Europe's Failing Schools

This article talks about private v public funding for schools
and the stats that tell which is better. It's interesting reading.
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www.insightmag.com...

Excerpt -
Insight Magazine
September 28, 2004
By Martin Walker

The state of higher education in Europe is grim, and since students represent a society's willingness to invest in its own future, this is grim news for the 450 million people of the European Union.

The European Commission last year issued a sobering table, ranking the world's best universities, compiled by researchers in Shanghai. Of the top 50, all but 15 were American. From Europe, only Oxford and Cambridge made it into the top 10. The University of London made 11th place. From other EU countries, no university ranked higher than 40, and that was Holland's University of Utrecht.

This should come as no surprise. EU countries spend 1.1 percent of GDP in universities, compared to 2.3 percent in the U.S. A recent survey by the OECD found that annual spending per student in the U.S. comes to around $20,000, roughly twice the figure in Germany and three times that in Spain.

This reflects the long-standing policy in Europe to make university education the responsibility of the state rather than of the student or the family. Private funding of university education stands at 1.2 percent of GDP in the U.S., at 0.6 percent in Japan, and at a miserly 0.2 percent in the EU (and most of this private spending comes from one country -- Britain.)


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[edit on 9/30/2004 by FlyersFan]

Just to think, in the 1800's Americans were swarming to Germany's University of Heidelberg for education in medicine.

i think the problem really is that there's no capitalist enthusiasm in universities in Europe. It is seen as a place of higher education and a place to get a degree to get a job. The govt pays for the most part of the tuition fees. In the US universities are all about making money. And they have money to burn because of it on R&D to make even more money. I believe it's to do more with the system than anything. The reason the US will remain so rich is because it sells ideas.

regards,
drfunk

Originally posted by nathraq
Just to think, in the 1800's Americans were swarming to Germany's University of Heidelberg for education in medicine.

This is still a very prominent school for Americans. I am living in Heidelberg and there is a multitude of Americans attending this school. I don't know what any of them are studying but Americans are still attending. Schools in europe are still declining. I think it is possibly the fact that if one pays taxes in the EU he or she gets free college.

[edit on 4-10-2004 by FNG_J]

I don't think anyone can dispute that the US has some of the best Universities in the world.

Let's hope the government doesn't screw that up with a 'close the borders' mentality that will discourage foreign students from attending, or foreign educators from teaching, at those schools

According to this article, link, graduate school applications from foreign students are down 32% from last year. That's not good for the US. According to that article, foreign students contribute $12 billion to the US economy and they pay higher fees than US students. Without that money from foreign students, Universities in the US will likely have less money to spend and may start to decline.


[edit on 4-10-2004 by AceOfBase]

George Bush wants to expand NAFTA which will actually open US borders much more than they have been. It will also create an American version of the EU. This is something that has been in planning for a while but due to the war it has been postponed. Kerry is against it unfortunately.

Well, there are Pro's and Con's against private/public schools. I think Germany is on a good way right now.

Public schools or let's better say universities will demand a little amount of money for one year which will help improving the situation there.

At the same time private universities are becoming more popular and represent quality that nearly equals the top notch universities in the USA.
Long way to go but looks good so far.

The current measures won't be "felt" before 2020. So we will have lots of waste of money studies that tell us we lack of education till 2020 when the measures took effect.


Private unis aren't social but hey, my parents aren't rich as well. Still I just joined a private university and pay it by working at a popular company. The universities quality is great. One course for the whole study, just 30 people and this during the whole time of study.

Furthermore experts from the economy, no low-skilled academics who never saw the sun
expensive but worth the money.

seriously, have american reporters lost the ability to even make it look objective??? no further comments....

sure it has its flaws, and it costs a lot of money, but it also makes it possible for my single mother who works in at a factory floor to send her both sons to university .
how do you expect people to move up our economic social structure if only upper middle-class and onwards can afford to send their children to collage??
maybe you dont expect them to...

The US has some exemplary instiututes of higher learning.

It also has a general adult literacy rate that is in freefall.

The less intelligent of observers generally blame that on immigration. That doesn't wash with me.

Let's hope the government doesn't screw that up with a 'close the borders' mentality that will discourage foreign students from attending, or foreign educators from teaching, at those schools

dood, for every 1 immagrant that comes to persue a productive life. there is about 10 who come in soley to milk the system, deal drugs, and become nothing more then dead weight. trust me i see it where ever i go in this crazy town!

A lot of EU investment in students is wasted through high dropout rates. Only 42 percent of Italian students taking academically oriented degrees get through their programs, possibly because European degree courses take so long -- often five years or more.

Moreover, there are simply fewer students in Europe than in the U.S. or Japan. Less than 30 percent of 25-34 year olds have complete university education in Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece, Germany, Austria and Italy, compared with 40 percent or more in the U.S. and Japan.

This is what really shocks me from the article that is written . There are fewer students than in our country our Japan !!

I'm glad this article shows that at least the higher education system in the US is doing well. Our colleges and universities are really pretty good.

Originally posted by sturod84
dood, for every 1 immagrant that comes to persue a productive life. there is about 10 who come in soley to milk the system, deal drugs, and become nothing more then dead weight. trust me i see it where ever i go in this crazy town!

No.

Cato Handbook for Congress
Immigrants are not a drain on government finances. The NAS study also found that the typical immigrant or his or her offspring will pay a net $80k in taxes in their lifetimes then they collect in government services. For immigrants with college degrees the net fiscal return is $198k. It is typical that low skilled immigrants and refugees tend to use welfare more then the typical "native" household, but welfare and immigration reform legislation in 1996 made it much more difficult for new immigrants to collect welfare. As a result, immigrant use of welfare has plunged even more steeply than use among the general population.

Immigrants tend to carry their weight more than unproductive Americans do. They believe in the American dream. John and Jane Double-Wide are more likely to look for hand outs then Juan and Juanita.

It's the illegals that need to be dealt with.