Canada leads in higher education spending, according to the latest study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Times Higher Education writes: “Canada overtook the US as the biggest spender on tertiary education, increasing its GDP spent from 2.6 per cent in 2009 to 2.8 per cent in 2010.”
Examinant le même rapport, Le Devoir constate que Le Canada possède un des taux les plus élevés de jeunes diplômés d’université entre 25 et 34 ans (57%). Le Devoir ajoute que “[le] salaire des diplômés universitaires était, en moyenne, 59 % plus élevé dans les pays développés en 2012 que celui de travailleurs qui n’avaient qu’un diplôme d’études secondaires alors que cette différence était encore de seulement 51 % en 2000…,” ce qui renforce l’importance de l’éducation postsecondaire.
The Toronto Star quotes Andreas Schleicher, OECD’s director of education and skills, who praises colleges in Canada, saying that they strengthen the system by offering “many ways to get a post-secondary education and many bridges from the different pathways.”
However, the Star also points out that, according to the report, “[i]n Canada, about 43 per cent of the cost of post-secondary education is picked up by privately, much of it from tuition, and this is higher than the OECD average of 31 per cent.”
This is bad news for some, especially considering that tuition fees across Canada are set to increase by 13 per cent in the next four years, according to a different report.
In Embassy News, an opinion article by AUCC president Paul Davidson and Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Perrin Beatty underscores the importance of international experiences in Canadian postsecondary education. The writers mention the federal government’s International Education Strategy, writing that “[far] from a luxury, industry needs students to have global experiences, to gain a cultural awareness that can’t come from a textbook, and to equip themselves with languages driving commerce in growing overseas markets.”