people and planet

12
disparity at the expense of women in enrolment, disparity
in graduation is smaller. For example, in Egypt in 2013,
there were 89 women for every 100 men enrolled in
tertiary education, but there was gender parity in the
graduation rate. It is less common for disparity to be
exacerbated between enrolment and graduation. In
Rwanda, 79 women enrolled but only 51 graduated for
every 100 men in 2013.
Globally, however, it is more common for disparity at the
expense of men at the enrolment level to be exacerbated
by the time of graduation. For example, in Costa Rica,
80 men enrolled but 53 graduated for every 100 women
in 2011. In Caribbean countries, such as Barbados, and
in Arab countries, such as Kuwait, more than twice as
many women as men graduated from tertiary education
(Figure 12.5).
Survey and census sources can provide complementary
information in several contexts, e.g. when there
are many private providers that do not report regularly
to the authorities on graduates. The main indicator
is the tertiary education attainment rate – the
percentage of a population group that has obtained a
tertiary education degree or qualification. There is no
consensus on which age group to use for reference.
While the average age of students in Georgia and
Ukraine was up to 21 years, in Norway and Sweden
it was 29 years (Eurostudent, 2015). Eurostat reports
the tertiary education attainment rate among 30- to
34-year-olds, based on the European Labour Force
Survey, was 38% in 2014 across the 28 European Union
countries; among women, attainment rates were on
average nine percentage points higher than among men
(Eurostat, 2016).
The main advantage of survey sources is that they
help in analysing inequality. New analysis for the
GEM Report shows a very large disparity between
the poorest and richest 25- to 29-year-olds in terms
of those who have completed at least four years of
tertiary education. Across 76 countries, 20% of the
richest 25–29 year olds completed at least four years
of tertiary education compared with less than 1% of the
poorest. In the Philippines, 21% of 25- to 29-year-olds
had completed at least four years of tertiary education
in 2013, but the corresponding levels were 52% for the
richest and 1% for the poorest. In Mongolia, 72% of
the richest completed at least four years of tertiary
education, compared with 3% of the poorest, in 2010.
FIGURE 12.5:
Disparity for men worsens between tertiary education participation and completion
Gender parity index of the tertiary education gross enrolment ratio and gross graduation ratio from first degree programmes, selected countries,
2013 or most recent available year
2.0
1.8
1.6
Disparity at the expense of males
1.4
Gender parity index
1.2
1.0
0.8
Gender parity
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Disparity at the expense of females
Gender parity index, gross enrolment rate
Gender parity index, gross graduation rate
Burundi
Rwanda
Liechtenstein
Swaziland
Lao PDR
Ghana
Bangladesh
Uzbekistan
Japan
Nepal
Azerbaijan
Iran, Isl. Rep.
Indonesia
Madagascar
Turkey
Switzerland
Syrian A. R.
Egypt
Rep. of Korea
China
Mexico
Lebanon
Jordan
Sudan
Belgium
Serbia
Chile
TFYR Macedonia
Kyrgyzstan
Netherlands
France
United Kingdom
El Salvador
Colombia
United States
Portugal
Macao, China
Spain
Georgia
South Africa
Israel
Palau
Sri Lanka
Armenia
Rep. Moldova
Australia
Croatia
Italy
Russian Fed.
Bulgaria
Finland
Romania
Denmark
Hungary
Argentina
Austria
Malta
Palestine
Lesotho
Lithuania
Honduras
New Zealand
Belarus
Cabo Verde
Norway
Luxembourg
Myanmar
Czech Rep.
Saudi Arabia
Slovakia
Poland
Source: UIS database.
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CHAPTER 12 | TARGET 4.3 – TECHNICAL, VOCATIONAL, TERTIARY AND ADULT EDUCATION