This chapter provides an overview of the main characteristics of the higher education system in the Flemish Community of Belgium, focusing on its organisation, key aspects of its performance in education and research and the form and level of the revenue streams on which its institutions depend. This contextual overview forms the background for the more detailed discussion of institutional funding for teaching and research, funding for student aid, frameworks for human resources and strategic policy steering that follows in the later chapters of the report.
Resourcing Higher Education in the Flemish Community of Belgium
Higher Education
2. Higher education in the Flemish Community
Abstract
2.1 The landscape of the Flemish higher education system
Responsibility for higher education in Belgium
Belgium is a federal state composed of three geographical regions and three language-based communities, with the Belgian constitution assigning each entity its own responsibilities and institutions. The Flemish Region (often referred to as Flanders) is officially Dutch-speaking, the Walloon Region (Wallonia) is officially French-speaking, with the exception of three German-speaking cantons, and the Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual, with French and Dutch as official languages. The language-based communities are primarily responsible for education (including higher education), culture, youth policy and certain social services. The Flemish Community is responsible for these issues in the Flemish Region and for speakers of Dutch in the Brussels-Capital Region. The French-speaking Community holds the same responsibilities for French speakers in the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. The German-speaking Community serves the comparatively small population of German speakers, resident in three eastern cantons of Wallonia.
As a result of these arrangements, the Brussels-Capital Region is home to both French-speaking schools and higher education institutions, falling under the responsibility of the French-speaking Community, and Dutch-speaking educational institutions, falling under the responsibility of the Flemish Community. In parallel, responsibility for economic development, research policy and innovation lies primarily with the regions. All three regions (Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region) implement their own research and innovation policies, including policies that support research and development in higher education institutions. The Belgian federal government also retains some, more limited, responsibilities in the field of research (Belgium, n.d.[1]).
The responsibilities of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region are, in practice, unified under the authority of the Flemish Parliament and the Flemish Government. Higher education institutions that fall under the responsibility of the Flemish Community, including those located in the Brussels-Capital Region, receive their core operating funding and a majority of their public funding for research and innovation from the Flemish Government. This review focuses on higher education institutions funded by the Flemish Government.
The institutional landscape of Flemish higher education
The higher education system in the Flemish Community of Belgium is characterised by a clearly defined binary structure, with higher vocational and professional educational programmes provided in university colleges (hogescholen) and academic programmes, from bachelor’s to doctoral level, mostly provided in the Community’s five research universities. A notable exception to this pattern are academic bachelor’s and master’s programmes in artistic fields, such as music or the visual and performing arts, which are taught in Schools of Arts integrated within, or formally classified as, university colleges. In addition, the Antwerp Maritime Academy, a publicly funded, specialised institution offering academic programmes in maritime and nautical fields, is also formally classified as a university college.
The 16 publicly funded university colleges in the Flemish Community have joined one of the five universities in an institutional “association”, designed to facilitate cooperation within the system. In the academic year 2020/21, around 140 000 degree-seeking students were enrolled in university colleges and around 130 000 in universities (AHOVOKS, 2020[2]). Table 2.1 provides an overview of the grouping of universities and university colleges into associations, along with the number of degree-seeking students each institution enrolled in the academic year 2020/21.
The current institutional landscape in the Flemish Community results from a gradual process of reform over the last decade. From the academic year 2013/14, academic programmes in fields such as architecture, management and industrial sciences and technology that had historically been delivered by university colleges were transferred to universities (a process referred to as “integration”). The academic staff and delivery of these programmes typically remained in their historical location, in premises that were also transferred from the university colleges to the universities. This has led to a proliferation of regional campuses that are part of the five universities. For example, alongside its main campus in Leuven, the KU Leuven has campuses in nine other towns and cities in Belgium. From the academic year 2019/20, short-cycle, associate degree programmes in professional fields were transferred from adult education centres to university colleges, marking another structural shift in the Flemish higher education landscape.
Table 2.1. Universities and university colleges in the Flemish Community
Note: * The number of students who enrol for the first time for an associate degree, a professional bachelor’s programme or an academic bachelor’s programme (see below for discussion of programme types). ** Enrolment of degree-seeking students at associate degree level, bachelor’s and master’s level (excludes PhD candidates, those enrolled in some specialisation programmes and students enrolled for a limited number of credits). *** The Antwerp Maritime Academy offers specialised academic programmes, but is classified as a university college.
Source: AHOVOKS (2020[2]) Hoger Onderwijs in Cijfers: Academiejaar 2020-2021 (Higher Education in Figures: Academic Year 2020-21) https://onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/nl/hoger-onderwijs-in-cijfers (accessed on 25 May 2021).
