Croatia has made strides in expanding and modernising its higher education system. Participation has grown steadily, and recent reforms to legislation and funding aim to improve the performance of tertiary education institutions and better align provision with labour market needs. The country’s engagement in European initiatives reflects a strong reform momentum and commitment to system improvement. This chapter explores how Croatia can build on this to shape a more relevant, equitable and effective higher education system. It proposes ways to improve the labour market relevance of programmes, enhance student learning experiences, and expand flexible access and financial support for disadvantaged groups. The chapter also identifies how a more consolidated institutional landscape and stronger data infrastructure can support more effective governance and long-term strategic planning in the sector.
Education and Skills in Croatia
Abstract
Over the three decades since its establishment, the Republic of Croatia has made great strides in modernising its tertiary education system. Croatia has aligned many of the system characteristics to be in step with European norms and standards, and has enthusiastically engaged in European projects and initiatives, including the European Universities Alliances. Tertiary attainment has steadily increased in recent years, reflecting Croatia’s ongoing efforts to broaden access and participation. The legal framework for the sector and the public funding model has been recently updated to put greater focus on boosting the performance of TEIs and better adapting tertiary education programmes to labour market needs. Interviews with public authorities revealed dedicated policymakers who had an enthusiastic and dynamic approach to reform and a strong desire to develop policies that further improve the system.
Despite Croatia’s progress, concerns persist about the labour market relevance of education programmes, the complexity of the provider landscape, and apparently limited focus within TEIs on student satisfaction and success. As Croatia passes 10 years in the European Union and its policy ecosystem matures, now is a good moment to reflect on a long-term vision for the sector and how it should adapt to face current and future challenges.
Section I: Provides an overview of Croatia’s tertiary education sector, focusing on how policies compare internationally;
Section II: Compares the sector’s performance with OECD benchmarks on international indicators;
Section III: Provides recommendations on how Croatia can learn from OECD evidence and experience to further improve tertiary education.
Governance and structure of the tertiary education system
Tertiary education is centrally steered through regulation, national plans, and funding instruments, but the sector lacks an overarching strategy
The national organisations that contribute to the development, governance, and regulation of tertiary education in Croatia are presented in Figure 5.2. The Ministry of Science, Education and Youth (MSEY) has overall responsibility for implementing national strategy and regulations, as well as managing EU funds provided for tertiary education - an increasingly important source of financing for the Croatian system. Three key public agencies support the sector, focusing respectively on external quality assurance, innovation using digital technologies, and internationalisation of education and science. Various consultative and representative bodies also contribute to the policy process by advising on and negotiating measures to improve the quality, equity, and effectiveness of the sector.
The work of these organisations is informed by various national plans, in particular the cross-sector National Plan for the Development of Education and Training until 2027 and National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (NRRP) (see Chapter 2), as well as the National Plan for Enhancing the Social Dimension of Higher Education (Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, 2018[1]). However, unlike many OECD European countries, Croatia does not have a sector-specific strategy and/or long-term vision laid out for its tertiary education and research system. Instead, the Croatian government and other stakeholders rely on more general or thematic strategic documents to determine tertiary education objectives.
Source: Adapted from Ministry of Science, Education and Youth (2023[2]), Accession candidate country's self-assessment of policies and practices in the area of education and skills.
Croatia has a binary system, with most students enrolled in public universities
Croatia has a binary tertiary education system, comprising universities (sveučilišta) and a polytechnic (veleučilišta) sector. Key features of Croatia’s two tertiary education provider types are:
Universities. These providers offer academic programmes up to doctoral level, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate professional degree programmes. Most tertiary students in Croatia attend one of the four largest public universities (University of Zagreb, University of Split, University of Rijeka and University of Osijek). Established prior to the foundation of the Republic of Croatia in 1991, these four universities operate in a “non-integrated” format, which was common in the former Yugoslavia. Non-integrated means that both the university itself, as well as its constituent faculties and academies, are each recognised as separate legal entities. Croatia also has “integrated” public universities that were established after 1991 and operate as single legal entities, much like universities in many OECD countries. Across these two university models, Croatia has a total of over 80 distinct public university entities and 3 private universities, each with its own budget, administration, staff, and campus (OECD, 2019[3]).
Polytechnics. These providers offer professional undergraduate and graduate degree programmes that aim to prepare students for direct entry into the labour market. Following recent restructuring, the polytechnic sector now includes both specialist colleges that focus on one or two disciplines (formerly known as visoke škole) and more comprehensive providers of professional education across multiple disciplines. As of 2022, Croatia had 21 private and 14 public polytechnics, which enrol 15% of all tertiary education students. Most individual polytechnics enrol less than 500 full-time equivalent students, and many have suffered from dwindling enrolments in recent years, particularly those located outside of the Zagreb region.
About 90% of students study at public TEIs (see Table 5.1.); however, Croatia also has well-established private universities and polytechnics. Private providers mainly offer programmes linked to labour market needs (e.g. in business and healthcare fields) and market themselves as having more dynamic curricula.
Number of students (2022/23) by type of programme, type of institution and study intensity
Note: Data for this table was collated from the Croatian Student Rights Information System (ISSP), except for data on doctoral students, which was provided on request to the MSEY from TEIs. Tertiary education institutions do not record the data about doctoral students within the ISSP since the rights of doctoral students are not provided through this system.
Source: Adapted from Ministry of Science, Education and Youth (2023[2]), Accession candidate country's self-assessment of policies and practices in the area of education and skills.
The governance structure of non-integrated universities poses efficiency challenges and inhibits internal co-operation
Although there are differences in the extent to which Croatia’s non-integrated universities co-ordinate functions among constituents, in general, there are long-recognised challenges associated with their governance arrangements (OECD, 2008[4]). Firstly, the limited ability of central university management to steer and co-ordinate the activities of fully autonomous constituents inhibits the university’s internal strategic alignment and limits the potential of university management to achieve resource efficiencies and economies of scale. Moreover, limited co-operation across faculties has led to duplication of education and research activities, even within the same university (OECD, 2019[3]; Baketa, 2016[5]). At the same time, smaller campuses that are scattered across constituent faculties are unlikely to provide the extent of student facilities and services commonly found on larger campuses.
Secondly, the current situation means that Croatia must maintain an extensive and complex landscape of tertiary education institutions (TEIs) for a country of its size. This creates inefficiencies in terms of relations between TEIs and government authorities, who must interact with more than 90 public institutions on regulatory, funding and quality assurance matters. This number of public entities is far higher than OECD countries with comparably sized or even larger populations (see Figure 5.3). Recognising these difficulties, the government has repeatedly tried to negotiate reforms to strengthen university-level governance at non‑integrated universities (OECD, 2014[6]). However, reform efforts have been met with strong resistance from some university components, and the underlying legal arrangements persist today.
Note: Country population sizes are based on 2024 data, while institution numbers are based on the latest available year of data. Countries are sorted in ascending order of population size.
Source: Eurostat (2024[7]), Population on 1 January, https://doi.org/10.2908/TPS00001; Ministry of Science and Education (2023[2]), Accession candidate country's self-assessment of policies and practices in the area of education and skills; European Tertiary Education Register (n.d.[8]), ETER Database, https://eter-project.com/.
Both universities and polytechnics offer professional programmes, but there is almost no provision of short-cycle education
Most tertiary education students in Croatia are enrolled in academic programmes, while about 25% of students follow professional degree programmes. Academic programmes, up to the doctoral level, are based on the Bologna three-cycle system. While universities can offer both academic and professional programmes, polytechnics only have the right to offer the latter. Enrolments in professional study programmes are split rather evenly between types of tertiary education providers. For example, in 2022‑23 about 9% of all full-time undergraduate students in Croatia were pursuing professional bachelor’s degrees in university faculties, and another 9% were enrolled in similar programmes at polytechnics in the same year (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2023[9]).
Professional studies in Croatia may be offered at both undergraduate and graduate level, with undergraduate education delivered as professional bachelor’s degrees (ISCED 6) of three- or four‑ years’ duration. While short-cycle tertiary education (ISCED 5) is defined within national legislation (Parliament of Croatia, 2022[10]), and previously existed in Croatia, this type of education largely disappeared during reforms to align the system with the Bologna process and is now almost non-existent (see Table 5.1) (Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, 2007[11]). It was observed that some employers are sceptical about the value of ISCED 5 qualifications. There also appears to be a lack of clarity about who should provide these programmes, as staff in adult education centres may not have the necessary capacity to develop short-cycle tertiary programmes, while polytechnics and universities already providing three-year professional bachelor’s programmes may not have any incentive to do so.
Admissions criteria are set at the programme level and some raise concerns about equity
Candidates applying to first-degree programmes in Croatia must complete at least four years of either general or vocational upper secondary education and pass the compulsory part of the State Matura exam (see Chapter 4). In general, TEIs evaluate and rank candidates for admission using a points system based on upper secondary school grades and Matura results, with some institutions setting additional criteria (Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2020[12]). TEIs have autonomy to decide, at the individual programme level, the weight attached to each criterion in the ranking process. Admissions are managed through the Croatian Agency for Science and Higher Education’s (ASHE) central web portal (Studij.hr), which provides information on admission criteria and their respective weights at the beginning of each application period. It also provides statistical data about applications and acceptances in previous periods. Together, this information provides prospective students with a means to compare the entry requirements of programmes and gauge their prospects of admission. Students register their applications and manage supporting documentation through the portal and are kept updated on the status of their application.
