The Spaces Between Numbers: Getting International Data on Higher Education Straight (Extended Version)

1 INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY 01 acknowledgments The author first thanks two dozen individuals in 13 countries for the generosity of their time, information, and instruction in matters relating to both higher education data produced in their countries and comparative higher education data presentations. He is also grateful to the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) for featuring the topic addressed in these pages at the opening plenary session of its 2009 forum in Atlanta, Ga., and the chance that forum presented for reviewing data issues and documents with international participants. Prior to the AIR forum, portions of this analysis were tried out in papers presented at the 2007 Forum of and the author expresses thanks to these organizations for those opportunities. At the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), the author appreciates the support and critiques of Alisa F. Cunningham, vice president of research and programs, the finely-honed feedback of Gregory Kienzl, director of research and evaluation, Jennifer Ramsey, research project manager, and Tia T. Gordon, communications and marketing consultant in whose fine hands the creation of all IHEP publications lie. This report was made possible through the generous support of the Lumina Foundation for Education, which, through its staff and Research Advisory Committee, provided spirited interchanges on topics both directly and indirectly related to this inquiry. Finally, the analysis, opinions, and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the positions, opinions, or policies of either IHEP or the Lumina Foundation for Education.

[1]  Oecd Ocde.  Education At A Glance , 2005 .

[2]  Thomas D. Snyder,et al.  Digest of Education Statistics , 1994 .

[3]  H. L. Bras.  Are Long-term Demographic Forecasts Possible? Turning Points and Trends , 2008 .

[4]  R. Barro,et al.  International Data on Educational Attainment Updates and Implications , 2000 .

[5]  D. Bradley,et al.  Review of Australian Higher Education: final report , 2008 .

[6]  Utdannings og forskningsdepartementet.  OECD Thematic Review of Tertiary Education - Country Background Report for Norway , 2005 .

[7]  Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin,et al.  What is the Impact of Demography on Higher Education Systems? A Forward-looking Approach for OECD Countries , 2008 .

[8]  S. Holden.  Education at a Glance , 2006, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education.

[9]  Franciscus Kaiser,et al.  Lining up higher education. Trends in selected higher education statistics in ten Western countries (IHEM Trendreport 2004) , 2005 .

[10]  Flora Gil Traver.  Key Data on Education in Europe , 2010 .

[11]  P. Santiago,et al.  Tertiary Education for the Knowledge Society VOLUME 1 SPECIAL FEATURES: GOVERNANCE, FUNDING, QUALITY , 2008 .

[12]  M. Porter.  The Competitive Advantage Of Nations , 1990 .

[13]  C. Adelman.  Executive Summary: The Toolbox Revisited--Paths to Degree Completion from High School through College. , 2006 .

[14]  Silke L. Schneider.  The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-97) : An Evaluation of Content and Criterion Validity for 15 European Countries , 2008 .

[15]  Peter C Smith,et al.  The measurement of non-market output in education and health , 2007 .

[16]  Robert J. Barro,et al.  Education and Economic Growth , 2001 .

[17]  P. Santiago,et al.  Tertiary education for the knowledge society , 2008 .

[18]  Sybille Reichert,et al.  THE RISE OF KNOWLEDGE REGIONS: EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR UNIVERSITIES , 2006 .

[19]  Lawrence F. Katz,et al.  Sustaining U.S. Economic Growth , 2003 .

[20]  Scientific.  International Standard Classification of Education, ISCED 1997 , 2003 .

[21]  Clifford Adelman,et al.  The Bologna Process for U.S. Eyes: Re-learning Higher Education in the Age of Convergence , 2009 .

[22]  S. Preston,et al.  Demography: Measuring and Modeling Population Processes , 2000 .

[23]  F. Kaiser,et al.  Myths and methods on access and participation in higher education in international comparison , 2006 .

[24]  Stanislav Y. Ranguelov,et al.  Key Data on Education in Europe 2009. , 2009 .

[25]  A. Hauptman,et al.  Cost, Commitment, and Attainment in Higher Education: An International Comparison. , 2009 .

[26]  J. van den Brakel,et al.  Model-based estimation for official statistics , 2008 .

[27]  Harry B. G. Ganzeboom,et al.  Internationally Comparable Measures of Occupational Status for the 1988 International Standard Classification of Occupations , 1996 .

[28]  J. Wellman.  Apples and oranges in the flat world : a layperson's guide to international comparisons of postsecondary education , 2007 .

[29]  Longitudinal analysis in statistical offices , 2005 .

[30]  Daniele Checchi,et al.  Does the Expansion of Higher Education Increase the Equality of Educational Opportunities? Evidence from Italy , 2008 .

[31]  Jerik Hanushek,et al.  Schooling, Labor-force Quality, and the Growth of Nations , 2000 .

[32]  Laura J. Horn.  Stopouts or Stayouts? Undergraduates Who Leave College in Their First Year. Statistical Analysis Report. , 1998 .