Education
There are many databases and thematic publications covering education statistics both at the EU^5 and at
the OECD level^6. The OECD collects data on education statistics jointly with UNESCO and
EUROSTAT, within the so-called UOE data collection programme, being the main objective to provide
internationally comparable data on key aspects of education statistics. The data refer to the participation
and completion of education programmes, and on the cost and type of resources dedicated to education.
The data collection involves about 60 countries worldwide. It reports data on students enrolled, new
entrants, graduates, repeaters, educational personnel and class size, and on expenditure items.
As to expenditure statistics, educational institutions represent the main defining units: they are identified
as entities that provide instructional services to individuals or education-related services to individuals
and other educational institutions; they include instructional institutions (i.e. schools, universities, etc.)
and non-instructional institutions (ministries, local authorities and student unions).
The classification of educational outlays is developed across three dimensions: i) location (inside or
outside the educational institutions); ii) goods and services; iii) source of funds. It should be noted that
all public educational expenditure is covered, which is collected on a cash accounting basis. Outlays are
reported by source, type of transaction and level of education, and for both public and private
components. Private expenditure refers to two private sources of education funds: households (data refer
manly to tuition fees paid by households) and other private entities.
As to government expenditure, education expenditures are reported by level of government^7 and are
classified according to three types of intervention:
- Direct expenditure on educational institutions. Figures include both current^8 and capital outlays,
but direct expenditure explicitly designated or earmarked for capital is reported in a separate row.
However this row underestimates the actual amount of capital spending on education since non-
earmarked funds, still used to finance capital expenses, are not classified within this category. Also
data on direct expenditure on ancillary services (student welfare and services for the general
public) are reported separately, to allow for a better international comparison. - Intergovernmental transfers for education. These transfers are explicitly designated for education
and are usually defined as net transfers from a higher level to a lower level of governments.
Transfers are thus reported as expenditures at the level of government receiving the funds. - Transfers or other payments from governments to households and other private entities. They
include public subsidies to households (scholarships and loans to students for tuition fees and
student living costs) and public subsidies to other private entities.
Another section reports data on educational expenditure by nature, resource category, type of institution
and level of education. Outlays are distinguished between current and capital (with a separate row for
ancillary services in each of the two sections). Current expenditures are classified into: expenditure on
(^5) For a list of publications provided by EUROSTAT see Schmidt P. “A short guide to educational expenditure statistics”,
EUROSTAT working paper, Population and social conditions 3/2003/E/N°24.
(^6) A short overview on the data availability to assess the composition of government expenditures has been presented to the
Sub-Committee on Statistics attached to the Economic and Financial Committee last 12 December 2003
(ECFIN/477/03-EN). It briefly illustrates the main datasets, and the related data classifications and coverage, provided
by EUROSTAT and the OECD on the main expenditure items. Moreover it measures the quantitative divergences, rather
than the qualitative ones, between the different databases.
(^7) Three levels of government are reported: 1)central government, 2) regional government (province, state, Land, etc.) and
3) local government (municipality, district, etc.). For EU countries the NUTS99 classification is the reference guideline.
(^8) It should be noted that these data include expenditure on social contributions for current educational personnel.