While Croatia’s centralised admissions system promotes transparency, there are some drawbacks. Institutions report needing to set additional admission criteria because the Matura exam is too theoretically focused and there are concerns about the reliability of student grades (see Chapter 4). Croatia’s selection process also appears more extensive and complex that that of many OECD countries. Admissions criteria and weights are only published at the beginning of each application period and can vary substantially even across programmes within the same level and discipline. For example, grade point average (GPA) might count for 40% of admissions points for entry into a bachelor’s programme in economics at one university, and only 25% of points at another. Overall, the current admissions system is likely to be difficult for many students to navigate (particularly those lacking strong parental and/or school supports) and for TEIs and public authorities to administer.
Some of Croatia’s additional criteria set by institutions and programmes, and their relative weights in admissions decisions, also raise equity challenges. While certain categories of candidates, such as those with disabilities and children of war veterans, may be provided with extra points in the ranking process, or direct admission to some programmes, other criteria, like socio-economic status, do not appear to be routinely considered (Baketa et al., 2021[13]). Many tertiary programmes also give significant weight to success in academic competitions or elective subjects that are only provided in certain upper secondary schools and are likely to favour more affluent students. International evidence shows that disadvantaged students are more likely to make poorer decisions and “undermatch” in their choice (i.e. enrol into less selective programmes than they could have given their academic achievements) because of a lack of understanding of their suitability for and likelihood of admission to different programmes (Nuffield Foundation, 2020[14]). Without effective outreach and information supports to navigate the complex admissions process, which Croatia seems to lack, disadvantaged students may be more likely to make sub-optimal decisions about applications to degree programmes.
TEIs determine study programmes and enrolment quotas but these processes do not appear well aligned to student demand or employment prospects
In addition to the admissions process described above, enrolment into tertiary education is also determined by student admissions quotas (Šabić and Puzić, 2022[15]). Since 2010, TEIs set quotas for each study programme based on their own judgement of maximum capacity for enrolment, given staff resources and physical space (Prelčec, 2022[16]). However, there are signs that Croatia’s student quotas may not align with the needs and preferences of students, nor labour market signals. In fact, the ASHE’s National Information System of Applications to Higher Education indicates that at the system level, despite a stable number of undergraduate entrants (or even a declining number in some years), there have been continuous increases in undergraduate enrolment quotas and the number of study programmes. The number of first-degree study programmes on offer increased from 585 to 919 between the summer application periods of 2010-11 to 2022-23 (ASHE, n.d.[17]). Moreover, thousands of applicants are not admitted to any of their preferred programmes each year, while thousands of quota places go unfilled, with many programmes attracting few first-preference applications (see Figure 5.4). Overall, in the 2023 summer term, institutions specified a total quota of 40 703 undergraduate places, while there were only 30 747 applicants, of which 25 441 were subsequently admitted. Part-time studies were particularly undersubscribed (see Figure 5.4).
Undergraduate applications and offers related to programme quotas in Croatian public universities, 2023 summer term
Note: The analysis is based on the 455 programmes offered by Croatian public universities in summer 2023 with a quota of 20 or more places.
Source: Adapted from ASHE (2023[18]), Studies Statistics, https://www.azvo.hr/en/studies/studies-statistics/ (accessed on 12 December 2023).
Concerns have long been raised at national level about the lack of apparent link between enrolment quotas set for some programmes, the needs of the labour market and the subsequent employment prospects for students. In some cases, institutions have increased quotas without any justifying change in contextual factors, which creates a risk of oversupplying graduates to the labour market and potentially impacting the quality of teaching and learning. Notably, ASHE research suggests that disciplines attracting the lowest shares of first preferences from applicants (e.g. social sciences, humanities, and biotechnical sciences) are also the disciplines with the poorest graduate outcomes; while technical, biomedical natural and health sciences attract higher first preferences from students and lead to more positive graduate outcomes (ASHE, n.d.[19]). As discussed below, these evident misalignments have made improving the labour market relevance of tertiary education a top policy priority for the Croatian government.
Academic staff enjoy stable employment conditions, but seem to have few incentives to improve their practice
Academic staff in Croatia are roughly divided into scientific-teaching, artistic-teaching, professional‑teaching, and university teaching-only positions, each with roles and grades defined in law. Most academic staff are classed as public servants and the MSEY sets a range of stipulations around their hiring and working conditions, including qualification requirements, career structure, salary scales and conditions for pay increases and salary bonuses (Eurydice, 2024[20]). While student numbers have fallen in recent years (see Figure 5.8), the number of academic staff in Croatian TEIs has not decreased substantially and has even increased in some years. In 2023-24, for example, there were 13 061 full-time equivalent academic staff in Croatia, compared to 12 690 in 2020-21 (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2024[21]). This translates into 11 students per member of teaching staff, which is a lower staff-student ratio than most OECD countries (OECD average: 16) (OECD, 2024[22]).
As a group, Croatian academic staff appear to have more contract stability than peers in many other countries, with 83% of staff employed on indefinite contracts in 2023/24 (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2024[21]). While this suggests that only a small share of academic staff face job precarity, there are also some drawbacks to the current situation. Firstly, the salaries of permanent academic staff are financed from public or TEI funds even in cases where enrolments in their related disciplines have dwindled, creating inefficiencies in resource provision. This is a serious concern in Croatia: ASHE data shows that in 2023, there were more than 280 undergraduate programmes, with a combined enrolment quota of 4 324 students, that admitted a combined total admissions of 1097 students (less than 10 students per programmes, filling about 25% of the combined quota).
Secondly, the Croatian system does not appear to have mechanisms to deal with underperformance of academic staff on permanent contracts, nor does it offer many outlets for motivated academic staff to be recognised for good performance or advance in their careers. Other than a process whereby senior academic staff may be re-elected to the same or a higher position every five years, there is no performance review or management system in place for academic staff.
Croatia has started taking steps to address these challenges. For example, a new law came into force in January 2024 that introduced performance metrics for public servant salaries, although details about the criteria and means of assessing academic staff within the new performance framework were unavailable at the time of drafting. Croatia is also developing new national criteria for the career advancement of academic staff that aims to encourage innovative teaching processes. Such developments are positive as recent OECD analysis found that academic staff in Croatia have limited extrinsic motivation to innovate teaching approaches using digital technologies; there is no standardised requirement for professional development to improve staff teaching, and there are few means for institution leaders to recognise or reward high performance among staff (OECD, 2023[23]).
Funding of tertiary education
Spending on tertiary education is below the OECD average, although investment has increased
Croatia’s spending on tertiary education is notably lower than the OECD average, although similar to many other countries in Central and Eastern Europe (see Figure 5.5). Public investment in tertiary education rebounded after some years of decline (Kostić, Jovanović and Jurić, 2019[24]) – returning to pre-recession levels by 2017 and increasing beyond economic growth in some recent years (OECD, 2024[22]). Despite recent increases, expenditure per student at tertiary education was still almost half of the OECD average in 2021 (see Figure 5.5). Up to recently, low per-student expenditure has been driven in part by very limited expenditure on research and development, compared to European norms. However, Croatia’s research investment is now expanding (see Section II: Performance in tertiary education below).
Note: The OECD-EU average includes the 25 countries that are members or accession countries of both the EU and the OECD (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden). Countries are sorted in descending order of expenditure on tertiary education institutions.
Source: OECD (2024[22]), Education at a Glance 2024, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en; OECD (2024[25]), Distribution of government, private and non-domestic expenditure on educational institutions, http://data-explorer.oecd.org/s/f8 (accessed on 3 October 2024); OECD (2024[26]), Expenditure on educational institutions per full-time equivalent student, http://data-explorer.oecd.org/s/f6 (accessed on 3 October 2024).
Tuition fees provide an important source of revenue for TEIs, but represent a financial burden for part-time students
State funding is the largest source of income for public universities in Croatia, as is the case across OECD countries (OECD, 2020[27]). At the same time, a large share (27%) of educational expenditure on tertiary education comes from private sources (see Figure 5.6). Most private expenditure comes from household sources in the form of tuition fees.
Distribution of government, private and non-domestic expenditure on tertiary educational institutions (2021)
Note: Countries are sorted in descending order of the share of government expenditure on tertiary educational institutions.
Source: OECD (2024[22]), Education at a Glance 2024, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en; OECD (2024[25]), Distribution of government, private and non-domestic expenditure on educational institutions, http://data-explorer.oecd.org/s/f8.
Croatia aims to have a universalist approach to providing student financial support for tuition fees. All full‑time, first-year students admitted to degree programmes in public TEIs are entitled to tuition-free education. These students may continue to receive free tuition if they successfully complete at least 55 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) per academic year. Students who do not achieve the full 55 ECTS pay supplementary fees, which are charged on a per-ECTS credit basis and can vary by field and institution (Eurydice, 2022[28]). This approach aims to ensure that most students receive support for tuition fees. However, a large share of students do not successfully complete their full first year of education and must either drop out or become financially liable for the ECTS they did not achieve, to continue their study programme. In 2022-23, for example, more than 18% of first-year students enrolled in Croatia were repeaters and therefore liable for tuition fees (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2023[9]).
Students who attend private institutions or are part-time students at public institutions receive no financial support for their tuition fees from the government. In 2022, 30% of all of Croatia’s students were studying part-time, double the EU average of 15% (Eurostat, 2024[29]). While part-time students constitute a relatively important share of the student body, it was reported that the current system incentivises many students to enrol on a full-time basis even when it does not suit their personal situation. Such students may subsequently struggle to keep up with their studies and end up as part-time students because they need to financially support themselves to continue studying. These reports are borne out by national data, which shows that while approximately 20% of non-repeating first year students in undergraduate study are part-time students, a share which rises to 34% in the third year of study (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2023[9]).
