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The combination of work and study has been hailed as crucial to ensure that youth develop the skills required on the labour market so that transitions from school to work are shorter and smoother. This paper fills an important gap in availability of internationally-comparable data. Using the 2012 Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), it draws a comprehensive picture of work and study in 23 countries/regions. Crucially, it decomposes the total share of working students by the context in which they work (VET [vocational education and training], apprenticeships or private arrangements) and assesses the link between field of study and students' work. The paper also assesses how the skills of students are used in the workplace compared to other workers and identifies the socio-demographic factors and the labour market institutions that increase the likelihood of work and study. Finally, while it is not possible to examine the relationship between work and study and future labour market outcomes at the individual level, some aggregate correlations are unveiled.

The "Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education" were developed and adopted to support and encourage international cooperation and enhance the understanding of the importance of quality provision in cross-border higher education. The purposes of the "Guidelines" are to protect students and other stakeholders from low-quality provision and disreputable providers (that is, degree and accreditation mills) as well as to encourage the development of quality cross-border higher education that meets human, social, economic and cultural needs. The "Guidelines" are not legally binding and member countries are expected to implement them as appropriate in their national context. Based on a survey about the main recommendations of the "Guidelines", this report monitors the extent to which Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and a few non-member countries comply with its recommendations. The Survey was sent out in June 2010 to all OECD countries. The main conclusion of the survey is that (responding) countries report a high level of compliance with the Guidelines recommendations. On average, responding OECD countries conform to 72% of the main recommendations made to governments, tertiary education institutions, and quality assurance and accreditation agencies. The level of compliance decreases to 67% when recommendations to student bodies are included, but the level of missing information, and thus uncertainty about actual compliance, increases significantly. Appended are: (1) Country Overview of Compliance Levels with the Guidelines for Different Stakeholders; (2) Country Overview of Compliance Levels with Six Key Objectives of the Guidelines; (3) Methodology; (4) Country Answers to the Survey; (5) Overview of National Contact Points; and (6) Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education. (Contains 2 tables, 12 figures and 1 footnote.)

The challenge of funding a high quality higher education system, ensuring it has the capacity to help meet the increasing demand for high level skills in our economy and the aspirations of our students, has been an ongoing concern for successive Australian governments over many years. This paper reviews the findings and recommendations of significant reviews of Australia's higher education funding system from the 1988 Dawkins white paper through to the 2014 "Review of the Demand Driven Funding System." It summarises the challenges identified and responses proposed across that period as well as some recent international literature about higher education reform. What is clear from the survey of major reviews from 1988 to the present is the similarity of issues that were of concern to governments of the day. Successive governments have sought to build and fund a higher education system to meet the need for high level skills and innovative research for the Australian economy. The challenge for all governments has been how to enable greater numbers of students to access the benefits higher education offers--in terms of employment, earnings, social and cultural opportunities--while ensuring the system remains fair, high quality and affordable for both individuals and taxpayers. The number of domestic higher education students has more than doubled since 1989, reaching just over a million in 2014. International students comprised another 350,000 students in 2014. As student numbers have grown, they have come from more diverse social, economic and academic backgrounds. The number of providers and their diversity has also grown, with around 20 new public universities since the late 1980s and the emergence of significant numbers of non-university providers. The proportion of the Australian working age population with a bachelor degree or higher qualification has tripled since 1989 to just over 25 per cent. Direct Australian Government funding for teaching, learning and research has grown both in absolute and real terms, rising from $3.2 billion in 1989 to $15.4 billion in 2014, more than doubling when adjusted for inflation. Australia is not unique in facing this growth and higher education systems around the world are increasingly moving from elite to mass systems, and beyond to universal systems.

This paper reports that between 2008 and 2009, unemployment rates across OECD countries increased among people at all educational levels, but rose to especially troubling heights among people without an upper secondary education. In 2009, the average employment rate across OECD countries was much higher for individuals with a tertiary (i.e. higher) education--indicating a better match between the skills these people have and the skills the labour market required. Between 2008 and 2009, the earnings advantage for people with a tertiary education remained strong in OECD countries. In some countries, earnings inequality between people with a tertiary education and those without an upper secondary education widened even further.

Youth unemployment is hardly new, but in the 1980s it poses unprecedented problems because economic growth no longer seems to provide the necessary jobs. Youth labor markets are being stripped of entry-level jobs by new technologies, changes in the global division of labor, and the upgrading of occupational structures. This paper describes government policies and practices on youth in selected countries that have a bearing on the transition from youth to adulthood. Data were gathered in extensive interviews with embassy officials and through analysis of documents provided by them, national education authorities, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The countries surveyed were: Australia; Britain; Canada; Finland; France; Federal Republic of Germany; Hungary; Ireland; Japan; Norway; and Sweden. Findings are presented in the following areas: (1) Demography of Youth; (2) National Policies; (3) Administrative Structures; (4) Education and Training; (5) Socioeconomic and Gender Inequalities; (6) Guidance, Counseling, and Placement; (7) Financial Support; (8) National Service; and (9) Youth Organizations. Data are presented on five tables and three appendices. (BJV)