Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Education at a Glance 2026

The annual publication from the OECD provides information on the state of education – from pre-nursery to tertiary – around the world. The 555-page report covers differences in organisation, participation, spending and outcomes and includes more than 40 “country notes”, which compare country-specific data with OECD averages. Key points below taken from this smaller report are marked “UK country notes”.

The full report can be found here, and you can view the UK country note here.

At-a-glance:

• Across the OECD, 43 per cent of working-age adults (25-64 year-olds) have a tertiary qualification. In the UK, the share of adults with tertiary attainment is 55 per cent (p3 UK country note)

• Rates of those not in employment, education or training (NEETs) are a key policy concern. 16 per cent of all UK 18-24 year-olds were NEET in 2025, up from 15 per cent in 2015. The average share of NEETs across OECD countries fell to 13 per cent in 2025 from 16 per cent in 2015 (p3 UK country note)

• Across the OECD, the employment rate reaches 78 per cent among those with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education and 87 per cent among tertiary-educated adults (p105). Meanwhile, in the UK the unemployment rate among tertiary-educated young adults increased from 3 per cent in 2015 to 4 per cent in 2025. Across OECD countries, the equivalent average rates fell from 7 per cent in 2015 to 5 per cent in 2025 (p3 UK country note)

• 2023 and 2025 marks the first period since the data series began in 2000 in which average unemployment rose among tertiary-educated young adults across the OECD but fell among those with upper secondary qualifications (p19)

• Using the earnings of adults with upper secondary attainment as a benchmark, across OECD countries, adults with short-cycle tertiary attainment enjoy an earnings advantage of 18 per cent more on average. This earnings advantage reaches 39 per cent among those with a bachelor’s degree and 80 per cent among those with a master’s, doctoral or equivalent qualification (p125)

• Tertiary qualifications provide substantial labour-market benefits, and the evidence for a lasting AI-driven shift in the demand for skills remains limited. Education systems need to monitor labour-market indicators closely and be prepared to respond if there are signs that the labour-market advantage of tertiary qualifications is weakening (p20)

• The distinction between vocational and tertiary pathways is becoming less pronounced in many countries, as tertiary programmes increasingly incorporate applied and work-based learning components and vocationally oriented programmes (p72)

• International students account for 11 per cent of new entrants at bachelor’s level, 24 per cent at master’s level and 34 per cent at doctoral level on average across OECD countries in 2024. International students are more likely to graduate in STEM fields than home students (p262)

• English-speaking countries like Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom remain highly attractive destinations. In the UK, international students now represent 58 per cent of master’s new entrants, up from 45 per cent in 2015. The UK’s share of inbound international students averages 23 per cent, while its share of outbound international students is just 2 per cent (p262)

• On average, governments financed 70 per cent of expenditure on tertiary level educational institutions in 2023. Government sources accounted for more than 85 per cent of expenditure in Austria, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg and Norway. By contrast, private sources accounted for at least half of expenditure at tertiary level in Australia, Israel and the United Kingdom (p291)

• Trends in tertiary expenditure show that in Bulgaria, Finland and the UK, declining total expenditure per student was accompanied by substantial reductions in expenditure on staff between 2015 and 2023. In the UK, expenditure per student on teaching staff fell by 46 per cent. The report says this fall is surprising given that expenditure per student only decreased by 9 per cent over the same period (p352)

Implications for governance:

At a time when the value of going to university is under scrutiny in the UK, the OECD’s annual education report makes clear the benefits of tertiary education, but also highlights areas where the UK may be falling behind in helping people realise these benefits.

OECD averages show that employment levels and earnings are higher for graduates than non-graduates, advantages reflected by the UK data.

While governors will be reassured by this confirmation of the continuing graduate premium, Education at a Glance 2026 hints that the future may be less settled.

It describes as “notable” the slight rise in the tertiary unemployment rate over the last few years and a corresponding slight fall in unemployment among those with upper secondary, the first time this has happened since the data series began in 2000. In the UK, tertiary unemployment over the last decade has increased slightly, while across the OECD it fell.

Governors may wish to consider the implications of the report’s that education systems need to respond if there are signs that the labour-market advantage of tertiary qualifications is weakening. In the UK, signs that the graduate premium is under pressure, particularly for students with lower prior attainment, have prompted a greater focus and investment in graduate skills and employability.

This focus is reflected across other countries, where tertiary programmes are increasingly incorporating applied and work-based learning components and vocationally oriented programmes.

According to the report’s authors, it is “imperative to ensure that higher attainment is accompanied by corresponding improvements in skills” and that systems can “adapt” to demographic and technological changes. The rapid development of artificial intelligence makes this even more pertinent.

In the age of AI, countries are recognising the importance of continued learning with many implementing a wide array of policies aimed at upskilling and supporting employability. One such scheme in England, the lifelong learning entitlement (LLE), comes on track in January next year. Some institutions, while interested in principle, are reportedly hesitant about the LLE because it demands operational and pedagogical restructuring without a sufficient guarantee of uptake and financial rewards.

Interestingly, the OECD report suggests this reluctance might be warranted. Its survey of adult skills found there was “little reported unmet interest in further learning among adults”. Over 75 per cent of those surveyed reported that they had “no interest in participating in non-formal learning” (although it is unclear from the OECD definition of “non-formal learning” whether the courses provided through LLE would be classed as formal or ‘non-formal’).

Also of interest to governors will be an exploration of the in-country variations in education, often reflecting long-standing economic, demographic and geographic disparities.

The report says that large cities tend to attract the highly educated because they offer greater access to tertiary education institutions, higher-skilled employment opportunities and more diversified labour markets. By contrast, rural and remote regions often face more limited educational opportunities, weaker labour-market demand and higher rates of population ageing. Internal migration patterns can further reinforce these regional differences.

In the UK, these contextual differences strongly influence levels of participation and progress and the employment and earnings outcomes that institutions are increasingly judged upon through outcomes data.

Long-standing regional disparities also have implications for university finances. According to the report, per student expenditure on higher education in the UK fell by 9 per cent between 2015 and 2023, but expenditure per student on teaching staff renumeration fell by 46 per cent over the same period. This is likely to reflect the cost cutting measures that institutions have implement in response to severe financial strain in recent years.

On international recruitment, the report highlights the UK as one of the most attractive destinations but acknowledges the negative impact on numbers of recent visa changes to ban students from bringing dependents.

The long-standing trend of UK students to remain in the UK to study is also mentioned. The UK will rejoin the EU’s Erasmus programme in 2027 and Labour’s International Education Strategy 2026 explicitly positions outward student mobility as “education diplomacy”. A growing number of institutions are expanding their global opportunity programmes, including flexible summer schemes, which link students to study, work, and volunteer placements abroad. Governors will no doubt wish to keep abreast of where their own institutions stands in relation to these developments.