Full-time students may receive financial and direct material support for their living expenses, but available resources remain inadequate and dependent on EU funding
Croatia has been improving its help for students, including underrepresented students, through its National Plan for Improving the Social Dimension of Higher Education. Students studying full-time in public institutions acquire rights to public supports for their material needs. These include health insurance coverage, subsidised meals on campus, the possibility to access paid student work and the right to free transport. Students also have the right to subsidised accommodation, either through a dormitory place, or through a small monthly amount intended to subsidise private rental accommodation. However, stakeholders reported that dormitory places are in short supply in some regions, particularly in Zagreb. In 2022/23, a total of 13 986 students secured places in dormitories, while 4 673 students applied and were not offered a place due to full capacity.
Full-time students in Croatia may also apply for two types of state scholarships to cover their living costs while enrolled in tertiary education: specific scholarships for students studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technologies (ICT) and need‑based social scholarships for students from less advantaged households. STEM/ICT scholarships were awarded to 1 388 students in 2022-23 and amounted to EUR 600 per month for teaching programmes in STEM fields and EUR 300 per month for other STEM students. Social scholarships are awarded through a competitive annual process, where award decisions are made by points-based ranking of applicants based on a complex set of criteria (see Table 5.2). In 2023/24, 12 000 students received social scholarships of EUR 200 per month.
Source: Ministry of Science, Education and Youth (2022[30]), Ordinance on the Conditions and Manner of Exercising the Right to a State Scholarship on the Basis of Socio-Economic Status, https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2022_09_110_1622.html.
Two key limitations of the social scholarship scheme are the adequacy of its coverage, and its lack of predictability. On average, from 2017-22, about 10 000 need-based state scholarships were provided each year, indicating an approximate coverage rate of about 10% of full-time enrolments in any one year. While there have been some increases in the amount and number of these scholarships in the last year, national analysis has noted that the amount of the scholarship is inadequate, and most students rely heavily on family support as a source of income (Farnell et al., 2024[31]). The social scholarship scheme is also heavily supported by the European Social Fund, raising concerns about future financing of the scheme when the current round of funding expires in 2027. Students must reapply for scholarships each academic year and compete against existing and incoming students for the continuation of support. Thus, even students meeting many of the criteria in Table 5.2. do not have an automatic right to financial support and in theory may lose their funding, increasing their risk of non-completion of studies.
Performance-based financing is becoming a more prominent part of public TEI funding
Croatia’s funding model for tertiary education was undergoing reform at the time of writing. The 2022 Act on Higher Education and Scientific Activity introduced a public financing model for TEIs based on “programme funding” agreements between the Ministry and individual TEIs. Programme contracts now cover a four-year period and comprise a basic budget allocation, an allocation of funding for development (up to 20% of the level of basic funding) and a performance-related component (up to 10% of the level of basic funding). These planned changes are significant for Croatia, as the previous funding model was primarily oriented towards covering existing staff costs and expenses of the TEI and was widely considered unsuccessful at stimulating institutions to improve education and research (Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, 2023[32]).
Public authorities indicated that development and performance funding will be awarded based on institutions’ activities relating to four strategic goals (transparency, efficiency, relevance quality, and social inclusion), and their performance on associated indicators. Specific targets and objectives will be agreed between the individual institution and the MSEY as part of the contract negotiation process. New funding agreements for 25 public research institutes and two public polytechnics, based on the new financing model, were concluded in December 2023. At the time of drafting, the government was preparing regulations on funding for public universities, which will stipulate the method for calculating different elements of the allocation, as well as the procedure for setting goals and related monitoring indicators for the performance-related element of the model (Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, 2023[2]). Although the details of Croatia’s new funding model are still developing, its overall design is largely in line with emerging best practices in OECD countries, which seek to promote an appropriate balance between providing funding stability and providing adequate incentive to stimulate performance improvement.
As well as the funds received from the state budget, institutions may receive funding from sub-national authorities and from private entities. There is also increasing availability of research funding from national bodies (primarily, the MSEY and the Croatian Science Foundation) and European sources, normally distributed through public calls linked to strategic projects. Private institutions are funded from their own sources, primarily tuition fees, although they may qualify for targeted subsidies from the state budget for special projects of national interest, or if they fulfil a need not met by public institutions (Eurydice, 2024[20]).
Use of digital technologies
Croatia is investing in digital infrastructure, but leadership and stakeholder involvement in digital transformation is limited in some TEIs
Croatia has put a heavy focus on digitalisation in tertiary education and research in recent years, aiming to improve access to education, develop a more attractive education offer using digital education tools and to simplify administrative processes (e.g. by digitalising applications for student financial support and requests for recognition of externally awarded qualifications). Substantial infrastructure and equipment upgrades in TEIs are being progressed through the national “e-Universities” project, financed primarily through EU Recovery and Resilience Funding, and managed by CARNET. A recent OECD review found that while the planned infrastructure upgrades are widely welcomed by TEIs, many institutions lacked leadership and clear ownership of responsibility for digital transformation, while students and staff were frequently not consulted in the development of institution-level digital strategies (OECD, 2023[23]).
System information and quality assurance
Quality assurance mechanisms are becoming more focused on the labour market relevance of programmes and building internal capacity of TEIs
The ASHE has responsibility for accreditation and reaccreditation of TEIs and programmes. It also supports internal quality assurance - in co-operation with TEIs - though a national network of TEI quality assurance units (CroQAnet). The ASHE provides discipline-specific and general recommendations for policy and practice that are based on key systemic quality issues identified from thematic research and meta-analysis of TEI evaluations. Previously, the ASHE identified issues such as the need to systematise the use of learning outcomes in programme development, revise enrolment quotas and review admission criteria in some disciplines, as well as give more attention to pedagogical training for staff and improving practical and work-based learning opportunities for students (ASHE, 2017[33]).
Although the ASHE’s practices are judged to be in line with European standards and norms (ENQA, 2022[34]), national policymakers recognise the limited effectiveness of external quality assurance in improving the labour market relevance of TEI’s curricula (Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, 2023[32]). As a result, Croatia revised its law on quality assurance in higher education in 2023. Under the revised framework, TEIs proposing new study programmes for accreditation must demonstrate how the programmes address labour market needs (by requesting an opinion from the Croatian Employment Service (CES). New programmes must also align with qualification standards included in the Croatian Register of Qualifications, which is part of the Croatian Qualifications Framework (CROQF)1. Croatia also intends to better connect external quality assurance activities to the new tertiary education funding model by including institutions’ development plans within programme contracts and reviewing these in future reaccreditation processes.
The tertiary education system lacks essential databases needed to monitor equity objectives and improve practice and policy
Croatia has made progress in developing data to support policy development in tertiary education (see Table 5.3). However, several key databases that are essential for monitoring the system (and increasingly available across OECD countries) are still lacking. For example, despite Croatia’s focus on the social dimension of tertiary education and improving attainment, there is currently no centralised, individualised register of students which allows for monitoring the profiles and progress of these students. Croatia launched a project in July 2022 to establish a centralised higher education information system that will link together and standardise administrative registers within TEIs. This new Information System of Higher Education Registers is part of the Digital Transformation of Higher Education Project "e-Universities" and is being implemented within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Data from the centralised information system will also feed into planned Information System for Monitoring Funding Agreements and existing information on the infrastructure of TEIs. These changes aim to support reporting on the new programme contracts with TEIs and provide more complete and reliable information for planning and decision making at all levels of the tertiary education system (Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, 2023[2]). However, at the time of the review mission, it was not yet clear to stakeholders when information from this new system would become widely available, nor the extent to which the new system would permit tracking of student progress and success, beyond what might be required to monitor the funding agreements.
Data on graduate outcomes is collected through surveys. Croatia has participated in the EUROGRADUATE survey since it was launched by the European Commission in 2018, and in years where EUROGRADUATE is not run, the ASHE conducts a national survey of graduates. The MSEY disseminates results of graduate surveys to TEIs, to inform and encourage updates to study programmes and enrolment quotas. However, until the centralised information systems become available, Croatia has no mechanism for tracking graduate outcomes more comprehensively.
Bodies responsible for data collection and type of data collected
Source: University of Zagreb (2021[35]), Homepage, https://www.unizg.hr/homepage/ (accessed on 10 December 2023); Ministry of Science and Education (2021[36]), Financing higher education and higher education institutions, https://mzom.gov.hr/highlights/education/higher-education/financing-higher-education-and-higher-education-institutions/4133 (accessed on 10 December 2023).
Main reform priorities
Relevance and inclusion are top reform priorities for the tertiary education system
In the ten years since Croatia joined the European Union, the policy ecosystem around the tertiary education sector has undergone several improvements. These include, notably, alignment to the Bologna process, targeted policies for improving social inclusion in tertiary education and a new performance-based financing model for TEIs. Today, the Croatian government is working to build on these efforts. National policy documents indicate two key reform priorities in the short to medium term. These are:
Improving the relevance of tertiary education programmes. Croatia’s amended 2022 Act on Higher Education and Scientific Activity aims to improve the relevance and quality of tertiary education, by encouraging greater competitiveness among public scientific organisations and public universities, creating new incentives for institutions to improve through a revised funding model, supporting staff and student mobility and embedding accountability principles in science and tertiary education.
Making the tertiary education system more inclusive. Croatia also aims to enhance equity of access to and provide better financial support for students in tertiary education. The National Plan for Enhancing the Social Dimension of Higher Education, which is updated every three years, calls for expanding data collection related to equity issues, improving student guidance and linkages with school education, enhancing student financial support, counselling services and equity of programme completion, as well as introducing standards relating to the social dimension of higher education into the Croatian quality assurance system (Farnell et al., 2024[31]).
