Global report shows value of degrees, but UK braced for higher education cuts

The latest Education at a Glance report, from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), shows that public spending on higher education in the UK in 2010 was 0.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with 0.9% in 2006. The OECD average is 1.1%.

The report also shows how the UK fell well short of the levels of spending in other countries, such as Finland (1.9% of GDP), Denmark (1.8%), Norway (1.6%) and Sweden (1.6%), and also some close economic competitors, such as France (1.3%) and the United States (1.0%).

Published a day ahead of the Spending Review, and expected cuts to universities' budgets, the University and College Union (UCU) said the report's central conclusion that demand for highly-skilled, highly-educated workers is still rising faster than supply, proved investment in higher education remained vital.

UCU President, Simon Renton, said: 'This report sets out the absolute value of higher education and makes the clear case for investment in higher education. Worryingly for us, it comes the day before a spending review that is expected to slash even harder at our universities' budgets.

'Against all the odds, the premium of a degree is still very strong in terms of job prospects and earning power. The demand for highly educated people continues to rise faster than supply yet our government has persisted with cuts to our higher education system - the true extent of which are not even reflected in this report.'

The report's key findings include:

• public spending on higher education as a % of GDP in the UK has fallen from 0.9% in 2006, to 0.7% in 2010
• public spending on higher education in the UK in 2010 was 0.7% of GDP, compared with the OECD average of 1.1%, and falls well short of the levels of spending in some OECD member states, such as Finland (1.9% of GDP), Denmark (1.8%), Norway (1.6%) and Sweden (1.6%), and also some close economic competitors, such as France (1.3%) and the United States (1.0%)
• unemployment rates are nearly three times higher among people without an upper secondary education (13% on average across OECD countries) than among those who have a tertiary education (5%)
• the average difference in earnings from employment between the low educated and the highly educated has risen from 75% across OECD countries in 2008 to 90% in 2011. On average the relative earnings of tertiary-educated adults are 1.5 times that of adults with upper secondary education
• the UK's share of expenditure on higher education institutions which came from private expenditure rose from 32% in 2000 to 74.8% in 2011, second only to Chile across OECD countries.