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This incisive presentation to a collection of educators (at a colloquium), though long, summarizes well the key differences between tertiary-educations in the US and in Europe. (It can be found in full here.)
What is important to note is that - despite WW2 - Europe has played catch-up to the US and is graduating post-secondary degree students at about the same rate (though a bit lower). And the reason is key: A tertiary education in Europe does not cost an arm-and-a-leg. (My exaggeration.)
In France, I've sent my kids to university for a tuition fee of less than $800 - plus, of course, room 'n board. Which is typical of the rest of Europe to a small but varying degree of cost.
"Higher Education: Europe vs. USA" (dated 2010)
Andrzej J. Gapinski, Ph.D.
Penn State University-Fayette, Pennsylvania, USA
An excerpt of the presentation -
What is important to note is that - despite WW2 - Europe has played catch-up to the US and is graduating post-secondary degree students at about the same rate (though a bit lower). And the reason is key: A tertiary education in Europe does not cost an arm-and-a-leg. (My exaggeration.)
In France, I've sent my kids to university for a tuition fee of less than $800 - plus, of course, room 'n board. Which is typical of the rest of Europe to a small but varying degree of cost.
"Higher Education: Europe vs. USA" (dated 2010)
Andrzej J. Gapinski, Ph.D.
Penn State University-Fayette, Pennsylvania, USA
An excerpt of the presentation -
USA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
America developed its higher learning system borrowing successfully from the European model. Although the developments of higher education systems in America and Europe were intertwined from the time America appeared on a map, the historical traditions were quite different. In Europe, with the creation of universities in medieval times, the education system was set up to essentially educate society’s elites. The American system, on the other hand, but much later, introduced democratization of access to education on broader scale, especially with its 19th Century Land Grant College Act (Land Grant College Act of 1862, Encyclopedia Britannica).
Currently, more than sixty percent (60%) of American high school graduates enter post-secondary education, much higher than in Europe (“Secrets of success,” The Economist, 2005; "Who pays…”, The Economist, 2004). Non-traditional students do much better than their counterparts in Europe: the majority of undergraduates are female, one third come from racial minorities, about twenty percent (20 %) come from families with income below the poverty level. These facts dispel arguments used by Europe, that the tuition fees would effectively allow only the society well off families to educate their offspring.
This is not to say that education to most come without a financial hardship. Half of student population does work half-time and eighty percent (80%) of students work to help support themselves (“Secrets of success,” The Economist, 2005). The money factor to great extent encourages students to be more responsible for their own academic success: The graduation rate is much higher than thirty seven percent (37%) of age cohort of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, and with only of twenty one (21%) in Germany (“On shaky…”, The Economist, 2009).
The diversification of universities funding with tuition fees, state appropriation whenever applicable, grants, private benefactors propel American universities to the highest expenditure per student with about $22,000 versus $10,000 for OECD countries for year 2001 (“Secrets of success,” The Economist, 2005). Furthermore, America spends twice as much of its GDP on higher education than Europe does (Heyman, 1999). The higher education system is well diversified with community colleges at the bottom of the pyramid, colleges and state universities, and research universities at the top. There is a plethora of public and private institutions for students to choose from. A student can start at community college and to graduate from research-oriented university. In Europe such transferability and mobility would be almost impossible to achieve.
American Universities compete for almost everything: talented professors, administrators, students, and of course grant monies. Thus, a competition in almost all facets of academic life of the university and funding sets American universities apart from the rest of the world.
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