1

International conference on learning mobility in higher education

Prague 6-7 October 2011

Richard Deiss

Mobility in higher education Evidence from Eurostat, Eurobarometer and other

sources

2

19. Mobility in history – programme namegivers

Comenius

1592-1670

"

"

"

"

"

"

$

$

""

$$

$

$

" "

Erasmus

1466-1536

Grundtvig

1783-1872

Leonardo

1452-1519

1505: 7% of students in Germany from

outside the German Empire, Leiden

1575-1700: 45% foreigners, 1600: 80%

of Swedish students study abroad

Marie Curie

1867-1934

18. Higher education-worldwide growth

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2008

World tertiary student population 1900-2008

World

EU 27

1900

EU 0.2

USA 0.16

0.5 one in 3300

1950:

USA: 2.7

EU 1.0

China 0.1

2008:

China 26.7

EU 19.0

USA 18.2

India 14.2

159,

one in

43

2000: 2.1 million students study abroad, 2.0% of all students (1980: 1.1 million, 2.2%, 1990 1.3 m, 1.9%)

2009: 3.7 million tertiary students study abroad, ca. 2.2% of students

Before 1800: less

than 50 000

students in Europe

4

Tertiary students in EU27 (Million)

15

15,5

16

16,5

17

17,5

18

18,5

19

19,5

20

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Tertairy attainment 30-34 y olds, EU 27

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

36

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Years

%

Education headline targets in EU 2020 Strategy

Tertiary attainment (30-34 year olds) to reach 40%

Early school leavers (18-24) to be reduced to 10%

17. Europe 2020 education headline targets

5

16. Bologna Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve

Communiqué of April 2009

We believe that mobility of student, early stage researchers

and staff enhances the quality of programmes and excellence

in research; it strengthens the academic and cultural

internationalisation of European higher education. Mobility is

important for personal development and employability, it

fosters respect for diversity and a capacity to deal with other

cultures. It encourages linguistic pluralism, thus underpinning

the multilingual tradition of the European Higher Education

Area and it increases cooperation and competition between

higher education institutions. Therefore, mobility shall be the

hallmark of the European Higher Education Area. We call

upon each country to increase mobility, to ensure its high

quality and to diversify its types and scope. In 2020, at least

20% of those graduating in the European Higher Education

Area should have had a study or training period abroad.

6

15. Council Conclusions of May 2009

Given the widely acknowledged added value of learning

mobility, and with a view to increasing such mobility,

the Commission is invited to submit to the Council a

proposal for a benchmark in this area by the end of

2010, focusing initially on physical mobility between

countries in the field of higher education, taking both

quantitative and qualitative aspects into account and

reflecting efforts made and the objectives agreed within

the Bologna process, as highlighted most recently at

the Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve conference.

At the same time, the Commission is invited to study the

possibility of extending such a benchmark to include

vocational education and training and teacher mobility.

14.Commission mobility benchmark proposal

In 2020, at least 20% of EU graduates from higher

education should have had a study or training period

abroad.

Mobility is defined as physical, not virtual, mobility.

Worldwide mobility of EU graduates would be taken

into account and it would include both short term

(credit) and long term (degree) mobility in all tertiary

cycles. The minimum duration should be in line with the

Erasmus definition of mobility i.e. minimum of 3 months

(2 months minimum for placements organised by so-

called short cycle higher education institutions) or

alternatively mobility resulting in at least 15 ECTS

credits.

Proposal in May 2011 Staff Working Document

Currently being discussed in the Education Committee of the Council

Council Conclusions expected for November 2011

8

13. Data, indicators and benchmarks

Data Data

Indicators Combination of data sets

Data

production

(statistics)

Indicator

identification

(policy experts)

Benchmarks

(policy decision

makers)

Benchmarks Combination indicators +targets

Normal process: building indicators on available

data and benchmarks on available indicators.

Graph Rule Graph Rule useful

Precision

harmful

Precision The more precise the data the

more useful they are.

Data should be at least precise

enough to mirror trends over time

correctly. If data do not show the

direction of change correctly, they

can be even harmful.

Usefulness of data

Units covered

Comprehensiveness The better the coverage of

data the more useful they are.

In the EU context data should

cover as many countries as

possible, at least the large

majority of Member States.

Usefulness of data

Time since survey

Freshness The fresher the data the more

useful they are.

The importance of freshness

depends on the speed of change in

what the data measure.

Usefulness of data

Comparability

Comparability The more comparable the

data the more useful they are.

Data should ideally be comp-

arable between countries and

over time. However, harmo-

nisation can sometimes imply

breaks in series.

needed

available

Known

used

-Underlying data: to be precise, timely, comparable, comprehensive

-Analytical soundness, relevance, elasticity (malleability)

12. Quality criteria

Data needs and use Quality criteria for data

Quality criteria for indicators

(They) use statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts- for support rather than for illumination. B. Disraeli

11. Mobility measurement- some basic rules

Mobility level found

Minimum duration of mobility

Cumulative mobility

Age

Perception of being mobile

Duration of stay Duration of stay

Difficulty to measure mobility

Mobility level found

Scope of definition

Mobility level

Precision of statistics

If you want to measure change, don’t change the measure. Al Beaton

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10. Data sources

Data set Data available Data developments

Eurostat

(UOE)

Long term mobility students

(UOE), outgoing, incoming

Data on Data on credit (short

term) mobility in preparation

Eurostat

(UOE)

Mobility of graduates (mostly

on foreign graduates, not

Data on mobile graduates

being improved

DG EAC

(Erasmus)