Education in Belgium was historically organised along religious and socio-political lines, with educational institutions associated to one of three main societal “pillars”: Catholic, Socialist and Liberal. The legacy of this historical “pillarisation” (verzuiling) of society is still visible in the higher education landscape, with many historically Catholic university colleges associated with the Catholic University of Leuven (the KU Leuven) and the public universities of Ghent, Antwerp and Hasselt and the liberal, Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) retaining their distinct philosophical identities. Historically Catholic and liberal higher education institutions are classified for statistical purposes as government-dependent private institutions, rather than as public institutions like other universities and university colleges, although the majority of government regulations and the same funding system apply across the entire publicly funded higher education sector in the Flemish Community.
Alongside the universities and university colleges, there are a small number of independent higher education institutions that fall under the regulatory authority of the Flemish Community, but which are not directly subsidised through the core public funding model for higher education. These institutions, which focus on post-initial higher education, include the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, the Antwerp Management School, the Institute for Tropical Medicine (Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde) in Antwerp, two theological institutions and five institutions specialised in the fine arts.
The landscape of programmes and pathways
University colleges in the Flemish Community primarily deliver professional bachelor’s programmes (ISCED level 6) and, since the academic year 2019/20, higher vocational associate degree programmes (ISCED level 5), while universities deliver academic bachelor’s programmes (ISCED level 6) and all programmes at master’s and doctoral level (ISCED levels 7 and 8). The largest study fields for professional bachelor’s degrees are business and management, healthcare (nursing), initial teacher education (ITE), industrial sciences and technology and social work. Both professional and academic bachelor’s programmes have a theoretical duration of three years (180 credits), with the exception of nursing, which generally takes a minimum of four years (240 credits). Graduates from academic bachelor’s programmes can progress directly to master’s programmes in related fields, but must follow a preparatory programme (voorbereidingsprogramma) if they wish to enrol in master’s programme to which their bachelor’s programme does not give direct access. Owing their distinct content and focus, professional bachelor’s programmes do not give direct access to study at master’s level in universities. As illustrated in Figure 2.1, graduates from professional bachelor’s degrees wishing to continue their studies at master’s level are required to follow a (typically one-year) bridging programme (schakelprogramma) to prepare the transition to university.
Figure 2.1. Higher education programmes and pathways in the Flemish Community
Source: Adapted from AHOVOKS (2020[2]) Hoger Onderwijs in Cijfers: Academiejaar 2020-2021 (Higher Education in Figures: Academic Year 2020-21) https://onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/nl/hoger-onderwijs-in-cijfers (accessed on 25 May 2021).
Until recently, the Flemish higher education system lacked short-cycle programmes. The transfer of most 90 or 120-credit “HBO5” programmes from adult education centres to university colleges in 2019-2020 marked a shift in this policy. An exception to the change has been basic nursing qualifications at HBO5 level, which are still run within secondary education establishments. As discussed below, enrolment in the rebranded “Graduaat” programmes (usually translated as “associate degree” in English) in university colleges has increased rapidly in the last two years. These programmes have a strong practical orientation, designed to prepare students for the labour market, but also allow progression to professional bachelor’s degrees.
Alongside the typical model of short-cycle, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral education, the Flemish higher education system is notable in proposing specific advanced specialisation programmes (generally worth 60 credits) to complement professional bachelor’s and academic master’s degrees. A “bachelor’s after bachelor’s” (bachelor-na-bachelor – banaba), delivered in university colleges, can be taken after a professional bachelor’s or a master’s degree to gain specific additional skills. “Master’s after master’s” (master-na-master – manama) function in a similar way for master’s graduates. University colleges receive partial funding for each completed banaba programme (Flemish Government, 2013[3]), but manama programmes are not financed by the Flemish public funding system for higher education. As a result, both programme types have higher tuition fees for domestic students than those applied for fully funded courses, such as bachelor’s and master’s programmes.
Overall, 52% of students in the Flemish Community are enrolled in university colleges and 48% in universities. As illustrated in Figure 2.2, 45% of all students are enrolled in academic programmes, 43% are enrolled in professional programmes, 6% in associate degree (Graduaat or HBO5) programmes and 3% each in bridging programmes and in arts programmes (AHOVOKS, 2020[2]). Between the academic years 2019/20 and 2020/21, there was a substantial (+23%) increase in enrolment in associate degree programmes. This reflects the increase in capacity in these programmes in their second year of operation in university colleges, as well as increased awareness of these programmes and associated demand from students.
