Politics of Higher Education Funding in (Western) Europe – And Beyond

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview on higher education (HE) funding in (Western) Europe – and the advanced democracies more generally. The first part of the chapter develops a typology of HE funding and offers a systematic descriptive overview on HE funding in the advanced OECD economies, paying particular attention to Europe. Comparative data is analyzed on public HE expenditure, private expenditure, different kinds of tuition fees, different kinds of financial student aid, and research and development spending. The chapter’s second part discusses the existing literature on explanations for differences in HE funding. It points at three sets of determinants: socio-economic structural factors, politico-economic actors, and political institutions. The literature review also identifies several important gaps in the literature. The chapter’s third part addresses one of these gaps by shedding new empirical light on public opinion towards HE tuition fees in Europe. Using novel public opinion data, it analyzes attitudes towards different kinds of tuition fees, offering also explanations for citizens’ preferences. The final section concludes and points at avenues for future research.