Higher education institutions are crucial for preparing the regional workforce to meet its needs
International evidence shows that people are more likely to attend and complete higher education if they live close to it (OECD, 2022), partly because moving for education is costly. Furthermore, the location of higher education institutions (HEIs) matters because HEIs can contribute to creating knowledge spillovers in their surrounding areas (OECD, 2023).
Higher education opportunities are often concentrated in dense places, as they naturally offer high demand for skills and a large pool of prospective students. HEI students are often more concentrated than the population, especially in capital-city regions. In 2021, the large majority of OECD TL2 regions (391 out of 410) had at least 1 institution offering bachelor’s and/or master’s degrees. However, the share of enrolment in HEIs was larger than the share of the population in 33% of regions and it was more than double in 21 regions (Figure 2.13 and Figure 2.14). In countries where HEI enrolment is much more concentrated than the population, a significant share of students would have to move locations to attend higher education. On average, population concentration varied by 22 p.p. across countries, while enrolment in HEIs varied by 30 p.p. Enrolment concentration was 1.65 times larger than population concentration in capital city regions, about twice the level for other regions (0.86 times). In 19 out of 31 OECD countries with available data and more than one region, the capital-city region had the highest proportion of HEI students relative to its population share.
Metropolitan regions concentrate most of the higher education enrolment in most OECD countries. In 2021, metropolitan regions hosted 77% – or 7 out of 10 students enrolled in higher education – while regions far from a midsize/large FUA hosted only around 7%. Except for Türkiye – where a regional balancing system distributes higher education students across the country – student enrolment relative to the working-age population in metropolitan regions is above the national average across all countries (Figure 2.10). On average, metropolitan regions have 19 HEI students per 1 000 working-age people, more than the national average across OECD countries. Norway (81 more students), Colombia (56), Slovenia (52) and Austria (45) have the largest gaps between metropolitan regions and the national average. In contrast to metropolitan regions, regions far from midsize/large FUAs have, on average, 20 students per working-age person less than the national average, with the largest gaps in Colombia (74 fewer students), Norway (60) and Austria (43).
Changes in enrolment in higher education reflect changes in the working-age population but not always, due to the movement of students across regions and countries. In 11 out of 25 countries with available data, higher education enrolment increased as the working-age population grew between 2011 and 2021 (Figure 2.12). In 9 out of these 11 countries (except Norway and Switzerland), the yearly increase in working-age population per 1 000 inhabitants was higher than the increase in yearly enrolment per 1 000 inhabitants in metropolitan regions. Enrolment expanded in 6 countries (4 Southern European countries, Finland and France) even as the working-age population declined. This was also the case in metropolitan regions. Lastly, 8 OECD countries, all Eastern European, experienced a decline in both enrolment and the working-age population. In all countries except Hungary, enrolment per 1 000 inhabitants dropped faster every year than the working-age population per 1 000 inhabitants in metropolitan regions. The most striking case is Poland, where metropolitan regions lost 100 working-age people and 49 HEI students per 1 000 people every year in the past decade.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, crucial for digital and green transitions, is mostly concentrated in metropolitan regions and is still largely pursued by men. Except in Greece and Finland, STEM enrolment in metropolitan regions is above the national average across all countries. Metropolitan regions have 17 STEM students per 1 000 working-age people. This number is much lower in non-metropolitan regions, at about 8 per 1 000 people. In addition to a geographical gap, there is also a large gender gap in STEM enrolment. Regions with a higher share of STEM enrolment tend to have fewer women among their students (Figure 2.11).