Figure 2.2. Enrolment in Flemish higher education by programme type
Note: Data for academic programmes do not include doctoral candidates, who are classified as “scientific staff” in Flemish universities.
Source: AHOVOKS (2020[2]) Hoger Onderwijs in Cijfers: Academiejaar 2020-2021 (Higher Education in Figures: Academic Year 2020-21) https://onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/nl/hoger-onderwijs-in-cijfers (accessed on 25 May 2021).
2.2 Key outputs of Flemish higher education: graduates and research
A large proportion of Flemish young people enter higher education
The Flemish higher education system has succeeded in widening access to third-level education to a comparatively large proportion of the population it serves, allowing a growing share of Flemish young people to acquire tertiary qualifications. Figure 2.3 shows the evolution of the tertiary education attainment rate – the proportion of a given population holding a tertiary education qualification – for the population aged 25 to 34 in Flanders (the Flemish Region) and the European Union as a whole from 2005 to 2020. Over this period, the tertiary education attainment rate for this age group in the Flemish Region increased by nine percentage points from 42% to 51%. In the same period, the average attainment rate in the European Union (27 countries) increased by 13 percentage points from 27% to 40.5%, while the rates in Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal increased by 18, 19 and 23 percentage points respectively.
It is clear from Figure 2.3 that Flanders has historically had comparatively high rates of tertiary education attainment (so started the period shown from a high base), but has seen a slower rate of increase in tertiary qualification acquisition in the last 15 years than some comparable European jurisdictions. Ireland, in particular, which has the highest rate of tertiary attainment in the European Union, has seen graduate numbers increase as a result of both expansion of the higher education system and the arrival of highly skilled migrants and Irish citizens from abroad. With a very different profile, Portugal had one of the lowest rates of tertiary education attainment in the European Union in 2005. However, it has achieved a very substantial growth in qualification levels through improved secondary schooling and an expansion of the university and polytechnic sectors at tertiary level.
Figure 2.3. Tertiary education attainment among 25-34 year-olds – situating Flanders
Note: Data on tertiary education attainment are based on the Labour Force Survey. Data for Flanders refer to the Flemish Region only, thus excluding graduates from Flemish higher education institutions who are resident in Brussels or elsewhere in Belgium. The EU-27 refers to the 27 member states of the European Union in 2021 (excluding the United Kingdom), including for the period before 2020.
Source: Eurostat (2021[4]) Eurostat database (Indicator edat_lfse_04), https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/data/database (accessed on 9 June 2021).
Flemish tertiary graduates have generally positive labour market outcomes
The Flemish economy, like that of much of Belgium more generally, is knowledge-intensive and graduates from Flemish higher education institutions generally have little trouble finding work in graduate occupations. Figure 2.4 shows the employment rates of individuals aged between 25 and 34 with different levels of educational attainment for OECD countries in 2019. Around 88% of tertiary graduates in Belgium were in employed in 2019, compared to 83% of graduates from upper secondary or post-secondary vocational education and training. This compares with an OECD and EU-23 average employment rates for the same age cohort of 85% for tertiary graduates and 82% for graduates from upper secondary or post-secondary vocational education. Data from 2018 show that individuals of working age (25-64 years old) in Belgium holding a bachelor’s degree as their highest level of qualification earned, on average, 29% more than upper secondary and post-secondary vocational graduates, while those who held a master’s degree or doctorate earned 64% more. The equivalent average-earnings premium for all 23 European Union OECD member countries was slightly higher, at 36% for bachelor’s graduates and 69% for master’s graduates and PhD holders (OECD, 2021, p. 93[5]).
Figure 2.4. Employment rates of young graduates
Source: OECD (2020[6]), Education at a Glance 2020: OECD Indicators, adapted from Figure A3.1, https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en.
A proportion of graduates from Flemish higher education institutions go on to live and work in the Brussels-Capital Region and, to a lesser extent, Wallonia. As such, graduate outcomes data for Belgium as a whole provide a relevant picture of the broader domestic labour market that Flemish graduates enter. However, Eurostat labour force data at the regional level from 2020 show that the average employment rate in the Flemish Region among young tertiary graduates (aged 20-34) having graduated within the previous one to three years was even higher than the Belgian average, at 91% – compared to 88% for Belgium as a whole (Eurostat, 2021[7]).
