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2005:8 R

Higher education and the labour market in England, Finland and France

This study presents a survey of the measures adopted in three European countries - England (as part of the United Kingdom), Finland and France - on issues relating to higher education and requirements in the labour market. Both the distinguishing features and points of contact between these three disparate systems are singled out and the study is intended to provide a basis for the continual process of developing the Swedish system.

Even though there are, of course, major differences it is possible to identify a number of features common to the situations in the three countries:

  • The same vocational groups are identified as areas in which there are shortages or potential shortages; teachers, nurses, physicians, natural scientists, engineers.
  • The demographic challenge of an ageing population and the social needs this will give rise to.
  • The interests of young people and their educational choices do not always coincide with the needs of the community.

All the countries testify to the impossibility of predicting the needs that will actually arise in the labour market and the difficulty this causes for centralised educational planning and administration.

In none of the countries is there currently any likelihood of radical reorganisation of the ways in which education is planned centrally. Nevertheless the systems are structured differently, which underlines the difficulty of maintaining in an international comparison that any system functions more effectively than any other.

Inclusion of labour market aspects in monitoring, evaluation and information a potential area of development in Sweden


The significance attached to labour market considerations appears to vary in extent in the different ways in which higher education is monitored and evaluated in the three countries. On the basis of this observation, the report proposes some areas that could be discussed for the potential development of the Swedish system.

In Swedish evaluations of courses and programmes, on the whole labour market issues play a minor role. There is reason to discuss whether greater weight should be attached to these concerns in evaluations. In that case the focus should be placed on how the higher education institutions deal with these issues and how information about the situation of their graduates on the labour market is used in their internal development work.
Follow-up studies of graduates are carried out to only a limited extent by higher education institutions in Sweden. The government should consider tasking the higher education institutions with the systematic follow-up of their students at some fixed time after award of their degrees. This information could provide a basis for the institutions´ own self-examination and the development of their own programmes and would also offer important information to students and applicants. There should also be discussion of how overall information on the current and forecast needs of individuals with various qualifications on the labour market could be published in some accessible way, for instance using the Internet. The National Agency for Higher Education has recently been asked by the government to study a similar undertaking.

Labour market links a significant quality factor


There seems to be lively cooperation between employers and the higher education institutions in France, England and Finland. The expansion of enrolment to higher education in Sweden means that today its students have many different objectives and needs. Two important aims for higher education are educational and personal development. The third aim - finding appropriate employment - may become more important in a situation in which an increasing proportion of Sweden´s population are studying at higher education institutions. As in many other countries, it has become more and more difficult in Sweden to find work without a qualification from higher education and at the same time competition has become harder for the posts that demand degrees. Given this trend, it follows that the task of cooperating with the surrounding community will probably increase in importance for the higher education institutions, in particular the need to integrate work experience in programmes. But increased participation by employers in programmes will be equally decisive in securing the long-term supply of graduates with the requisite qualifications.
Swedish National Agency for Higher Education  Visting address: Luntmakargatan 13  Box 7851, 103 99 Stockholm
Phone: 08-563 085 00  Fax: 08-563 085 50  Email: hsv@hsv.se