Middle-income countries see big jump in higher education enrolment – UNESCO

Middle-income countries like Russia, China, Egypt and Peru have seen a major increase in higher level educational enrolment in recent years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said today.

According to the study conducted jointly by UNESCO and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 19 middle-income countries showed a 77 per cent increase in ‘tertiary’ level educational enrolment, in part due to population increases, fatter national budgets for higher education, and a rise in private funding from families.

The increase for those nations was some 30 per cent higher than the 43 per cent jump registered in rich countries.

Many of the increases came despite the rising costs associated with advanced education, and the economic and currency shocks that hit a great number of the countries studied, said UNESCO.

“These students and their families are generally aspiring to higher levels of education and are increasingly able to pay for it,” the agency said, noting that “the rising demand for education reflects the growing recognition of its economic and social benefits.”

As a result, the number of students in tertiary or higher education almost tripled in Malaysia and Egypt, more than doubled in China and Brazil, and grew by more than 25 per cent in almost all of the remaining countries surveyed.

The countries not surprisingly also increased their national spending for advanced educations, with some, including Chile, Jamaica, Malaysia, Paraguay and Thailand, increasing their budgets by 30 per cent. Students and their families also helped foot the bill, with 37 per cent of tertiary school funds privately funded in 2002, compared to 13 per cent in 1995.