The London Times newspaper has just published its world university rankings, and U.S. universities dominate. The U.S. takes the first five positions, 18 of the top 25, and 72 of the top 200 universities in the world.
“Reports of the death of US higher education appear to have been greatly exaggerated,” says the Times. Money appears to be a contributing factor. The United States spends 3.1% of its Gross National Product for higher education while the rest of the world averages just 1.5% GDP.
“The US understands what a research university is. Its institutions reward academic staff for productivity, and they have the infrastructure to support their academics,” says Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston University.
One problem with looking at United States rankings on overall academic achievement against other countries is that we tend to measure student achievement in the lower grades, perhaps at the eighth or tenth grade. U.S. students often do poorly in these world rankings.
American students do spend fewer days per year in school and have shorter school days when compared to the rest of the industrialized world. But historically, Americans also stay in the educational system years longer. Until recently, the United States had the highest percentage of student going on to postsecondary education of any nation. So, instead of measuring academic achievement at age 16, we should have been measuring achievement at age 23.
When looking at the United States and its academic achievement later in life, we look much better. But there should be cause for concern.
“American universities … are facing deep budget cuts that, if continued, will damage their competiveness in the long run …” says Altbach in the Times report.
The top end of the educational pyramid isn’t our only concern. The College Board recently published The College Completion Agenda 2010 Progress Report. While the United States ranks fourth in the world for postsecondary attainment for those ages 55 to 64, its ranks only twelfth for those ages 25 to 34. The rest of the industrialized world is catching up and passing us by.
The College Board’s goal is to have 55% of Americans, ages 25 to 34, have a postsecondary degree by the year 2025. In order to achieve this goal, their report makes ten recommendations:
1. Provide a program of voluntary preschool education, universally available to children from low-income families.
2. Improve middle and high school college counseling.
3. Implement the best research-based dropout prevention programs.
4. Align the K–12 education system with international standards and college admission expectations.
5. Improve teacher quality and focus on recruitment and retention..
6. Clarify and simplify the admission process.
7. Provide more need-based grant aid while simplifying and making financial aid processes more transparent.
8. Keep college affordable.
9. Dramatically increase college completion rates.
10. Provide postsecondary opportunities as an essential element of adult education programs.
Note that their first recommendation begins with children at the earliest ages. If we wish to meet the College Board’s goal, we must begin there.
Americans are willing to pay almost any price for that college diploma. But we balk at paying for primary and secondary education because we often don’t see the same economic payoffs. However, without a sound foundation, students will never achieve at postsecondary levels.
For now, America is still near the top in overall education. How much longer will it last?
