The World Bank provides data and research on various countries through a module called EdStats. The profile includes a variety of information related to a particular country’s educational resources and World Bank education initiatives. Data in the EdStats profile is retrieved from household surveys and other institutions that collect educational statistics. The module provides maps and graphs that illustrate the data queried. The report includes a variety of information related to international higher education such as enrollment rates, gender, expenditures, adult literacy, accreditation, and online institutions
According to EdStats, in 2007 61.1 percent of the United States labor force had some higher education experience. A similar profile in the report shows that in 2007 23.9% of the labor force in Germany received some type of tertiary education. EdStats provides educational data for 225 countries and regions. Much of the information contained in the report comes from UNESECO Institute for Statistics (UIS). This type of data can be very useful in comparing and contrasting higher education on a global scale. I would recommend EdStats to researchers interested in the finance of higher education in other countries. While EdStats is an excellent database, there is definitely one limitation. Some countries and regions do not report all education statistics to UIS so the availability of higher education information is limited.
In addition to the EdStats module, the World Bank also offers several papers that contribute to the discussion of finance in higher education on a more global scale. Some of the reports the World Bank provides included Funding Higher Education, Funding Higher Education in Africa, and Funding higher education: Lessons from developed economies, options for developing economies. The Bank promotes and supports initiatives in tertiary education. They have reported that tertiary education programs have borrowed over $8 billion in loans since 1963. Between 1990 and 2009 the World Bank loaned over $7.64 billion to tertiary education projects in over 100 countries. In the United States, the World Bank partners with Boston College’s Center for International Higher Education (CIHE) and the State University of New York at Albany and at Buffalo on higher education research.
Barr, N. (2006). Financing Higher Education: Lessons from Developed Economies, Options for Developing Economies. Retrieved on October 23, 2011 from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTABCDE2007BEI/Resources/NBarr.PDF
The World Bank (n.d.) EdStats. Retrieved on October 23, 2011 from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/EXTDATASTATISTICS/EXTEDSTATS/0,,menuPK:3232818~pagePK:64168427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:3232764,00.html
The World Bank (n.d.) Financing Higher Education in Africa. Retrieved on October 23, 2011 from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/278200-1099079877269/Financing_higher_edu_Africa.pdf
Woodhall, M. (2007). Funding Higher Education: the Contribution of Economic Thinking to Debate and Policy Development. Retrieved on October 23, 2011 from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/278200-1099079877269/547664-1099079956815/Funding_HigherEd_wps8.pdf
I was impressed by the statistics that showed the U.S. so far ahead of Germany in higher education. It is good to know that the U.S. takes the need for postsecondary education so seriously. Other research shows that other foreign countries are looking to the U.S. for further guidance in educational growth. Other countries want to invest in American higher education because these subsidies produce results in the world economic market.
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