Graduate rate
The academic quota indicates how high the proportion of university graduates is in a population or working population. Usually it is given in relation to the age group of the people in training .
Development in Germany
The proportion of academics in Germany has been rising steadily since the 1960s. Since the proportion of academics in relation to the years in training is higher than the proportion of academics in the entire workforce, this development will continue for the next few decades.
In parallel with the development of the proportion of graduates, the proportion of those in employment who had completed vocational training rose until the early 1990s. The number and importance of unskilled and semi-skilled workers fell significantly. This development has stagnated since the mid-1990s, as vocational training is increasingly being replaced by academic training and the proportion of unskilled workers is increasing due to immigration . In 2018, the proportion of adults aged 25 to under 65 with a university degree was 22%.
| year | Completed
education |
professional
education |
Academic
education |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 63% | 56% | 7% |
| 1976 | 65% | 58% | 7% |
| 1977 | 67% | 59% | 8th % |
| 1978 | 68% | 60% | 8th % |
| 1979 | 70% | 61% | 9% |
| 1980 | 71% | 62% | 9% |
| 1981 | 71% | 62% | 9% |
| 1982 | 72% | 62% | 9% |
| 1983 | 73% | 63% | 10% |
| 1984 | 74% | 64% | 10% |
| 1985 | 75% | 65% | 10% |
| 1986 | 77% | 66% | 11% |
| 1987 | 78% | 67% | 11% |
| 1988 | 79% | 68% | 12% |
| 1989 | 80% | 68% | 12% |
| 1990 | 81% | 69% | 12% |
| 1991 | 84% | 72% | 12% |
| 1992 | 84% | 71% | 13% |
| 1993 | 85% | 71% | 14% |
| 1994 | 85% | 71% | 14% |
| 1995 | 86% | 71% | 15% |
| 1996 | 86% | 70% | 16% |
| 1997 | 87% | 71% | 16% |
| 1998 | 87% | 71% | 16% |
| 1999 | 86% | 70% | 16% |
| 2000 | 86% | 69% | 17% |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 2014 | 17.6% | ||
| 2015 | ... | ... | ... |
| 2016 | 21% |
(Share of the labor force; Germany until 1990, Germany as a whole from 1991; source: IAB)
International comparison
In an international comparison, the proportion of graduates in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is traditionally low. The reason for this lies in the dual education system , in particular the advancement training and higher vocational education . Many tasks that are performed by academics in other countries are performed here by graduates of vocational training courses.
The quota of people in employment who have completed their training is high in the countries mentioned in an international comparison. Under no circumstances should the proportion of graduates be viewed in isolation and interpreted as an indicator of inadequate vocational training.
The proportion of academics should not be confused with the proportion of the population with a tertiary degree . This is particularly important when comparing statistics from different educational systems.
In 2013 the proportion of university graduates was 39.7 percent in Ireland, New Zealand 40.6, Great Britain 41.0, Australia 41.3, Korea 41.7, USA 43.1, Israel 46.4, Japan 46.6, Canada 52.6 , Russia 53.5.
Significance for the economic productivity of a region
According to empirical findings, a high rate of academics alone is not decisive for the productivity of a region: a study examined the importance of tertiary education and creativity of the local population for the total factor productivity of a region using data from 257 regions in the EU. A distinction was made between employed academics in creative professions (e.g. natural and social sciences , life science and health , teachers, engineering ...) and employed academics in non-creative professions (government and public authorities, managers, business people, lawyers ...). For the analysis, other potentially influencing characteristics of the regions were also taken into account, such as patents originating from there, the degree of cultural diversity and tolerance , degree of specialization in the manufacturing sector , settlement structure , population density and level of development of the region. The proportion of academics in creative occupational fields had an effect about four times as strong on productivity as the proportion of academics in non-creative occupational fields.
Web links
- Development of university graduates (IAB), status 2002 ( MS Excel ; 72 kB)
- International values and discussion
- BBF: Education at a Glance 2011 (PDF; 226 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Author group on education reporting: Education in Germany 2020 . Ed .: Author's group on educational reporting. wbv publication, Bielefeld, p. 68 .
- ^ IAB director Möller: "There are no signs of over-academization". In: IAB. Institute for Employment Research of the Federal Employment Agency, May 4, 2017, accessed on July 27, 2020 .
- ↑ wiwo.de OECD education study: The countries with the highest proportion of graduates
- ^ Emanuela Marrocu, Raffaele Paci: Education or Creativity: What Matters Most for Economic Performance? In: Economic Geography . tape 88 , no. 4 , October 2012, p. 369-401 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1944-8287.2012.01161.x ( wiley.com [accessed June 19, 2019]).