people and planet

12
But data in this area are still patchy. An international
monitoring effort on the provision and use of online
and particularly open educational resources, the Global
Online Higher Education Report, collected data in the
second half of 2015 (ICDE, 2015).
Public vs private higher education provision. According to
UOE data, 17.5% of students were studying in private,
independently funded institutions in 2012. Most
countries have a very small share of students in
this sector. Prominent exceptions are Brazil, Chile,
Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and the Republic
of Korea, where the share is 80%. In Brazil, where
70% of students are in private universities, the Prouni
University for All programme was implemented in the
private sector to widen access to tertiary education
(Somers et al., 2013).
AFFORDABILITY
The affordability of tertiary education depends on
the relationship between costs and income – current,
forgone or future. Students pay direct education costs
but also general living costs, such as transport, food
and accommodation. Total costs can be compared with
average household income levels based on household
surveys. For example, the total cost of tertiary education
in Mexico is 1.75 times the level of the average national
household income, while it is only half that level in
Canada and New Zealand (Higher Education Strategic
Associates, 2014). While this is a useful guide, it does
not show how many young people cannot afford
higher education.
Collating information on direct costs of tertiary
education is not straightforward. Tuition, registration
and examination fees often differ by subject area and
by institution, especially between public and private.
Detailed national data on costs are more likely to exist
when there is a government policy to provide financial
assistance to make tertiary education participation
more affordable. For example, governments and
tertiary education institutions may provide grants,
repayable loans and discounted accommodation (halls
of residence), food (canteens) or transport (travel cards).
Comparing financial burden on households with financial
assistance to households can help highlight differences
between countries (Orr, 2016). Across 26 countries in
Europe, households contributed an average of 15% of
FIGURE 12.8:
There are diverse ways of making tertiary education affordable
Household expenditure as a share of total expenditure for higher education institutions and support to students enrolled in tertiary
education as a percentage of public expenditure on tertiary education, selected countries, 2011
70
Household expenditure as a share of total expenditure for
tertiary education institutions (%)
60
50
40
30
20
10
Croatia
France
Average
Bulgaria
Latvia
Poland
Italy
Slovenia Netherlands
United Kingdom
Cyprus
Average
0
0
Czech Rep.
Belgium
Denmark
Sweden
Norway
10 20 30 40 50 60
Support to students as percentage of public tertiary education expenditure (%)
Source: European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice (2015a).
2016 • GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 233