specific age is obtained by dividing the number of first-time entrants to
each type of tertiary education of that age by the total population in the
corresponding age-group (times 100). The sum of net entry rates is calculated
by adding the net entry rates for each single year of age. The result represents
the proportion of persons of a synthetic age-cohort who enter the tertiary level
of education, irrespective of changes in the population sizes and differences
between countries in the typical entry age. Table C3.1 shows also the 20th, 50th
and 80th percentiles of the age-distribution of first-time entrants, i.e., the ages
below which are to be found 20 per cent, 50 per cent and 80 per cent of
first-time entrants.
New (first-time) entrants are those enrolling at the relevant level of
education for the first time. Foreign students who enrol in a country’s education
system for the first time in a post-graduate programme are considered
first-time entrants.
Data refer to the school
year 1997/98 and are
based on the UOE data
collection on education
statistics (details can be
found in Annex 3).
© OECD 2000
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