Short term mobility

(students)

Eurydice Qualitative information on

education systems

Mobility publication in

preparation

Eurobarometer One off survey (2011) on

youth mobility

Eurostudent 3-yearly data on student

mobility

Eurostudent V (2012-15) in

preparation

For Eurydice reports, see also: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/index_en.php

12

Eurobarometer youth survey 2011

Higher education EU 27 EU 27

number %

Number of respondents who completed HE 5775 100

of which with learning mobility experience 1358 23,5

of which with HE study mobility 868 15,0

of which with HE study mobility > 3 months 570 9,9

of which with HE traineeship mobility > 3 months 249 4,3

total HE study+training > 3 months 819 14,2

total HE assuming 1% overlap 811 14,0

Telephone interviews of ca. 30 000 young people (ca. 1000

per country) aged 15-35 in January 2011

See: See: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_319b_en.pdf

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Outward mobility of Erasmus students, 2008/09

(students sent per 100 students)

8. Erasmus mobility

About 0.8% of EU students

participate in Erasmus in a given

year,

over a 5 year period 4% of

students affected

highest participation rate: LU

(14.1%,) lowest UK (0.3%)

highest incoming rate: Malta

(3.7%), lowest: Romania,

Bulgaria (0.1%)

net receivers: Nordic

countries, English speaking

countries (UK, IRL, MT), Spain,

Portugal, Cyprus, NL

See: http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus/doc/stat/table1.pdf

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1987/88 99/00 04/05 07/08 08/09 2009/10 Total

EU-27 3 244 106 418 141 391 155078 159750 168 048 1 818 779

Turkey, Croatia - - 1142 6274 6920 8251 29 877

IS, FL, NO - 1248 1504 1343 1523 1496 22 513

Total

(EU-27 + EEA + CC ) 3 244 107 666 144 037 162 695 168 193 177 705 2 195 271

Placements EU-27 - - - 19 085 29 349 34 709 83 143

Total incl. placements 3 244 107 666 144 037 182 697 198 523 213 266 2 278 414

7. EU programme data (Erasmus)

October 2002: 1 millionth Erasmus student, October 2009: 2 millionth Erasmus student,

Goal of 3 million Erasmus students in 2012

6. Eurostat data: incoming long term mobility

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

<1 1-4.9 5-9.9 10-19.9 20-49.9 50+

Foreign students Mobile students

Share in %

Size of country (population, m)

Data on incoming

mobility better than on

outgoing

Incoming mobility

growing (2000: 5% of

students, 2008: 7.8% of

students)

More data on foreign

students than on mobile

students (past: only

citizenship data)

Incoming mobility

high in small and in

large countries

See: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/education/data/database

5. Eurostat data: incoming students

2000 2007 2008 2009

Total 788.5 1430.2 1467.4 1554.1

Europe 384.4 599.6 608.1 653.3

- EU 27 316.4 479.2 487.8

- other Europe 68.0 120.4 120.3

- of which Russia 12.5 29.6 30.2 33.0

Africa 134.2 246.0 241.7 252.9

Morocco 38.2 46.3 44.2 44.8

Algeria 14.9 21.8 20.3 20.8

Nigeria 3.5 22.0 23.3 27.5

Asia 183.0 405.5 413.5 459.3

China 18.6 117.5 115.8 123.6

India 6.6 39.3 43.1 53.9

Japan 10.7 12.4 10.5 10.3

America 63.1 121.6 124.3 141.1

USA 22.7 32.2 30.8 32.1

Canada 5.8 10.8 10.8 11.5

Brazil 6.8 12.9 14.6 17.6

Oceania 2.9 7.7 7.1 7.1

Australia 2.1 5.6 5.2 5.2

Unknown nat. 20.9 49.8 64.3 34.3

2009: 1.5 million

foreign students in the

EU, of which 0.5

million from other EU,

0.9 million from outside

Europe

Asia and Africa

largest continents of

origin

Number of Chinese

students grew by a

factor of 7 since 2000

Number of Indian

students grew by a

factor of 6 since 2000

Over 40% of world

mobile students go to

the EU

4. Eurostat data: outbound long term mobility

Eurostat outgoing

mobility data based on

incoming mobility

statistics of host

countries

Only long term

mobility (> 1 year) and

mobility to other EU,

Candidate, EEA

countries covered

Growth from 2.1% of

students in 2000 to

2.8% in 2008

Highest level:

Luxembourg (80%),

Cyprus (58%), lowest:

UK (0.6%)

Outbound mobility declines with country size

18

3. Eurostudent data

Eurostudent project co-financed by the Commission

Eurostudent IV full report released in October 2011

Shows that about 10% of students have a mobility experience (will be higher for graduates)

See: http://www.eurostudent.eu/download_files/documents/Synopsis_of_Indicators_EIII.pdf

http://www.eurostudent.eu/download_files/documents/Synopsis_of_Indicators_EIV.pdf

19

2. Outlook 2011-2020

Mobility benchmarks adopted by Council (Education) end of November 2011

New benchmarks on employability and language skills expected for 2012

New EU programme generation: 2014-2020

EU enlargement (Croatia): 2013

Bologna goals 2020: reporting 2012, 2015, 2018

Eurostat improved administrative data collection on mobility: 2014

New Eurostat mobility data (household survey): 2015

Implementation of ISCED 2011

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Thank you for your attention !

For the Commissions’ progress report (mobility section) see also:

http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/report10/chapter1_en.pdf