OECD: Danes start studies late but go the distance

Danish students start later, finish later and are more likely to complete their education than their counterparts in other OECD countries, according to a new report. But Denmark still lags behind when it comes to attracting internationals

by Luci Ellis

Danes are more likely to complete a higher education course, compared to students in other countries in the the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

They also tend to start their studies later in life, and, not surprisingly, finish later than students in other OECD countries.

Danes and Japanese most likely to graduate

But whereas a high proportion (second only to Japan) of Danish students successfully complete their degrees, Danish universities still come in below average when it comes to attracting international students.

The report »Danish Universities in an International perspective« was compiled by the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, based on figures from an OECD statistical report »Education at a Glance 2009«.

Here are some of the main findings in the Danish report:

• Compared to other OECD countries, Denmark has a high proportion of young people who have completed a further education course. In this respect, Denmark is in the top 5 (out of 31 countries).
• More women than men have a higher education (29 per cent of Danish women, as opposed to 22 per cent of men).
• Danish university students are on average older than students in other OECD countries when they start studying. Only 64 per cent are under 22 years old (in Holland, for example, this figure is 80 per cent).
• Only a quarter of Danish students complete their bachelor before they reach the age of 25. (In Cyprus, the country with the ‘youngest’ bachelor graduates, this figure is more that 8 out of ten).
• 8 out of 10 Danish students finish their studies successfully. This is second only to Japan, where over 90 percent of students graduate.
• Denmark is under the OECD average for the amount of international students it attracts to further education courses. In this respect, Denmark loses out to English and German-speaking countried, with Austrialia being the number one study abroad destination.

See the OECD website here.

luci@adm.ku.dk

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