New Classification of Educational Attainment - SSB

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Published: 13 October 2006 Written by: Geir Nygrd, Anne Marie Rustad Holseter

Educational attainment

New classification of educational attainment

The classification of educational attainment in Norway has not been in coherence with

international guidelines. To meet with international standards as well as national interests,

educational attainment has been re-classified.

The educational attainment of the population has been an important variable for scientific studies and analyses

for decades. The variable 'educational attainment' is often used in combination with other variables. In an

international perspective, educational attainment is used as a measure of human capital and as an indicator in

surveys on living conditions. Statistics on educational attainment are often distributed to both national and

international requesters to be used in different publications.

Educational attainment is often divided into three levels of education - compulsory education, upper secondary

education and tertiary education. These levels of education are presented in studies of educational attainment in

Norway in particular, but also in comparative studies in other countries.

Norway has always been rated highly on educational attainment in publications of education statistics. A large

part of the Norwegian adult population has attained at least upper secondary education. To clarify and define the

three levels of education is essential for evaluating the comparability of educational attainment between

countries. Clearer guidelines have been put forward to better define compulsory education, upper secondary

education and tertiary education in Norway.

Compulsory education and upper secondary education

Today, everyone who finishes compulsory education is registered as attaining this level of education, regardless o

whether they pass or fail. Up until the late 1980s, individuals were only classified as attaining compulsory

education if they passed. Those who failed and did not go on to pursue a higher level of education are registeredas having 'no education or pre-primary education'. As this affects very few individuals, an effort has not been

made to update these individuals according to the new standard for educational attainment.

Compulsory education in the new classification also includes individuals who do not meet the graduation criteria

for upper secondary education. Previously, people who graduated from fragments of upper secondary education,

regardless of duration or class level, were defined as attaining an upper secondary level of education. In the new

classification of educational attainment it has been necessary to use a different approach for different periods of
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time to meet the criteria for attained upper secondary education.

All individuals who completed upper secondary education before the Upper Secondary Education Act was

introduced in the 1970s are classified as attaining an upper secondary level of education, regardless of duration.

People who attained an upper secondary education between the introduction of the Upper Secondary Education

Act and the Education Act of 1994 are treated in two different ways. People who completed one year of upper

secondary schooling do not meet the criteria of attained upper secondary education and are therefore classified

with compulsory education as their highest attained level of education. People who successfully graduated frommore than one year in upper secondary education are classified with upper secondary education as their highest

attained level of education.

Since the Education Act was introduced in 1994, graduates from three- or four-year programmes at upper

secondary level have been classified with attained upper secondary education. Those people who pursued a

shorter programme at upper secondary level have been registered with compulsory education as the highest

attained level of education.

Using a different approach for different time-periods is important, as the educational system has changed in both

content and duration over time. A one-year upper secondary programme in the 1970s was sometimes sufficient

for achieving a high-school diploma - today's upper secondary curriculum does not allow for this.

All people who have successfully completed a post-secondary, non-tertiary programme will be classified as earlier,

and remain registered with this level as their highest attained. In publications, this level of education is often

included in upper secondary level of education. In addition, those students who have completed less than 120

credit points (ECTS) from tertiary education will not be upgraded, and remain registered with upper secondary

level of education.

Tertiary level of education

To meet international guidelines it has been necessary to change the national definition on how much tertiary

education is required to attain a tertiary level of education. A minimum of two years full-time study load,equivalent to 120 credit points, is defined as a tertiary level of education. Shorter programmes or study units less

than 120 credit units at the tertiary level will be downgraded to post-secondary non-tertiary education.

People who pursued a single tertiary degree longer than four years, for example Medicine, were not registered as

attaining a tertiary level of education before a total of five years or more were successfully completed. In the new

classification they are registered as attained tertiary level of education once they have completed 120 credit units.