Access and participation
Tertiary education attainment is steadily approaching the EU average
As of 2023, more than 38% of adults aged 25-34 living in Croatia had achieved a tertiary qualification, a share that has more than doubled over the previous two decades (Eurostat, 2024[37]). The tertiary attainment rate of this age group has now surpassed that of some neighbouring countries (such as Italy and Hungary) and while it remains below the EU average, the gap is closing steadily (see Figure 5.7).
Population aged 25-34 with tertiary education (ISCED 5-8)
Note: The EU average includes all 27 member states of the EU as of 2020, after Brexit. Countries are sorted in descending order of rate of tertiary attainment.
Source: Eurostat (2024[37]), Population by educational attainment level, sex and age (%), https://doi.org/10.2908/EDAT_LFSE_03.
Croatia’s progress in raising tertiary attainment reflects two broad trends. First is the massification of tertiary education post-independence, which saw enrolments climb steeply in the mid-1990s and peak at more than 160 000 in 2013-14 (Babić, Matković and Šošić, 2007[38]). Enrolments have since started to decline (see Figure 5.8), reflecting Croatia’s underlying demographic changes driven by low birth rates and high emigration (see Chapter 2). The second trend relates to Croatia’s progress in raising upper‑secondary attainment. Today, almost all upper secondary graduates in general programmes - and a majority of those in vocational upper secondary programmes - transfer to tertiary education (see Chapter 4).
Enrolment in Croatian TEIs over time
Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics (n.d.[39]), Higher Education Database, https://podaci.dzs.hr/en/statistics/education/higher-education/ (accessed on 10 July 2024).
Despite high prevalence of part-time study, participation of adults over 30 is relatively low
As mentioned in Section I, Croatia’s share of students studying part-time is higher than average across European countries. However, the part-time offer still appears to be mainly oriented towards younger students. Only 5.7% of adults over 30 were enrolled in tertiary education in Croatia in 2022, lower than the EU average at 7.7% (Eurostat, 2024[40]), This trend is concerning since leveraging the potential pool of older learners is one way that Croatia can maintain its supply of skilled graduates in the face of demographic decline. It reflects the relatively low levels of engagement in lifelong learning among Croatian adults, and the nascent recognition of prior learning (RPL) processes (see Chapter 6). However, it also indicates that part-time tertiary education is not adequately oriented towards meeting the needs of adult learners. Indeed, recent national analysis highlights the high comparative cost of tuition fees for part-time students, limited supports for flexible study in TEIs, and timetabling and attendance requirements for part‑time programmes that are not designed to fit the schedules of working adults (Farnell et al., 2024[31]).
Croatian degree programmes attract a relatively low share of international participants
Croatia has had less success than many other European countries in attracting international students for degree study, other than in certain niche areas (e.g. medical students from Germany). In 2022, the share of international or foreign tertiary students was just 4% of all enrolments in Croatia, compared to the OECD‑EU average of 8% (OECD, 2024[22]). This was among the lowest rates across the OECD countries. However, stakeholders mentioned ongoing efforts to expand international enrolments on degree programmes, capitalising on Croatia’s relative attractiveness as a destination for credit mobility, compared to many other countries in the region (see Figure 5.9). Stakeholders also reported that interest in Croatia as a study destination is growing, with potential students attracted by the relatively low tuition fees and cost of living.
Number of participants (staff and students combined) in Erasmus+ mobility in selected countries, 2022
Note: Ranked in descending ratio outgoing to incoming students and staff.
Source: European Commission (2023[41]), Erasmus+ annual report 2022: annex, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/090374.
Dropout appears to be relatively high, reflecting both push and pull factors
As mentioned, Croatia is currently developing a central information system that will enable the systematic tracking of tertiary students through their programmes and monitor their outcomes. However, available information points to substantial dropout rates among tertiary education students. A recent national study that compared numbers of first-year undergraduate entrants with those that subsequently graduated within 6 years estimated that dropout rates are overall around 40-45% (Farnell et al., 2024[31]). Members of the National Group for the Enhancement of the Social Dimension of Higher Education also indicated that dropout rates exceed 50% in many programmes. While exactly comparable OECD data is not available, recent analysis indicates that, on average among OECD countries with available data, 32% of tertiary entrants to bachelor’s programmes have not completed their degree within three years after the theoretical duration of the programme (OECD, 2022[42]). Thus, Croatia’s dropout rate appears to be above the OECD average, but similar to some neighbouring countries, such as Slovenia and Italy (OECD, 2022[42]).
National stakeholders noted that as well as the “push factors” for dropout created by the design of Croatia’s financial supports for students, there were also “pull factors” that provide students with attractive alternatives to continuing their study. For example, the tight labour market and some high‑paying job opportunities (e.g. in the tourism industry during high season) may encourage students to willingly leave tertiary education.
Quality of programmes and outcomes
Research investment and output in the higher education sector is expanding quickly, although activity is heavily concentrated in a few institutions
A vibrant and productive higher education research and development community brings with it several potentially positive spillovers for education. For example, it can help to attract talented staff and students to TEIs and promote teaching that brings students closer to frontier knowledge. One metric used to assess research capabilities and achievements is the h-index (i.e. the number (h) of scientific publications that have been cited more than h times). Over the period 1996-2023, Croatia’s h-index was lower than most OECD countries, but similar to some neighbouring OECD members like Slovenia and the Slovak Republic (see Figure 5.10).
h-Index for each OECD and accession country, 1996-2023
Note: The h-index measures both productivity and citation impact of the publication of a scholar or journal. The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) measures the frequency with which content published in a journal was cited in other journals during the three previous years,
Source: Scopus (n.d.[43]), SJR country ranking based on Scopus data, https://www.elsevier.com/products/scopus/data.
Croatia’s annual volume of scientific publications increased by almost 50% in the decade prior to 2023, indicating that increased investment is having an impact on scientific production. In 2022, Croatia invested the equivalent of 0.4% of its Gross domestic product (GDP) in higher education research and development – a share that has nearly doubled since 2015, although investment remains below the EU average of 0.5% (Eurostat, 2024[44]). The number of doctoral candidates has also been growing in recent years, expanding the pool of available researchers, although the share of doctoral students in overall enrolments (2.8% in 2022) also remains below the EU average (3.8%) (Eurostat, 2024[29]). National data shows that research activity and production in Croatia is heavily concentrated in certain TEIs. For example, 55% of all publications in 2021 were produced by faculties of the University of Zagreb, while the public integrated universities and polytechnics together produced only 9% of all publications (Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, 2023[2]).
Graduates make a slower transition to the labour market in part because programmes are not sufficiently preparing students for the world of work
Croatia has increased the share of STEM tertiary graduates in its population in recent years, partly reflecting the success of STEM scholarships (see Section I: Overview of tertiary education in Croatia above). In 2022, the proportion of graduates from STEM fields (29%) was higher than the OECD average (24%) (OECD, 2024[22]; OECD, 2024[45]). However, despite a higher share of graduates from in‑demand STEM fields, and a relatively high incidence of skills shortage in the country (see Chapter 6), Croatian tertiary graduates have a relatively slow transition from education to work. While the employment rate among tertiary graduates converges to the OECD average after five years, employment rates for tertiary graduates in the first years after graduation are among the lowest across OECD European countries (see Figure 5.11). NEET rates of tertiary graduates have also been consistently higher than average since Croatia’s accession to the EU, although this gap has substantially narrowed amid declines in the overall NEET rate (see Chapter 6).
Employment rates of recent graduates from tertiary education, 1-2 years and 3-4 years after graduation, 2022
Note: Countries are ranked in descending order of the employment rate of young adults for one to two years after completing tertiary education.
Source: OECD (2023[46]), Education at a Glance 2023 Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes, https://doi.org/10.1787/d7f76adc-en.
This slow transition may be partially caused by the lack of engagement between TEIs and businesses, as noted, for example, during a HEInnovate review of Croatia (OECD/EC, 2019[47]). Students in Croatia may also be less exposed to real-world business and industry during their programmes. For example, a recent Eurostudent survey found that Croatian students (30%) are ten percentage points less likely than the European average (40%) to have completed an internship as part of their studies (Gwosc et al., 2021[48]).
Students are relatively unsatisfied with the quality of educational and social support
Croatia does not operate regular national student surveys but has participated in multiple waves of the Eurostudent survey, which provides comparative insights into various aspects of students’ experiences in tertiary education. The latest survey results imply that Croatian students enjoy relatively better health and well-being than students in most other participating countries (Cuppen, Muja and Geurts, 2024[49]). At the same time, the Eurostudent survey indicates that Croatian students experience relative deficiencies in terms of academic and social supports. For example, only 5% of students had accessed any form of study counselling in Croatia (compared to 13% on average among 21 participating countries), and only 48% of those who used it found it helpful, compared to 67% on average. Similarly, Croatian students were also less likely than average to have accessed psychological counselling and relatively less likely to find counselling helpful.
Beyond these services, Croatian students were also more likely to be dissatisfied with other educational facilities and offers in TEIs, such as the availability of digital study materials. Students in Croatia provided relatively low ratings of lecturers’ explanations, their abilities to motivate students and their propensity to give feedback, across all modes of provision (Schirmer, 2024[50]).
Equity
The gender gap in tertiary attainment is comparatively large, and growing
As in many countries, Croatia’s gender gap in tertiary attainment is in favour of females and has been steadily increasing. Today, Croatia has one of the largest gaps in tertiary attainment between young adult women and men across OECD countries (see Figure 5.12). In 2022, there were about 155 female graduates for every 100 male graduates, higher than the EU average of 135 females per 100 males (Eurostat, 2024[51]). The gap in attainment reflects pathways taken in upper secondary school, where males are much more likely to enrol in vocational programmes that tend to lead to poorer academic outcomes (see Chapter 4).
