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Indicator 5: University Enrollment
Differences in programs offered across education levels /*
Education programs in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries are classified as belonging to one of seven levels, which in the United States correspond to the following: preprimary (including kindergarten), elementary school, middle or junior high school, high school, nonbaccalaureate higher education (e.g., 2-year higher education institutions or community colleges), baccalaureate education (e.g., 4-year degree programs at colleges and universities), and graduate school. While the education systems of many other countries are structured similarly to that of the United States in terms of these levels, the training and education offered at them can vary significantly, particularly at the high school level and above. For example, training offered at the nonbaccalaureate higher education level in one country may be offered at the high school level in another, thus contributing to variation in enrollment rates across the levels.
The profession of nursing is just one example of a case where comparable training takes place at different education levels in different countries. In the United States, most nurses (licensed practical nurses and registered nurses) receive their qualifying training in either a nonbaccalaureate or a baccalaureate higher education program. Post-high school vocational training programs, junior college programs, and programs offered at technical institutions are considered nonbaccalaureate higher education programs, while 4-year or longer college programs are considered baccalaureate programs. Comparable training in other countries does, in some cases, take place in nonbaccalaureate higher education programs, but rarely in baccalaureate programs. In France, nurse training occurs in nonbaccalaureate higher education programs offered at public and private schools of nursing. The program is 33 months long and its competitive entrance examination is open to students who have completed their final year of lycée, a school roughly comparable to American high school. In Austria and Germany, however, nurse training occurs at the high school level in full-time nurse training schools. Although the nursing program is considered a high school-level program, in Germany students entering the 3-year program must be at least 17 years old and must have already completed 10 years of general education. In Belgium, the 4-year nursing program requires 9 years of compulsory education, and some schools prefer students who have received the maturity certificate, which is typically required of students entering higher education.
Consideration of these situations is especially pertinent when examining enrollments at the high school and nonbaccalaureate higher education levels. Upper-secondary-level apprenticeship and vocational programs in several OECD countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Denmark, provide the type of specialized occupational training that in the United States does not take place until after high school.
Even at the baccalaureate and graduate school levels, there are significant differences in the types of programs offered. In the United States, people wishing to become doctors or dentists must usually possess a 4-year undergraduate degree before pursuing specialized training in medicine or dentistry. Thus, doctors and dentists possess two university degrees. In contrast, the certificate to practice medicine or dentistry is often the first university degree in many countries and may come after anywhere between 5 years of study (as in the case of dentistry in Belgium, Germany, and France) and 8 years of study (as in the case of medicine in France).
Enrollment rates are also influenced by the availability and accessibility of education at different levels. To illustrate, higher education enrollment rates in the United States are elevated compared with other countries in part because higher education is much more accessible in the United States than in other countries, both in terms of the number of openings and the range of admission standards for entering students.
Footnotes
*/ The primary sources for this sidebar include: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, How Workers Get Their Training: A 1991 Update (Washington, D.C.: 1992) and American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, Belgium, Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and France, World Education Series (Washington, D.C.: 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988).
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