| Synopsis: |
The world is rapidly becoming more educated at a higher education level. In all countries with per capita GDP of more than about $3000 per annum there is a long-term tendency to growth of participation. The worldwide Gross Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (GTER) increased from 10 per cent in 1972 to 32 per cent in 2012, and is now rising by 1 per cent a year. By 2012 the GTER had reached 50 per cent in 54 national systems, compared to five systems twenty years before, and there were 14 countries with a GTER of 75 per cent or more. The tendency to high participation systems (HPS) is common to countries that vary widely in rates of economic growth, education system structures and financing arrangements, but share the tendency to urbanisation. Possible causes include state policies, economic development, aspirations for social position, credentialism, global factors, and combinations of these. Higher Education describes the tendency to HPS, explores the possible explanations, and begins to reflect on the implications; on the way reviewing prior discussions of growth in participation including Trow (1974), Schofer and Meyer (2005), and Baker (2011).It closes with suggestions for further investigation. |