Gender gap in tertiary attainment among 25–34-year-olds, 2023
Note: Countries are sorted in descending order of gender gap in tertiary attainment.
Source: OECD (2024[22]), Education at a Glance 2024, https://doi.org/10.1787/c00cad36-en; OECD (2024[52]), Adults' educational attainment distribution, by age group and gender, http://data-explorer.oecd.org/s/hi.
Gaps in attainment across regions are substantial
Across OECD countries, there are substantial gaps in tertiary attainment between cities, towns and suburbs, and rural areas. While there have been recent improvements, Croatia has some of the largest spatial disparities in attainment among OECD European countries (see Figure 5.13). In 2023, 20% of prime-aged adults (those aged 25-54) in Croatia’s rural areas had attained tertiary level qualifications, a much lower share compared to towns and suburbs (29%), and cities (47%) (Eurostat, 2024[53]).
Tertiary attainment of 25–54-year-olds in rural areas, towns and suburbs as a share of the attainment rate of the same cohort living in cities, 2023
Note: Countries are sorted in descending order of tertiary attainment in rural areas as a percentage of the attainment rate of the same cohort living in cities.
Source: Eurostat (2024[53]), Population by educational attainment level, sex, age and degree of urbanisation (%), https://doi.org/10.2908/EDAT_LFS_9913.
Most students (about 55%) enrolled in Croatian TEIs are located in the Zagreb region, although more than 70% of all students reside permanently outside of Zagreb. As reported, “Everybody wants to come to Zagreb”, giving Croatia one of the highest concentrations of enrolments in the capital city across OECD European countries (see Figure 5.14). While it is not uncommon for a sizeable proportion of tertiary students to be concentrated in the capital of a country, in most cases enrolments are usually distributed among several large institutions located in the metropolitan area. Croatia’s situation is unique in that most students in Zagreb are enrolled in constituents of a single institution, the University of Zagreb. Across Europe, only Slovenia – another former constituent of Yugoslavia – has a similar situation, with the University of Ljubljana having a central position in the tertiary education system.
Share of total enrolments concentrated in the capital city in European countries, 2022 or latest date available
Source: European Tertiary Education Register (n.d.[8]), ETER Database, https://eter-project.com/ (accessed on 12 December 2024).
Quality of programmes and outcomes: Enhancing the relevance of education programmes by focusing on the needs of learners and employers
Although Croatia has successfully expanded tertiary attainment, there is ongoing concern that the education offer of TEIs is not responsive enough to the needs of learners and employers. Study programme quotas set by institutions appear misaligned in terms of student preferences, and Croatian graduates face a difficult transition to the labour market compared to peers in other countries. Furthermore, traditionally low engagement between TEIs and employers has likely limited the extent to which existing curricula offer students practical skills that can be applied immediately in industry and business settings. As a result, students appear less satisfied with their educational experience in Croatia than is the case elsewhere.
Croatia has sought to address these issues through enhanced support for increasing the work-based learning in study programmes (primarily funded from the European Social Fund) and developing new regulations on the accreditation of study programmes. It has also established relevance and quality of education as strategic objectives for institutions in its new performance-based funding model. These measures should encourage TEIs to develop more relevant and high-quality study programmes in the future. Still, additional efforts may be needed to reorient the existing set of programmes to better address labour market needs and student expectations. This could be achieved by more targeted policies to improve the attractiveness of professional education and taking a more learner-oriented approach to the design of programmes and supports - areas which need additional attention from both policymakers and TEIs. This section proposes some recommendations and associated actions with the potential to build on Croatia’s recent reforms and improve the quality of tertiary education.
Recommendation 5.1. Expand measures to improve the labour market relevance of provision
The Croatian government has already taken steps to improve the labour market relevance of tertiary education programmes in recent years. The Ministry and ASHE, through the new quality assurance law, now require institutions to have evidence of labour market demand from the CES to establish new programmes. New occupational and qualification standards can also help better align employer needs with the education offer (see Chapter 6). However, Croatia could accelerate progress by expanding its approach – creating more opportunities for students to gain relevant professional skills and investing to stimulate faster renewal of curricula, as the actions below propose.
Developing modernised short-cycle tertiary education programmes
Croatia could benefit from expanding “mid-level” professionally oriented programmes and qualifications, such as short cycle (ISCED 5) tertiary education (see Chapter 6). Despite an existing legal basis, there are currently few examples of ISCED 5 programmes in the country. In contrast, short-cycle tertiary programmes have become an important driver for broadening attainment in many OECD countries. In Austria, New Zealand, Spain and Sweden, for example, ISCED 5 programmes have higher on-time completion compared to bachelor’s programmes. In Norway and Slovenia, such programmes are an important access pathway for males. The potential benefits of these programmes are relevant for the Croatian tertiary education system, which currently struggles with high dropout and repetition rates from academic higher education and a large gender gap in tertiary attainment in part explained by many males having no applied pathway of study on completing upper secondary vocational education and training (VET) (OECD, 2022[42]).
Some Croatian stakeholders indicated that employers did not understand the value proposition of ISCED 5, while providers had no real incentive to offer such programmes. These perspectives suggest that national authorities would need to take a more active role in establishing a reimagined ISCED 5 offer. Here, Croatia could draw inspiration from examples of OECD countries that have taken similar initiatives (OECD, 2022[54]). For example, Portuguese authorities established a new model of Short-cycle Professional Higher Technical Programmes (TeSPs) in 2014, comprising a four-semester programme of 120 ECTS that includes a mandatory internship. The programmes were established in polytechnics using EU funding and students received public grants for enrolling. Portugal’s TeSPs are widely considered to have been instrumental in broadening access to professional tertiary education and diversifying the country’s education offer (OECD, 2022[55]). While it will take time to fully understand the labour market outcomes of graduates from TeSPs, Portuguese workers aged 25-34 with a short-cycle qualification had an earnings advantage of 18% compared to workers with only upper secondary education in 2022 (OECD, 2024[22]). Impetus from national authorities in Croatia could help motivate TEIs and other stakeholders to co-operate in developing similar initiatives.
Creating a dedicated public fund to support industry-relevant teaching in TEIs
Ireland’s Human Capital Initiative
Ireland’s Human Capital Initiative provides a dedicated fund of EUR 300 million to improve TEI capacity to deliver skills-focused programmes that meet priority labour market needs. The five-year initiative is funded through Ireland’s National Training Fund, which is financed through a levy on employers, collected through the tax system. The initiative provides funding in three areas: conversion courses for graduates to reskill in areas of skills shortage and emerging technologies; additional undergraduate places on existing courses in high skills needs areas; and projects supporting innovation and agility in the tertiary education sector. Funding under each area is awarded through a series of challenge-based competitive calls. The mid-term evaluation of the initiative indicates a strong positive response from both enterprise partners and learners.
Australia’s National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund Pilot Programme
Australia’s National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund (NPILF) provides block grants to TEIs to enhance industry engagement and produce 'job-ready graduates'. The initiative aims to increase work-integrated learning, foster more STEM-skilled graduates with better employment outcomes, and strengthen industry partnerships. The initiative requires TEIs to develop plans on how they will develop job-ready graduates. These plans are based on guidance from education authorities and allow TEIs to access grants for implementation. Australian authorities are piloting the NPILF until the end of 2024 and will develop a new funding allocation methodology in 2025 based on pilot results: universities meeting their plan targets will receive full funding, while those that do not may have part of their funding redistributed.
Sources: Higher Education Authority, (Higher Education Authority, n.d.[56]), What is the Human Capital Initiative?, https://hea.ie/skills-engagement/what-is-human-capital-initiative-hci/ (accessed on 7 June 2024); Department of Education (2024[57]), National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund (NPILF), https://www.education.gov.au/job-ready/npilf#toc-npilf-pilot (accessed on 7 June 2024); Department of Education (2020[58]), NPILF Final Report, https://www.education.gov.au/job-ready/resources/npilf-final-report.
Work-based and industry-relevant learning remains underdeveloped in Croatia’s TEIs. One way some OECD countries have improved the labour market relevance of tertiary education programmes is by creating a dedicated public fund to finance improvements in curricula and support TEIs to develop work‑based learning. Such funds can be created either from tapping into national funds for skills development, or through “top slicing” a share of available public funds to support targeted improvements in institutions. These funds are often accompanied by additional information and guidance from central authorities, which allows governments to steer the policies and practices of TEIs. Ireland’s Human Capital Initiative and Australia’s pilot of the National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund provide two examples of such funds (see Box 5.1).
Croatia could consider making both public and private TEIs eligible for accessing the fund. Croatian private institutions already market themselves as having greater links with employers than public institutions, as well as being more dynamic with curriculum updates; stakeholders consulted tended to agree with this assessment. Therefore, including private providers in the fund could help identify and scale innovations in supporting industry-relevant education offers.
Recommendation 5.2. Develop policies with a stronger student focus to improve learning experiences and support skills development
Croatian students are relatively less satisfied with the supports and teaching they encounter in tertiary education, which may contribute to them being less prepared to start their careers. Policymakers and TEIs could address this challenge by taking additional steps to enhance teaching and learning and to provide more robust academic and social support to students, particularly in the first year of study, which is the most sensitive period for student retention. This section outlines three ways that these enhancements could be achieved, based on experience across OECD countries – through greater professionalisation of teaching, taking a more systematic approach to supporting first-year students and integrating students’ perspectives into the design and development of education programmes.
