"Fifty-Fifty?" Comparative Comments on Access to Adult and Higher Education in Sweden.

Overview & Synopsis

It is necessary to develop some comparative indicators in order to describe and compare the systems of education in countries other than one's own. Access to higher education is an important indicator. Currently, 50 percent of the Swedish adult population takes part in some organized learning activity every year and 50 percent of the student population in higher education is composed of adults 25 years old or older. Two principal channels through which adults prepare for higher education are the residential college for adults called the Swedish Folk High School and, most important, the system of municipal adult education called Kumvux. About 13 percent of the Kumvux students begin studies at levels of higher education. The National Board of Education provides an orientation course for adult students and a national education admission test, which gives potential adult students a chance to take university courses. Compulsory school ends at age 16, but more than 90 percent of students continue to the upper secondary level and two-thirds of them take vocational programs for 2 years. A few programs aim at increasing access to higher education for "earmarked" groups of adult students, such as trade union members, women, technicians, and disabled students. Sweden faces a strategic decision about whether to renew the system of higher education as it is or concentrate on developing recruitment strategies for neglected or underrepresented learners. (The document includes 12 references.) (CML)