This month, the Directorate of Education and Skills of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released the 2020 edition of its landmark publication Education at a Glance. The publication series, started in 1996, provides a rich set of information and data on the state of education in all OECD member countries and many other states of the world. Areas covered are – among many others – the structures, the funding/finances and the performance of education systems. Education at a Glance covers all levels of education, from pre-primary to doctoral education. The publication is based on the analysis of data for 25 groups of indicators, resulting in over 100 tables. It is highly valued by governmental and other policy makers, who can compare the outcomes of their education systems with that of other countries, enabling learning from each other. It is also one of the most valued sources for researchers into education.

Education at a Glance 2020 includes a special focus on initial and continuing vocational education and training.

Being the rich and highly differentiated data source it is, it is as meaningful - sorry: meaningless – to sum up the main findings of the publication as it is to sum up those of a telephone director. We will therefore not attempt a summary. However, being ACA with its focus on internationalisation in higher education, we think it appropriate to briefly highlight some of the findings of indicator 6B, which is on internationally mobile students. In 2018, which is the source year for data in Education at a Glance 2020, there were around 5.6 million internationally mobile students in the world. This represents an annual increase of 4.8% since 1998. While OECD countries host the large majority of internationally mobile students, non-OECD countries have seen the fastest growth. On a global average, three inbound mobile students compare with one (national) outbound one. In some countries, for example Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK, the inbound/outbound ratio is over 10:1. Female and male students were equally mobile at Bachelor’s or Master’s level. Women were, however, less likely to enrol in a Ph.D. programme abroad.

More information here.