Considering a new national teaching qualification for academic staff
Across OECD countries, there is increasing recognition of the need to strengthen pedagogical training among academic staff in tertiary education, most of whom receive no formal training in how to teach. Croatia could benefit from a more professionalised approach to improving teaching in tertiary education, given relatively high reports of student dissatisfaction with their learning experiences. To develop such policies, Croatia could consider examples from OECD countries that have developed nationally recognised teaching qualifications for academic staff, ensuring that all staff receive foundational training in pedagogy and have opportunities to enhance their teaching skills and gain recognition for doing so. For example, universities in the Netherlands, in response to calls from the government, collectively introduced a mandatory requirement for academic teaching staff (with an appointment equating to more than 0.5 FTE) to acquire a University Teaching Qualification (UTQ), addressing a set of collectively agreed teaching competencies. Dutch TEIs have also developed a Senior Teaching Qualification (STQ) framework for more senior academic staff, allowing them to demonstrate their advanced skill and expertise in education development.
Croatian policymakers could take a step forward on this objective by seeking to include metrics related to the teaching qualifications of academic staff in assessment of institution performance. In the Dutch case, for example, the share of teachers with a UTQ has been included as an indicator in performance contracts with institutions, and the share of teachers with UTQ and STQ is also considered during external accreditation processes. In Croatia, the government could potentially advance the development of a teaching qualification through the recently introduced micro-credentials framework (see Chapter 6).
Systematising first-year remediation and guidance
In Croatia, like most OECD countries, the majority of dropout happens in the first year of an education programme. Croatian stakeholders indicated that if a student gets through the first year, they are much more likely to continue until the end of the programme, even if it takes longer than the theoretical duration to complete. Improving supports to address learning gaps in schools should eventually have a positive impact on learner preparedness for and completion of tertiary education in Croatia (see Chapter 4). In the meantime, the government could consider other policies that prioritise the development of additional supports for first-year tertiary students, such as better identifying students at-risk of dropping out and offering psychological, health and career counselling services. This could be done, for example, by providing institutional development funding to TEIs to develop or expand evidence-based academic support programmes for first-year students, or to reorient extra capacity in the TEI (e.g. because of falling enrolments) towards developing such supports.
A few OECD education systems have developed a systematic approach to first-year academic support programmes in TEIs which could be useful models for Croatia. For example, in the United States, the state university system of Georgia (comprising 26 public universities and community colleges) implemented a highly successful common “co-requisite” approach of academic support for first-year students, which provides additional classes to first-year students in need of extra support, linked to the modules they are studying (University System of Georgia, n.d.[59]).
Integrating student perspectives to improve curriculum and teaching
To effectively address Croatian students’ relative dissatisfaction with study programmes, TEIs should reflect more systematically on ways to embed students’ perspectives into plans for improving curricula and teaching. There are multiple ways that Croatian authorities can support this objective, from simply collecting and publishing more information on student experiences, to actively funding efforts to engage students as partners in developing the education offer. Two options for consideration are:
Establishing a regular national student experience survey. Croatia could build on its experience in the EUROGRADUATE survey to establish a regular national survey, such as the Australian Student Experience Survey or the National Survey of Student Engagement in the United States. While such surveys have recognised biases and limitations, their results are often used as a barometer of TEIs’ strengths and weaknesses in teaching. Many TEIs in OECD countries report using data from such surveys as impetus to improve their practices (OECD, 2019[60]). For example, several universities in the United States have publicly documented their actions to improve quality in the wake of their National Survey of Student Engagement results, and many of these actions are in turn disseminated to other TEIs (NSSE, n.d.[61]).
Developing a systematic framework to support deeper student participation in improving teaching and curricula. Croatia could consider the example of the Scottish Funding Council, which supports the Sparqs (Student Partnerships in Quality Scotland) agency, established to develop student representation and partnership in Scotland (Sparqs, n.d.[62]). Sparqs promotes and recognises various forms of student participation, such as co-creation of tertiary education curricula, which a recent study in Scotland found to have compelling positive impacts on student inclusiveness, engagement and achievement, and academic staff’s approach to teaching (Lubicz-Nawrocka and Bovill, 2021[63]).
Equality of opportunity and access: Expanding and simplifying pathways into tertiary education
Croatia has an increasing share of younger adults who have completed tertiary education, but the attainment levels of both young adults and the overall population remain below the OECD average. In the face of demographic decline and falling enrolments, Croatia is strengthening efforts to attract more international students. There is no reason to believe that these efforts will not be successful. However, international degree students are unlikely to contribute significantly to supplying Croatia’s labour market with advanced skills in the short term, given the small share of student enrolments they represent, and the likelihood that many will leave Croatia after graduation. Croatia will therefore also need to continuously improve tertiary access and success for its domestic population, where a large share of students do not manage to successfully graduate from their programmes, and where older adults are underrepresented in the student population.
Several factors contribute to high dropout rates from Croatian tertiary education. In addition to the limited supports available for first-year students (discussed in Recommendation 5.2), Croatia’s inadequate financial supports for students, as well as the lack of broader policies to support a wider population of learners to access and succeed in tertiary education, are commonly reported as reasons students drop out. This section draws on OECD experience and research to propose two ways that Croatia can build upon its existing policy framework to address factors that risk “pushing” tertiary students out of their programmes without earning a qualification. Recommendations include streamlining and expanding student entitlements to financial supports and reviewing existing tertiary access and admissions policies so that they support the widest possible participation.
Recommendation 5.3. Simplify and improve access pathways to tertiary education
Croatia could benefit from revising its current approach to tertiary education admissions, which may be complicated for some younger learners to navigate, raises some concerns about fairness, and up to now has not adequately supported access for some population groups. Although a large share of upper secondary students in Croatia transition successfully into tertiary education (including students from VET streams), the size of the upper secondary cohort is decreasing, and Croatia has not yet managed to fully adapt its system to serve a wider population of learners. This is evident in the lower-than-average enrolment of adults above age 30 (even though their needs should in theory be met by part-time education, which is already widespread). The lack of nationally recognised entry routes for those not having passed the Matura exam and the growing gender gap in tertiary attainment also warrant further attention. Demographic decline creates an urgent need for Croatia to ensure that a wider share of the population can access tertiary education, to the ultimate benefit of the Croatian economy and society. The actions below are suggested as potential ways forward to support the goal of widening access to tertiary education.
Limiting variation in merit-based selection mechanisms used for student admissions
Despite the rigorous and complex selection mechanisms applied by Croatian TEIs, dropout and repetition remain high. This indicates that current measures are not fulfilling their intended purpose of improving the fit between students and the educational offer. Croatia should seek to simplify the current admissions system, to improve its efficiency and clarity for prospective students. Two potential simplifications that Croatia could consider, that could help limit disruption to the current system are:
1. Gradually introducing heavier limits on the use of ad-hoc admission criteria. Limiting the ad-hoc criteria used by TEIs, for example, by regulating the extent to which they can be modified year to year or standardising the respective weights that may be applied to the Matura, GPA and other criteria could help move Croatian TEIs towards using a more consistent set of selection criteria.
2. Require TEIs to harmonise discipline-specific criteria. An alternative simplification could be to require TEIs to collaborate and improve consistency in selection criteria across similar programmes. This action could promote a clearer understanding to students about the knowledge and skills required to succeed in their chosen discipline.
Piloting alternative entry pathways that recognise the skills and experience of older adults
Croatia has not yet made legal provision for admissions processes to be adapted to older students who may have relevant experience or qualifications to support their entry into tertiary education, but do not have the Matura (Eurydice, 2024[64]). Efforts are underway to design a system for RPL, supported by an ongoing international project (see Chapter 6) (OECD, 2022[65]). Experience across OECD European countries show a variety of national RPL procedures, and in many cases, significant challenges related to the validation of non-formal and informal learning to support entry to tertiary education. These challenges can include lack of awareness of RPL, overly rigid requirements, administrative burden or inconsistent application of RPL procedures (Eurydice, 2024[64]; Eurashe, 2021[66]).
As Croatia begins to design its national system for RPL, it might benefit from financing pilots of different potential approaches, to find a model that best suits the Croatian context, and which can be implemented by TEIs without undue administrative burden. Inspiring recent examples of pilot initiatives include Sweden’s pilot of the basic eligibility test for higher education, aimed at older adults (24 and over) who have not completed upper secondary education (or equivalent) but who may have acquired knowledge through other means. The pilot was co-ordinated between 2022 and 2024 by the Swedish Council for Higher Education and entailed the development of a national basic exam that tested language and numeracy skills for the purpose of determining basic competence to undertake university‑level studies (Swedish Council for Higher Education, 2024[67]). The results of the pilot indicated that the basic eligibility test could become an efficient and socially effective measure, reducing pressure on TEIs to develop their own tests and replacing the requirement for mature learners to enrol in adult education programmes to demonstrate their eligibility for tertiary education. Its basic exam has other potential benefits, for example, allowing learners to demonstrate their basic competence to employers and potentially secure their support for enrolment.
Integrating a gender lens to all analysis of tertiary education access and success
Croatia faces a challenge of growing underachievement in tertiary education among male learners. The challenge is shared by most OECD countries, however, Croatia’s gender gap in educational attainment of young adults appears among the largest in Europe – a gap the country cannot afford to maintain. Focusing specifically on improving male achievement can be problematic, especially as (for now) the educational advantages enjoyed by females tend to be eroded upon entry to the labour market, where women still face disadvantages in terms of employment and earnings (see Chapter 2). Emerging evidence points to approaches that can address educational underachievement among males without reversing gains made in female achievement. Most of these interventions target school-level education, however, considering growing disparities, more thematic analyses on the drivers of gender differences in enrolment and achievement in tertiary education are likely to become essential to the design of effective policy interventions in the future (World Bank, 2021[68]). Therefore, wherever possible, Croatia could integrate a gender lens into all research and data development initiatives relating to its tertiary education sector.
