Dr Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s Director of Education and Skills, confirmed at the UK launch of the report in London that relatively small education systems were becoming more competitive internationally.

He singled out Ireland, where there had been significant improvements in the quality of education since the 1960s despite relatively low spending. There had been similar progress in small nations in Northern Europe.

Dr Schleicher said the report underlined the trade-offs governments had to make between spending on different levels of education. The United Kingdom lagged behind most OECD members for spending on early years education and “had a long way to go” on work-based learning, but it was among the leaders for spending per student on higher education, where high fees resulted in a significant proportion of private funding.

He added he regarded the UK’s combination of public and private contributions as the most advanced approach to funding higher education, although the burden on individuals had reached “quite a pronounced level”.

The report stresses the benefits of higher education at a time when universities have faced criticism both in the UK and elsewhere. Mathias Cormann, Secretary General of the OECD, wrote in his introduction: “The transition to a more digital and knowledge-intensive economy is increasing demand for advanced skills and higher qualifications across the OECD as well as partner countries. This demand will continue to grow as population aging leads to skills shortages. In response, educational attainment is at an all-time high, with 48 percent of young adults in OECD countries now completing tertiary education – up from just 27 percent in 2000. These graduates tend to enjoy higher earnings, more stable employment, better health and greater civic participation.”

However, growth in tertiary enrolments has slowed since 2021. In the previous two decades, the average tertiary attainment rate among young adults increased by about 1 percentage point per year across OECD member states, but since 2021 the average annual increase has fallen to 0.3 percentage points. The authors find that unequal opportunities are holding back some potential students, with those from disadvantaged backgrounds remaining far less likely to continue to tertiary education of any kind.

In England, 25-34 year-olds who have at least one tertiary educated parent are more than twice as likely than others to gain a tertiary qualification. Yet even this disparity is below the average for OECD countries. The rewards for tertiary qualifications in the employment market are also shown to be strong in the UK, contrary to recent claims that the graduate premium no longer exists. The report finds that 25-34 year-olds without upper secondary qualifications earn 43 percent less than those with higher attainment - the largest gap in the OECD.

Pamela Baxter, a Chief Product Officer at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, which hosted the launch of the report with the Higher Education Policy Institute, said: “At a time when the value of higher education is being called into question, the OECD’s latest Education at a Glance report offers an unequivocal statement of support for the sector – both globally and in the UK.” She added that the benefits were not only financial, with the report showing how tertiary education is directly linked to higher employment rates, and even to better health, with 51 percent of tertiary-educated adults rating their health as very good or excellent, almost twice the rate for those with below upper secondary education.

The report also shows continuing growth in international student mobility, with the number of international students more than doubling as a proportion of total student numbers over the past decade. While the United States has declined on this metric, the UK is shown to be one of the most popular destinations for international students, who make up 23 per cent of the total tertiary student population, an increase of six percentage points and well above the OECD average of seven percent.

Baroness Jacqui Smith, England’s Higher Education Minister, said she was proud of the UK’s record on international students. “The benefits go beyond supporting higher education and contributing significantly to our campuses and our economy. Friendships and futures are shaped as well and we will remain open to welcoming genuine, high-calibre students to study in the UK. In order to be able do that, we need to maintain the challenge for reform and investment. We will have more to say on that in the coming weeks and months.”

Nor is the enthusiasm for higher education confined to the 38 developed nations with OECD membership. The latest data from UNESCO shows that the number of students studying for degrees worldwide has risen from about 100 million in 2000 to 264 million in 2023.

The global enrolment ratio for higher education has grown from 19 percent a quarter of a century ago to 43 percent in 2023, although big regional disparities remain, with 79 percent of the eligible school-age population going on to higher education in Europe and North America, compared with just 9 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The steepest increase in participation was in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, which jumped from 15 percent in 2000 to 52 percent in 2023. Women have closed the gap with men and now make up a bigger proportion of the higher education student population in all regions.