Artikkelit
01.10.2025
UK: Reasons to be cheerful – and further develop
Across a wide range of metrics, the UK outperforms the OECD average and has shown continuous improvement over previous years. UK-focused media has highlighted the country’s achievements in raising educational attainment, both overall and among individuals from less educated family backgrounds. Despite these improvements the UK is still facing challenges. Overdependence on private funding, rising student debt, and more persistent issues such as teacher shortages and high turnover rates remain as salient issues. Polarisation and a record number of NEETs, young people not in education, employment or in training, needs actions.
Even the highest summit stands on the strength of its base
The UK launch event of the OECD report Education at a Glance 2025 was co-organised by Higher Education Policy Institute HEPI and Cambridge University Press Assessment in early September in London. The high-level panel offered both praise and raised concerns.
The report offers a comprehensive overview of all stages of education, from early childhood education and care to higher education and adult learning. While the 2025 edition placed particular emphasis on higher education, it continued—like previous editions—to highlight the importance of development across the entire educational journey, from early childhood education and care to upskilling and reskilling.
Keynote speakers included Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the OECD; the Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern, Minister responsible for further education, higher education, and skills; and Professor Becky Francis CBE, Chair of the UK Government’s Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment (England). Together, they underscored the importance of building a strong foundation for skills development.
Baroness Smith reiterated the Labour Government’s commitment to advancing early years education, post-16 education, and skills development through continued education and training. The Government also emphasises the need to improve teacher retention—through measures such as pay increases—and to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers in England.
Tertiary attainment in the UK continues to increase
The OECD Country Report on the UK focuses on six key areas: educational opportunities, labour market outcomes, tertiary attainment and completion, tuition fees and financial support, education expenditure, and the number of international students and teachers. The following summary includes selected highlights with minor adaptations based on the OECD’s original country report (a link to the full text is provided under the title Sources).
According to the OECD UK Country report, in England, 25–34-year-olds who have at least one tertiary- educated parent are more than twice as likely to attain a tertiary qualification than young adults whose parents have below upper secondary attainment. Although a disparity exists, it is smaller than the OECD average, where young adults are three times as likely to pursue tertiary education if their parents have higher educational attainment. In contrast, young adults in England whose parents have not completed upper secondary education perform better than the OECD average: 37% of them go on to pursue tertiary education, compared to just 26% across the OECD.
The report highlights that on average, 25–34-year-olds with below upper secondary education earn 43% less than those with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment, the largest gap among OECD countries. The employment rate for young adults without upper secondary qualifications has also fallen. The share of 18-24 -year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET), rose more markedly for men, going from 13% to 17%, while staying relatively constant at 14% for women. There are more than 1 million NEETs, a record high number.
An area where the UK excels, is the tertiary attainment rate among 25–34-year-olds which has increased from 52% in 2019 to 60% in 2024 and now exceeds the OECD average by 12 percentage points. In addition to the availability of provision, the high attainment rate can also be attributed to strong completion rates. In the UK, 67% of new entrants to bachelor’s programmes complete their studies on time, compared to just 43% on average across the OECD. Three years beyond the theoretical programme duration, the completion rate rises to 84% in the UK, significantly higher than the OECD average of 70%.
Another potential driver for quick completion is expensive tuition fees. According to the OECD report, “average annual tuition fees for national students in bachelor’s programmes in government-dependent private institutions are among the highest in the OECD with USD 13 135 compared to an average of USD 3 186 in the 29 OECD and partner countries and economies. To cover these costs, 93% of all tertiary students receive income-contingent government-guaranteed student loans, where repayments are delayed until graduates reach a certain income threshold. High tuition and living costs mean that students in England graduate from tertiary education with substantial debt, exceeding USD 68 683 on average.”
The UK invests heavily in education, with only Norway spending more overall. In the area of higher education, the UK ranks third among the countries compared. Total expenditure per student at tertiary level 35 350 USD (including R&D), is 65% above the OECD average. Meanwhile, government expenditure (USD 7 896) is 48% below the OECD average. This is due to a substantial share of financing for tertiary education comes from tuition fees, both from national and international students. Other levels of education receive more government funding: government expenditure at primary to post-secondary non-tertiary levels is almost twice as high, at USD 13 063.
The UK continues to be one of the most attractive destinations for international students. In 2023, 23% of all tertiary students were international students, which is well above the OECD average of 7%. International students are important to the UK economy and especially to the universities. Of the university sector funding, tuition fees are 52%, of which about 50% are paid by international students.
The Education at a Glance report highlights that many OECD countries are facing teacher shortages. In most countries with available data, between 1% and 3% of teachers retire annually. England stands out for its high turnover rate: while only 0.8% of teachers retire each year, a significantly higher 8.7% resign.