Recommendation 5.4. Build stable and streamlined financial supports that are more aligned with student needs
It is positive that Croatia awards funding for student living costs based on socio-economic criteria. However, there is some evidence that Croatia’s system of student financial supports and public funding of tuition fees is out of step with the needs of its learners. Despite a high share of students studying part-time, free tuition fees and social supports are extended only to full-time students. In addition, students must qualify for social scholarships through a competitive process using complex ranking criteria and are not guaranteed financial support for the duration of their studies. Moreover, social scholarships currently rely on European Social Fund (ESF) funding, raising concerns about the sustainability of financing for student support measures after the end of the current funding period. As resources allow, Croatia should consider ways to further align student financial supports with OECD best practices. Notably, the government might consider providing more predictability in support for students’ living expenses and addressing the currently unbalanced funding available for full-time and part-time students.
Providing more predictable and stable financial supports for students’ living expenses
As resources allow, Croatia could replace the current student scholarship allocation mechanism with a new scheme to meet students’ living expenses. This scheme could provide have more stable and predictable eligibility criteria, and guarantee support for the duration of a students’ entire programme (subject to their meeting academic conditions). This form of financial support is common across OECD tertiary education systems, especially those in Europe, most of which provide publicly funded grants based on household means, awarded for at least the duration of one programme, or often, one programme at each level of education (see Figure 5.17).
Note: In both panels, the total number of responding jurisdictions is 28. In Panel B, Belgium (WAL) refers to the French community of Belgium while Belgium (VLG) refers to the Flemish Community of Belgium.
Source: Golden, Troy and Weko (2021[69]), How are higher education systems in OECD countries resourced?, https://doi.org/10.1787/0ac1fbad-en.
A more predictable, stable student funding system will also be a more costly one, requiring difficult choices, especially with other areas of post-secondary education also in great need of additional investment (see Chapter 6). Croatia has, up to now, funnelled most spending on providing universal student benefits to all full-time enrolled students to cover many of their material needs. This may have worked well in the past when fewer students competed for resources. However, some stakeholders stated that the current system may be “too equal” in terms spreading financial resources too thinly and not adequately targeting those most in need of assistance. Croatia could therefore consider redesigning the current system to vary the extent of support according to students’ ability to pay.
This principle of scaled subsidy could be implemented for social scholarships. For example, Estonia has recently introduced a needs-based study allowance for domestic students, which is based solely on income of the students’ household (Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, 2024[70]). The amount of the grant for which the student is eligible varies according to income (with three levels of payment made). The grant is guaranteed to students who maintain good academic standing and do not exceed the standard duration of the programme. Scaled subsidy could also be implemented for directly provided supports, such as food and accommodation. For example, France operates a network of regional services for subsidised student accommodation (known as CROUS), which provides a deeper subsidy for needs-based grant recipients (Crous, n.d.[71]).
Subsidising tuition fees for part-time and flexible education in certain circumstances
Croatia could consider extending free or subsidised tuition to students enrolled in part-time courses, under certain conditions. This could help to prevent the practice of students enrolling full-time just to secure student benefits when part-time education would better suit their needs. However, such incentives would need to be designed carefully, ideally targeting high-quality flexible programmes that fit around the schedules of learners and providing education in high-demand fields. Croatia could consider the Springboard+ programme in Ireland as an example for developing this type of policy. Springboard+ offers free and heavily subsidised places in flexible part-time programmes in Irish TEIs at ISCED levels 5 to 7. The programmes are designed to respond to labour market needs and provided as an additional offer to the TEI’s usual tertiary degree programmes. Courses approved for Springboard+ funding are selected by an independent panel of industry and education experts, following a competitive tendering process, with funding partially provided by the European Social Fund. Over 8 000 Springboard+ places were provided for 2024/2025 (Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, 2024[72]).
Good governance: Creating a more consolidated and efficient tertiary education landscape
Croatia’s tertiary education system faces several distinctive challenges to its future development, including demographic change, the inefficiency of the institution and programme landscape and resourcing challenges linked to the concurrent need to widen access to tertiary education and develop other levels of the education system (see Chapters 3, 4 and 6). This section draws on OECD experience and research to propose two recommendations of how the country could work towards a more balanced and efficient tertiary education system, underpinned with data and evidence that empowers both policymakers and learners to make effective decisions.
Recommendation 5.5. Rebalance and consolidate the current offer of tertiary education
Tertiary education provision in Croatia appears notably unbalanced and fragmented. Enrolments and programmes are heavily concentrated in constituents of the University of Zagreb, while the polytechnic sector remains underdeveloped. The system has seen a continuous expansion of study programmes, exacerbated by a lack of clear distinction of education provision and objectives by sector. The current situation poses significant challenges to effective strategic planning and resource management and will become increasingly untenable as enrolments continue to decline.
Croatia can take further action to reorient and streamline its tertiary education landscape, providing a clearer distinction between the education offer of universities and polytechnics, working to consolidate the institution network and fostering collaboration and resource-sharing among TEIs.
Taking steps to resolve the situation of non-integrated universities
Research indicates that successful collaborations and mergers among TEIs requires not only action from governments, but for institutions themselves to take initiative, have compatible and complementary missions and activities and the necessary resources for implementation. Taking an incentive-based approach rather than mandated mergers would allow merger proposals to be prepared by TEIs themselves, based on their own assessment of readiness for integration, and allow public authorities to financially support them to do so as resources allow (Williams, 2017[73]). Some specific steps Croatia might consider include:
Initiating a public “transformation fund” to support groups of currently non-integrated university constituents to legally integrate into single institutions. This system would allow institutions to submit merger proposals, to be considered for transformation funding. These proposals could be evaluated by public authorities, who might consider - among other things - the potential for consolidation to positively impact the quality and relevance of offered programmes. The level of resources available for the fund would determine the speed at which integration could proceed. Examples of recent similar funds include the French endowment fund for mergers and the Irish Technological University Transformation Fund (see Box 5.2).
Promote legal separation of university constituents that do not participate in mergers. Considering the legal right of the university senates to create new legal entities and (by vote) to propose the removal of constituents, Croatian public authorities could consider making it a condition of merger support that constituents having no wish to participate in mergers with most of the university and its constituents should be separated legally from the new institution.
Prioritising university-led initiatives. Wherever legally possible, public funding for education, research and institutional projects should be preferentially awarded to initiatives led by university-level management rather than individual constituents. This is already the convention for Croatian TEIs participating in many European collaborative initiatives such as the European Institute of Innovation & Technology and European Universities Alliance, where the Croatian TEI member is the University rather than its components (as, for example, the membership of the University of Split in the European University of the Seas or the University of Zagreb in the European University of Post-Industrial Cities) (European Universities Alliances, n.d.[74]).
France promotes experimentation with different forms of integration
Over the past 20 years, France has been making continued efforts to simplify and strengthen its complex tertiary education landscape. In 2013, the government intensified the process of TEI agglomeration by requiring TEIs to merge or join Communautés inter-académiques d'universités et d'établissements (ComUEs) and shifting its four-year funding contracts and other funding instruments from the institution level to ComUEs. The intention of the COMUEs was to encourage TEIs to group and ally themselves, with a view to their eventual mergers. This led to the creation of 22 ComUEs across France. However, the ComUE model has faced several challenges to its effective implementation, including administrative complexity and limited integration of member institutions. More recently, since 2018 France has supported the development of Experimental Public Establishments (Établissements Publics Expérimentaux - EPEs) which allow groups of public TEIs to experiment with different forms of integration of functions on a temporary basis. The EPE constituents may then exit the experiment and may choose to revert to their previous formation, integrate some functions or fully merge into a Major Institution (Université Paris-Saclay, 2023[75]).
The Irish Government made consolidation a national priority in its development plan for higher education
The Irish Government initiated a substantial transformation of its tertiary education landscape through the merger of 14 Institutes of Technology (IOTs) into 5 Technological Universities (TUs). This strategic move aims to enhance the quality, accessibility, and international competitiveness of Irish higher education by creating more robust institutions that can offer diverse educational pathways, foster innovation, and better support regional development. The government encouraged the mergers by making them a national priority in its development plan for higher education and promulgating a Technological Universities Act to provide a legal framework for the integration of institutions. IOTs were invited to form consortia and submit detailed merger proposals and were provided with substantial funding to support the mergers through the Technological University Transformation Fund, and (following the mergers) the Technological Sector Advancement Fund which supported the strategic development of the new sector.
Latvia has leveraged EU support to help consolidate TEIs
Considering demographic change, and to further strengthen the sector, Latvia has been using both European Social Funds and National Recovery and Resilience funds to support TEI consolidation. The Ministry of Science and Education promulgated a new law in 2021 which overhauled governance of the sector, developed a new typology of public TEIs according to their missions and activities and strengthened their internal management structure. A consolidation of higher education institutions and education programmes is also underway, supported by the European Social Fund (ESF) and Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). ESF funds have supported about 20 institution-level initiatives to strengthen governance and leadership skills for managers in institutions, improve capacity for strategic development, and reduce the overall number of education programmes. In the case of RRF Funding, individual institutions must prepare for the approval of the Ministry of Education a costed consolidation plan, along with a request for the consolidation grant. Concurrently, there has been a continuous series of mergers of TEIs, leading to an eventual position, as of 2024, of Latvia reducing its number of public TEIs to 15, compared to about 35 public TEIs in 2004.
Source: Williams (2017[73]), Collaboration, alliance, and merger among higher education institutions, https://doi.org/10.1787/cf14d4b5-en. Latvian Ministry of Education and Science (2021[76]), Konkurētspējīga augstākā izglītība un pētniecība ir reģiona izaugsmes garants [Competitive higher education and research are the guarantors of the region's growth], https://www.izm.gov.lv/lv/jaunums/konkuretspejiga-augstaka-izglitiba-un-petnieciba-ir-regiona-izaugsmes-garants (accessed on 7 June 2024).
