Why Higher Education Is Still Important? [Infographic]

It’s not a secret that a lot of school graduates are not sure of whether they have to go to college to get a decent job in the future. It may be enough to read the necessary books and pass several online courses to reach your goal. There are some great examples of famous billionaires who never went to college and still managed to become rich and successful. Can you be like one of them or it’s better to get the benefits of higher education?

The advancements of today’s technology give you an opportunity to learn almost anything you want online. So, why spend years of your life studying at some prestigious educational institutions if you can do it by yourself at home? It’s a bit more complicated than you might think. To begin with, the quality of online education is not the same of the traditional one. You’ll never achieve the satisfactory level of knowledge and valuable experience with online courses. They can be an additional tool for building a basis for your future career, not its only source. Besides, not all but just a few student have the required sense of responsibility and devotion to finish what they’ve started.

Some of the students believe that they’ll be able to repeat the success story of Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. They both have no college degree and yet have managed to join the group of the richest people in the world. But let’s face it, they are more of an exception to the rule, and there’s a very low probability of you also being one. However, these are just words, and as we know they are not as persuasive as numbers. Look at the infographic below that shows the significance of tertiary education around the world. Hopefully, it will convince you of the importance of going to the university and getting a degree no matter what other people may tell you.

Education Around The Globe

Population with Tertiary Education
The trend of tertiary education is positive and has been showing growth since 2008 almost in every country in the world. According to the data collected from survey in 2013, there are four countries with more than half of young people (25-34 years old) holding a college or university degree. Here’s the top 10:

1 – Korea 67%
2 – Japan 58%
3 – Canada 58%
4 – Ireland 51%
5 – UK 48%
6 – Luxembourg 48%
7 – Norway 47%
8 – Australia 46%
9 – Sweden 45%
10 – USA 45%

Money Spent on Tertiary Education

There’s a belief that a good education costs a lot. However, it’s not true for most of the countries (including those mentioned above). The greater part of the money spent on tertiary education comes from the public sector. Thus, it’s of no surprise that the countries spending the most money on education have the most educated populations.

• Korea – 27%
• Luxemburg – n/a
• Japan – 35%
• Norway – 96%
• Canada – 57%
• Australia – 46%
• Ireland – 80%
• Sweden – 90%
• UK – 30%
• USA – 35%

Quality of Education

But is the quality of tertiary education good enough to spend so much time on it? The answer is ‘yes’. According to the International Student Assessment (PISA), the students from 6 of the 10 countries mentioned above have higher scores than the mean -500. This survey tests students’ ability to apply the acquired knowledge in different situations and covers three subjects – mathematics, reading and science.

Korea – 536
Luxemburg – 483
Japan – 541
Norway – 496
Canada – 524
Australia – 519
Ireland – 520
Sweden – 489
UK – 508
USA – 498

Employment

So far so good. And what about getting a decent job after receiving a diploma? The employment rate of the top 10 countries with population holding a degree is very high. More than 80% of people with tertiary education are employed. The rest of the countries have the same trend.

Korea – 77%
Luxemburg – 85%
Japan – 81%
Norway – 90%
Canada – 82%
Australia – 84%
Ireland – 80%
Sweden – 89%
UK – 85% USA – 80%

Salary

Being employed is only halfway to the desired goal. You also need a good salary. You’ll be pleased to know that almost all of the countries mentioned above are among the top 10 of those with the highest average wages.

1. Luxembourg
2. USA
3. Switzerland
4. Ireland
5. Norway
6. Australia
7. Netherlands
8. Denmark
9. Belgium
10. Canada

Sources:
https://data.oecd.org/eduresource/spending-on-tertiary-education.htm
https://data.oecd.org/emp/employment-by-education-level.htm
https://data.oecd.org/pisa/science-performance-pisa.htm#indicator-chart
https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/population-with-tertiary-education.htm
https://data.oecd.org/earnwage/average-wages.htm