All changes to classification of tertiary education are effective from 1998/99 onwards. Before 1998/99, information

on credit points was not collected and compiled by Statistics Norway. All people who completed tertiary

education prior to 1998/99 will therefore remain registered with this level of education, regardless of course

duration.

Consequences

What are the consequences of changing the definitions and classifications of educational attainment in Norway,

and how does the change influence statistics on educational attainment?

Educational attainment in Norway, 16 years and over by level of education and age.Former and new classification. 2005. Per cent


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Age

Level of education

Compulsoryeducation

Uppersecondary

Tertiaryeducation,

undergraduatelevel

Tertiaryeducation,

graduate level

Former New Former New Former New Former New

Total 19.0 32.8 56.7 42.4 18.8 19.3 5.5 5.5

16-19 years 37.6 88.4 62.4 11.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

20-24 years 5.7 30.0 82.8 54.3 11.3 15.5 0.2 0.2

25-29 years 4.5 20.2 58.5 40.4 30.4 32.8 6.6 6.6

30-39 years 5.9 19.1 56.5 43.2 28.3 28.5 9.2 9.2

40-49 years 9.8 27.2 59.9 42.5 23.5 23.5 6.9 6.9

50-59 years 17.4 25.0 55.6 48.1 20.5 20.4 6.5 6.5

60-66 years 26.0 31.4 52.4 47.0 15.9 15.9 5.7 5.7

67 years and

over

45.5 47.3 42.7 40.8 8.9 8.9 3.0 3.0

Table 1 shows a comparison of the old and new classification for educational attainment for the population aged

16 and over in Norway. Although a reasonable amount of movement occurred between upper secondary and

tertiary education, only marginal net differences at the tertiary level of education appear when comparing former

and new classification of educational attainment. A larger net difference is apparent in upper secondary

education, due to the downgrading of many people to compulsory level of education - 57 per cent of the

population aged 16 and over attain upper secondary education using the former classification, compared with 42

per cent using the new classification. The proportion holding compulsory education as their highest level of

education increases from 19 per cent to 33 per cent between the old and new classification.

Educational attainment of the adult population (25-64 years) in OECD-countries. 2004. Per cent

OECD-countries

Attained level of education

Primary and lower secondary education Upper secondaryeducation

Tertiaryeducation

Denmark 17 51 32

Finland 23 43 34

Iceland 32 40 26

Norway, former class. 11 56 32

Norway, new class. 24 45 31

Sweden 17 48 34

Belgium 35 34 30

France 35 42 24

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Greece 42 37 20

Ireland 37 34 27

Italy 51 37 11

Luxembourg 22 54 22

Netherlands 29 42 28

Poland 16 69 16

Portugal 75 13 13

Slovak Republic 16 72 13

Spain 55 18 26

United Kingdom 15 56 29

Switzerland 15 56 28

Turkey 74 17 9

Czech Republic 11 76 12

Germany 16 58 25

Hungary 25 59 16

Austria 20 62 18

Canada 16 39 44

Mexico 77 6 16

USA 13 49 38

Japan 16 47 38

Korea 26 44 30

Australia 36 34 31

New Zealand 22 53 26

OECD average 30 46 24

Post-secondary non-tertiary education level of education included.

Year of reference 2003.

Source: Education at a Glance 2006, OECD.

In an international perspective, table 2 shows educational attainment of the population aged 25-64 years across

OECD-countries in 2004. Educational attainment in Norway is presented for both the former classification and

new classification. Norway is in a leading position together with other Nordic countries, Japan, Canada and USA

based on former definitions for educational attainment. The new set of definitions causes a lower ranking.

Using the new classification, 24 per cent of the population in Norway aged 25-64 years have compulsory

education as their highest attained level of education in 2004, 45 per cent have upper secondary level as thehighest attained level and 31 per cent have attained a tertiary education. The former classification shows 11, 56

and 32 per cent respectively.

More information

See relevant article: Education statistics. Population's level of education, 1 October 2005.

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http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/04/01/utniv_en/


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New Classification of Educational Attainment - SSB