Supporting the development of specialist disciplines outside of the Zagreb region
The impact of demographic change in Croatia is playing out unevenly across regions, particularly hitting TEIs in urban areas outside of Zagreb, as well as more remote regions, and potentially limiting their ability to continue operating. If this trend continues without intervention, it is likely to further concentrate provision in Zagreb at the expense of other areas of the country. At the same time, in Croatia’s context it is unlikely that a comprehensive education offer can be maintained in all parts of the country. Croatia could instead consider developing centres of concentrated disciplinary excellence in regional locations outside of Zagreb. These could be informed by local labour market needs or the profile of regional areas and integrated into “smart specialisation” initiatives. For example, in Finland, the LAB University of Applied Sciences and Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT) University have integrated themselves into the Greenreality network, a regional network of companies, public authorities and research and education institutions, that aims to accelerate the development of local initiatives that can support the transition to a sustainable economy. The Greenreality network has been used successfully as a basis for collaboration between TEI students and local businesses (Greenreality Network, 2020[77]).
Specialist centres of disciplinary excellence could also be developed through efforts to maintain a critical mass in a particular discipline where there is strong labour market demand, even with no obvious local connection. The PISMO gaming campus, located in the regional town of Novska in Croatia’s Sisak Moslavina County stands out as a promising initiative. The PISMO initiative started in 2016 as a series of workshops and education modules on video gaming in schools and is culminating in the development of a gaming campus (co-financed by the European Union Just Transition funding mechanism) which will host events and conferences related to e-Sports, an incubator for gaming startups, as well as a new five-year higher education gaming programme, high school and vocational training and dormitories and facilities for learners. Building on this positive outcome, Croatia could explore the development of similar centres in other parts of the country.
Promoting a distinct identity and consolidation for public polytechnics
Croatia’s public polytechnics enrol only a small fraction of Croatia’s tertiary education learners and must compete with universities to attract students into professional education programmes, while having far more limited resources in most cases. Some polytechnics have been severely impacted by falling enrolments, and many lack critical mass needed to ensure quality and efficiency of operation. Despite these challenges, Croatian public authorities seem keen to maintain a separate polytechnic sector and expressed their intention to further strengthen it. This will likely require providing polytechnics with a more distinct mission and identity, differentiating them more clearly from universities and their constituents. For example, polytechnics, with some additional investment, could be best placed to provide the reimagined ISCED 5 provision discussed in Recommendation 5.1. Similarly, the Croatian government should clarify the national vision for the future provision of professional bachelor’s degrees, to avoid further erosion of the identity of polytechnics as the recognised providers of professionally oriented education.
Finally, it is likely that further consolidation of Croatia’s polytechnic sector will be necessary in the near future. Recent OECD analysis of the fragmented public tertiary college sector in Lithuania, which operates in a similar context, advised authorities to:
Review the current set of non-university TEIs and classify them according to their size and comprehensiveness (e.g. the number of disciplines they cover).
Provide colleges with the most advanced capabilities the means to further develop their capacities for delivering advanced professional education and (potentially) practice-oriented research.
Transform the remaining colleges into subunits or additional campuses of those with the more advanced capabilities, ideally by matching institutions with complementary activities and disciplinary lines (OECD, 2023[78]).
A similar approach to consolidation of polytechnics could be relevant for Croatia’s context.
Stimulating inter-institution collaboration on programme rationalisation
There was widespread agreement among stakeholders interviewed that there are too many study programmes in Croatia, and that the current situation of year-on-year growth in volume of programmes is unsustainable. Public authorities now face the dilemma of how best to stimulate consolidation of the tertiary education offer. New programmes will have a higher standard to meet before achieving accreditation, but this will not resolve the challenge of streamlining the existing set of programmes. It was noted that TEI leaders tend to each want to maintain a comprehensive study offer, and currently have few incentives to specialise and collaborate on programme development. Croatia could therefore provide additional incentives to steer the system towards fewer, higher quality programmes across disciplines, making use, where possible, of available funding and regulatory levers. The country’s new performance-based funding model could provide a good opportunity to introduce such incentives.
Co-operation on education programme development can be stimulated through top-down regulation. For example, the Flemish Community of Belgium requires universities and university colleges to form associations with each other for the purposes of co-operation on education and research. These associations co-operate to develop learning pathways and transfer agreements between their respective programmes, in some cases work to rationalise their combined education offers, and issue advice on the development of new degree programmes.
Collaboration could also be stimulated by providing support through the quality assurance system for institutions partnering on degree programmes. While transnational partnerships are increasingly commonplace across Europe, fewer countries have focused on supporting intranational partnerships. Nevertheless, there are some interesting models that could be useful for Croatia to consider. For example, TEIs in Ontario frequently collaborate on degree programmes, particularly across subsectors, under specific guidance developed in the quality assurance framework of the Ontario Council of Universities framework on quality assurance (Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance, 2024[79]). Over 50 such programmes are on offer for the 2024 academic year (Ontario Universities' Application Centre, 2023[80]).
The MSEY and ASHE could consider providing supportive conditions for joint degree programmes through the quality assurance system, for example, by providing guidance and (potentially) an accelerated accreditation process for joint programmes that seek to rationalise the existing offer (e.g. by merging two existing programmes). It could further improve the context by backing well-rationalised proposals for collaborative programmes with funding from the development portion of the programme funding budget.
Recommendation 5.6. Prioritise data development to empower policymakers and learners
It was noted during the review mission that analytical capacity within the MSEY remains underdeveloped, with no dedicated unit within the ministry that specialises in analysing data for policy and few obvious examples of data and analysis produced by other actors (for example, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS) or the ASHE) being used to formulate, modify or evaluate policies within the Ministry. Accordingly, there is scope for the MSEY to strengthen its internal analytical capacity (see Chapter 6), which in turn will require better data sources to underpin policy development. Croatia could also make more comparative data publicly available. For example, publishing data on the characteristics, respective strengths and different aspects of performance of TEIs could help better inform student choice and promote transparency about the system’s progress and achievements.
Developing an individualised database that can better inform strategy and policy
Croatia is developing a National Information System for Higher Education to centralise the data needed to operate the new programme funding model and inform planning and decision making across the sector. The National Group for Enhancing the Social Dimension of Higher Education also highlights the need for data to monitor the specific measures contained in its action plan. At the time of writing, specific details of future data development plans are unclear. However, experience from other countries shows that individualised data that supports tracking of learners into, through and beyond the education system are becoming increasingly essential both for monitoring labour market relevance of tertiary education and the achievement of equity objectives.
With that in mind, Croatia should continue developing its individualised and centralised register of tertiary education enrolments that can interconnect with other administrative data sources. Individualised, centralised student data has been implemented in many OECD European countries, providing a basis for far more sophisticated analysis of student pathways and outcomes than can be achieved with aggregate data collected from institutions. For example, Norway’s database for statistics on higher education (DBH) is managed by Statistics Norway and contains individualised information on students enrolments and degrees obtained, as well as related information about their study programme and institution, which can be connected through the student national identification number to other public databases for the purposes of research and statistical analysis (Directorate for Statistics on Higher Education, n.d.[81]). The DBH data allows, for example, comprehensive ongoing analysis of completion rates of students in Norwegian tertiary education, by gender, programme type and field of study, credits achieved by different categories of student and shares of foreign students in different programmes and fields of study (Statistics Norway, 2024[82]).
Improving the accessibility of public data that helps students compare TEIs and study choices
Good decision making among educational choices is vital to ensure that students have the best chance of completing tertiary education and progressing to careers that best meet their aptitudes and goals. One of the ways that Croatia can seek to reduce its current high level of mismatch between student preferences and the educational offer is to provide as much information as possible about the available study programmes, their labour market outcomes, the extent to which different disciplines are in over- or undersupply and (as it becomes available) statistics on dropout or delayed completion. Much of this information is already available in Croatia but is spread across disparate sources (i.e. ASHE and CBS websites) and is not always presented in a format that allows for easy comparison by prospective learners.
OECD research shows that young people facing complex decisions often end up introducing biases into the decision process, seeking to simplify the decision as much as possible (Hofer, Zhivkovikj and Smyth, 2020[83]). Governments therefore have an interest in ensuring that information on study choices is presented in a trustworthy, impartial way that can be adapted according to different student profiles and needs (e.g. for full-time vs part-time education). Croatia should seek to develop such a comprehensive resource for students, drawing on inspiring examples from OECD countries, such as Germany (see Box 5.3).
In Germany, the Federal Employment Agency’s Arbeitsagentur website offers comprehensive guidance for individuals exploring different study and career paths. The website provides detailed information on fields of study, educational programmes, admission requirements and financing options, as well as career prospects and qualifications, helping individuals navigate various educational and professional pathways. Arbeitsagentur features interactive tools such as career counselling services, aptitude tests, and short films about different professions to assist individuals in identifying their interests and strengths. The resources are tailored to diverse audiences, such as recent high school graduates, adult learners, parents, and new immigrants and refugees. Additionally, the website provides access to job market data and trends, including insights on evolving professions and the impact of digitalisation.
Source: Hofer, Zhivkovikj and Smyth (2020[83]), The role of labour market information in guiding educational and occupational choices, https://doi.org/10.1787/59bbac06-en; Federal Employment Agency (n.d.[84]), Schule, Ausbildung und Studium [School, training and studies], https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/bildung (accessed on 10 June 2024).
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← 1. The CROQF was established in 2013 to better align education and training programmes and their resulting qualifications with occupational requirements. Chapter 5 provides further information on the CROQF.