A large proportion of Flemish students take longer to graduate than the theoretical duration of their programme
As discussed later in this report, Flemish higher education operates with a system of “open access”, which means that, as a rule, anyone who has successfully completed upper secondary education is free to enrol in higher education. Programmes in medicine, dentistry in the performing and visual arts are exceptions to this rule, with enrolment limits and entrance examinations in place. For the performing and visual arts, this is primarily to maintain class sizes at a viable level, while in the case of medicine and dentistry it is primarily to regulate the flow of newly qualified professionals into labour market (Flemish Government, 2013[3]). In addition, Flemish higher education allows students flexibility in the number of study credits for which they enrol. Taking into account guidelines fixed by institutions and minimum enrolment levels to qualify for student financial support (see Chapter 5), students are able to study at different intensities, meaning that they can complete fewer or more than the 60 credits required for a year’s full-time study each year and extend the time needed to complete a degree.
The open access system and flexible enrolment arrangements are two of the factors that influence the rate at which students progress within, and complete, higher education in the Flemish Community. As shown in Figure 2.5, only one-third of students enrolled in bachelor’s degrees graduate within the theoretical duration of three years – one of the lowest rates among OECD jurisdictions for which true-cohort progression and completion data are available. This figure rises to 67% three years after the end of the theoretical programme duration. The pattern of progression rates (time to degree) seen in Flemish higher education is also observed in other OECD higher education systems with comparatively open systems of admission and flexible enrolment, such as the Netherlands and Austria. In contrast, systems such as the United Kingdom and Ireland, which have selective admission to higher education, strict definitions of full-time and part-time study and relatively rigid study pathways achieve faster progression rates and higher completion rates.
Figure 2.5. Completion rates and time to degree
Note: The chart presents data only for jurisdictions with available true cohort data.
Source: (OECD, 2019[8]) Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, Table B5.1 https://doi.org/10.1787/888933981001.
Flemish higher education institutions have greatly increased their research production in recent years
As in other OECD jurisdictions, alongside their educational mission, higher education institutions in the Flemish Community engage in research and service activities. As discussed in Chapter 4, Flemish university colleges conduct practice-oriented research as part of their broader engagement with businesses and the professional community. The five Flemish universities are heavily engaged in basic (fundamental), mission-driven and applied research (see Chapter 4 for discussion of definitions), as well as knowledge transfer and cooperation with the business and public sectors. Moreover, researchers and academic staff in Flemish universities have driven a significant increase in the number of publications produced by the Flemish research system over the last decade.
As shown in Figure 2.6, researchers in Flanders (the Flemish Region) published 28 high-quality journal articles for every 10 000 inhabitants in the region in 2018, compared to 18 a decade earlier. This increase in research productivity – of just over 50% – means that Flanders has maintained its publication rate relative to its population on a par with the level in the Netherlands and Finland and above the levels seen in other OECD jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, Germany or France. Of major comparator jurisdictions in Europe with comparable data, only Sweden and Denmark have notably higher rates of scientific publication than Flanders. The steep increase in research output in Denmark between 2008 and 2018 (a near doubling of publications) followed a 50% real-terms increase in total higher education expenditure on research and development (HERD) in the same period (OECD, 2021[9]).
Figure 2.6. The evolution of publication output in Flanders and other OECD jurisdictions
Source: ECOOM (2019[10]) Vlaams Indicatorenboek (Flemish Indicators Book) https://www.vlaamsindicatorenboek.be/ (accessed on 2 June 2021).
In 2019, Denmark and Sweden had the highest rates of higher education expenditure on research and development in the OECD, at 1% and 0.81% of GDP respectively (OECD, 2021[9]). In the same year, the average rate of HERD as a percentage of GDP in the Flemish Region (thus excluding spending on institutions located in the Brussels-Capital Region) was 0.54% of GDP (Debackere et al., 2021[11]). In contrast to Denmark and Sweden, Flanders devotes a comparatively high proportion of total research expenditure to public research institutes outside the higher education sector. Government expenditure on research and development (GOVERD) in 2019 amounted to 0.4% of GDP in the Flemish Region, compared to 0.15% in Sweden and 0.08% in Denmark (OECD, 2021[9]; Debackere et al., 2021[11]).
Flemish research output also achieves a high level of impact in the scientific community, with comparatively high citation rates. This and the merits of a further focus on increasing research productivity are discussed in Chapter 4.
2.3 Resources for higher education in the Flemish Community
This section examines the level of financial resources spent on higher education institutions in the Flemish Community in comparison to other OECD jurisdictions, before providing an overview of the sources of revenue for Flemish universities and university colleges, drawing on consolidated accounts prepared by the Flemish Government Commissioners for higher education.
