European Education

Numbers tell part of the story. At all three levels—primary education, secondary schools, universities—America and Japan significantly outspend Europe, according to 2005 OECD figures. The United States funnels 2.6 percent of its GDP into its universities alone, compared with just 1.1 percent each for Germany, Italy and France. Last year even Turkey passed these three. In the most recent global ranking of top research institutions compiled by Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, only nine European colleges made it into the top 50, the majority of them in the United Kingdom. Less than a quarter of Europe's working-age population has a university-level degree, compared with 38 percent in the United States and 36 in Japan. Study after study, by the OECD and others, has shown high-school achievement stagnant or slipping. The problems are particularly acute for the Continent's Big Three, drivers of Europe's economy. Exhibit A is Germany. Once a powerhouse of training and education, it now ranks 20th among 30 OECD countries in math and reading skills, and 23rd in the number of college graduates.

This Newsweek article on the mess in European universities is but a sign of an approaching implosion. Unless there is a massive turn about, Europe as we know it will not exist in 15 years.

It's very sad.