Recent reactions to the outcomes of the report in the UK
The public discourse following the release of the report has underscored the vital role of education—particularly tertiary education—in enhancing lives, a point strongly emphasised within the report itself. UK-focused media have highlighted the country’s achievements in raising educational attainment, both overall and among individuals from less educated family backgrounds. The UK also continues to stand out as one of the most attractive destinations for international students.
However, these sources also draw attention to the challenges of maintaining these successes while addressing structural vulnerabilities. These include a heavy reliance on private funding, rising student debt, and persistent issues such as teacher shortages and high turnover rates. The tone and messaging of the coverage vary depending on the target audience and the convictions of each source, which is understandable given the breadth and depth of the report.
British higher education organisations, such as the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), offer balanced summaries of the report’s UK-specific findings. While acknowledging the challenges, they conclude on a positive note: across most metrics, the UK performs better than the OECD average and has shown improvement over previous years.
HEPI’s commentary highlights the record-high tertiary education attainment rate of 48% among young adults, and the correlation between higher education levels, employment prospects, and wage outcomes. Similarly, NCUB points to the UK’s strong participation and completion rates, robust labour market outcomes, and enduring global appeal.
Nonetheless, both HEPI and NCUB stress the UK’s exceptional dependence on private funding for tertiary education. Government expenditure in this area is 48 % below the OECD average, resulting in tuition fees that are three times higher than the OECD norm. NCUB also notes the critical role international students play in funding UK higher education, especially considering tightening visa restrictions. Another major concern is the UK’s pronounced educational inequality: adults without upper-secondary education earn 43 % less than those with secondary qualifications—the largest disparity across the OECD.
Organisations with different focal points offer more critical and targeted interpretations. The Educational Institute of Scotland, for example, attempts to assess the state of Scottish education by combining OECD statistics with national data. Their analysis calls for increased investment in primary education, based primarily on comparisons of average class sizes. However, the evidence presented remains suggestive rather than conclusive.
Similarly, the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) advocates for greater student support and workforce protections in response to mounting graduate debt—now averaging around £51,000—and ongoing teacher shortages and high turnover rates in the UK.
Labour Party Conference News
The British government has announced the reintroduction of maintenance grants for the most financially disadvantaged higher education students. This initiative will be funded by a proposed 6 per cent levy on international student fees, as outlined in the Immigration White Paper—a move that has already sparked controversy.
The announcement was made by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson during the Labour Party conference. Maintenance grants were previously abolished by the Conservative government in 2016, leaving students in England with access only to maintenance loans. The reintroduction of grants is intended to level the playing field for students from the lowest-income households by removing financial barriers and providing more robust support.
This policy shift comes in response to the declining real value of maintenance loans over the past five years, which has fallen by 20 per cent in real terms. The grants will be targeted at low-income students enrolled in priority courses, aligning with the government’s broader mission and industrial strategy.
The grants are expected to be reinstated by the end of the current Parliament, with further details to be announced in the Autumn Budget, expected to be published in late November.
Universities UK (UUK) considers the proposal counterproductive to widening access and supporting disadvantaged students. According to UUK, recent government policy decisions have already cost the sector £1.4 billion this year, leaving fewer resources available to support students. UUK also warns that the proposed international student levy could add an additional £0.6 billion in costs to the sector, potentially reducing the number of places available for domestic students and further limiting resources for student support.
To conclude with a “Finland mentioned” note, Director Andreas Schleicher highlighted the importance of education system outcomes by using Finland as an example, stating that “A Finnish high school graduate has pretty much the same literacy skills as the UK university graduate in the UK”.
Text: Birgitta Vuorinen and Claudio Rivera Pöyhönen. Photo: Birgitta Vuorinen
Sources:
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/education-at-a-glance-2025_1a3543e2-en/united-kingdom_c93708b1-en.html
https://www.ncub.co.uk/insight/uk-higher-education-expanding-access/
https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/09/09/reasons-to-be-cheerful/?utm_campaign=corporate_social&utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=20250909
https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/09/09/10-points-of-note-in-todays-oecd-education-at-a-glance-report/
https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/09/10/the-leadership-challenges-embedded-in-the-2025-oecd-report/
https://www.eis.org.uk/latest-news/eduglancereport
https://tuac.org/news/education-at-a-glance-2025-trade-unions-call-for-investment-and-workforce-protection/
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/targeted-maintenance-grants-for-students-to-be-reintroduced
https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-politics-2025-9-labour-government-to-bring-back-student-maintenance-grants/