Education
Education is vital in a knowledge society. The OECD asserts that human capital is one of the most important factors for growth. Studies have shown that if everyone received an extra year of education, GDP would increase by five percent in the long term. For the Öresund region and its industry, selection from a well educated and flexible labour force at all levels is a precondition for the region to maintain and enhance its competitiveness and its position as one of the leading educational and knowledge metropolises in Europe.
For the individual, education contributes to ensure a high quality of life by enabling learning and self-fulfilment. Everyone needs good education opportunities to ensure personal development, job opportunities and an overall active participation in society. Education is not only useful for the individual – it is also a necessity. The demands in today’s labour market are always increasing and the risk of losing contact with the labour market is greatest for persons with limited or no education at all.
The following is a comparison of the level of education in the metropolitan region of Copenhagen with a number of other metropolitan areas. Then we look at the regional differences in the Öresund region and the development of the level of education. Finally, we present forecasts for the level of education as well as the need for labour.
- Percentage of population with higher education
Source: OECD
The international level
It is difficult to compare the level of education in different countries. This is because the educational systems look very different in different countries, and it is difficult to find comparable statistical measures that take these differences into account (see comments on the statistics). According to the OECD, one of the greatest challenges for the metropolitan region of Copenhagen to be internationally competitive is to find the qualified labour it is now lacking.(1)
Despite the growing unemployment of today, the lack of qualified labour is one of the greatest challenges for the future welfare of Copenhagen. The OECD lists several reasons why Copenhagen has problems in obtaining qualified labour. First, Copenhagen has difficulty in attracting and maintaining qualified foreign labour. Second, students take too long to finish their studies. In addition, the competencies of immigrants living in Denmark are not fully taken advantage of. All of this results in fewer people with a higher education in Copenhagen compared to many other large cities. Both Stockholm and Helsinki have a significantly higher percentage of highly educated persons.
It is important to point out that the lack of labour is not limited to highly educated persons. In the coming years there will also be a shortage of labour among those with shorter or average educations (see forecast later in this section and in the chapter “Labour market forecast – Öresund 2020“) .
The regional level
One third of the population between the ages of 25 and 64 in the Öresund region has a university or other higher education, which is above the national average for both Denmark or Sweden.
However, considerable differences exist within the Öresund region, since The Capital Region of Denmark has the highest percentage of persons with a university education, followed by Region Skåne. Meanwhile Region Zealand has the lowest percentage of persons with a university education. Region Skåne has the highest percentage of persons where upper secondary school is the highest education level and Region Zealand has the highest percentage where compulsory school is the highest education level.
The demographic structure with a younger population that has not yet completed a long education is the main explanation for this difference.
- Percentage of population aged 25-64 with university or other higher education
Source: Örestat. Map: Region Skåne
The large internal differences are also reflected on the municipal level. In some municipalities, more than half of the population (aged 25-64) has a university or higher education. This applies to e.g. Frederiksberg, Gentofte, Lyngby-Taarbæk, Rudersdal, Lund and Lomma. In other municipalities such as Ishøj, Tårnby, Lolland, Odsherred, Bjuv and Åstorp, less than 20 percent of the population has a university or other higher education.
Region Skåne has the highest “rock bottom” placement - only 17.6 percent of the population aged 25-64 has only had compulsory school, while the rest of the population has an education beyond compulsory school. This is largely because the Swedish educational system is successful in strengthening the formal skills of young people, since nearly all go on to upper secondary school after compulsory school. This is probably a contributing reason why Öresund SE nearly reaches the goal that 95 percent of a class of students will complete upper secondary school in Sweden. In 2007, 84.3 percent of those aged 25-29 had completed upper secondary school or a higher education or university education. The figures for The Capital Region of Denmark and Region Zealand were 74,3 and 70.9 percent respectively (source: Job og kompetencer: nollpunktsanalysen).
- Educational level broken down age group and regions in Öresund 2007
Source: Örestat
- Profile model for the Danish regions
Source: The Danish Ministry of Education, Profilmodellen for regionerne
Strategies and challenges in the EU
The EU has set forth goals in the Lisbon Strategy to increase the level of education in the population. Both Denmark and Sweden aim to see that half of the adult population should have a higher education. Region Skåne is at the national average, regarding the number of persons who have started or finished higher education by the age of 26. In Denmark the Globalisation Council’s2 work resulted in defining goals for all young people to complete upper secondary school or vocational training and that half of them should have a higher education. The Danish IT centre for education and research, UNI-C, has developed a profile model that describes how education will look for young people of different “cohorts”. According to this model, both the Region Zealand and Capital Region of Denmark face a challenge in that only 82 and 83 percent respectively are expected to complete an upper secondary education or vocational training, which is below the national average of 84 percent.
In contrast to this, 44.6 percent of Denmark is expected to complete university or other higher education. The Capital Region of Denmark reaches above this figure at 48 percent, while Region Zealand is below the average at 40 percent.
Political discussions in Sweden are also talking about how to ensure that young people leave compulsory school and upper secondary school with good grades in the core subjects (Swedish, English and mathematics).
1The metropolitan region includes all of Öresund DK, and is thus seen as representative of all of Öresund DK. OECD Territorial Reviews Copenhagen, Denmark 2009