Flemish higher education is predominantly publicly funded
International data on expenditure on higher education institutions – converted into comparable monetary units, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) and divided by the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) students enrolled in institutions – make it possible to compare the overall volume of resources invested in different higher education systems. However, the complexity of higher education systems, each with a different mix of institution types and profiles, is not captured in international data, which means that these data must always be interpreted with caution. Moreover, the time required to assemble accounting data from higher education institutions within each system and to transfer this information to the OECD, UNESCO and Eurostat for compilation and data cleaning means that international data on educational expenditure are always published with several years’ delay. At the time of writing, the most recent comparable international data on educational expenditure are from 2017.
Figure 2.7 shows total expenditure per FTE student on higher education institutions in OECD jurisdictions, including the Flemish Community, in 2017, broken down by the source from which the expenditure comes. Although international statistical conventions classify these data as expenditure on institutions, they effectively represent the income that institutions receive from different sources. The data presented in Figure 2.7 include the total revenue of all public and private higher education institutions that provide educational programmes at ISCED levels 5 to 8 (short-cycle programmes to doctorates), including revenue spent on research and development and ancillary services (see below). For the Flemish Community, therefore, the data include all income received by universities, university colleges and the small number of independent private institutions in the system, for all their activities.
Figure 2.7. Expenditure per student on higher education institutions by source of funds
Note: Data encompass all public and private expenditure on higher education institutions. This includes all expenditure on all types of service, including research and development and ancillary services.
No disaggregation of household and non-household private expenditure is available for Spain, Germany or the Flemish Community.
Data for Luxembourg are excluded to improve the readability of the figure. Luxembourg spent an average of over USD 52 000 per FTE student on higher education institutions in 2017.
Source: OECD Education at a Glance Database https://stats.oecd.org/. Data for the Flemish Community provided by the Flemish Department of Education and Training.
In most European systems, the vast majority of higher education institutions are public or government-dependent private institutions, which are funded in a largely uniform manner, albeit with differences between universities and non-university institutions. As such, the data shown here for these systems can safely be assumed to be representative of the level of per-student income in “average” institutions, but they will mask differences between institutional sub-sectors. The diversity of higher education institutions in some OECD member countries is even greater than in Europe. In the United States, for example, a large private sector that exists alongside public four- and two-year institutions and the (high) average value for per-student spending masks even greater variation in per-student revenues between institutions.
Figure 2.7 shows that total spending per student on core operations, teaching, research and “ancillary services”, such as catering, housing and student support in the Flemish Community in 2017 was around the same level as in the Netherlands and Austria and 28% above the average of OECD member countries. Only the two Nordic systems of Norway and Sweden and the three predominantly English-speaking systems of Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States had higher average per-student spending. In 2017, the level of per-student spending in the Flemish Community was equivalent to 91% of the level in Norway, 86% of that in Canada, 83% of that in Sweden, 75% of the level in the United Kingdom and 64% of the level in the United States.
In 2017, the Flemish Community allocated a total of around USD 18 000 (adjusted for purchasing power parity) of public funds to higher education institutions for every FTE student enrolled in the system. In line with the guidelines for this international data collection, this sum includes the core operating grants, targeted grants and public funding for research and innovation activities. The level of public spending per student in the Flemish Community was almost exactly the same level as observed in Austria and Denmark, but below the levels seen in Norway and Sweden, which both allocated over USD 20 000 (PPP) of public funds per FTE student – over 20% more than the Flemish Community. In the Flemish Community, spending from public sources on higher education institutions accounts for 85% of total institutional revenue, compared with an average of 67% in OECD jurisdictions in 2017.
For jurisdictions with sufficiently granular data, the chart also shows spending by households (students and their families) on higher education institutions. The highest levels of household expenditure are observed in the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan. In all cases, students in these countries pay comparatively high tuition fees, which generate a substantial proportion of the revenue of higher education institutions. In both the United Kingdom and Australia, students are able to access funding from public income-contingent lending systems and in practice only pay back a proportion of the loans they take out (Bolton, 2020[12]). As such, the actual level of public spending on higher education institutions for these two countries – particularly the United Kingdom – is higher than represented here.
Finally, Figure 2.7 shows spending on higher education institutions from other private sources (such as businesses) and “international sources”. Spending by businesses and other non-household private bodies is typically directed to contract research and other commercial activities, such as organisation of conferences and events, undertaken by higher education institutions. However, such revenue can also include funds donated to higher education institutions through philanthropic giving. Funds from international sources are observed primarily in European Union jurisdictions and mostly stem from European Union funding programmes – most notably the research framework programmes (Horizon 2020 in 2017, now Horizon Europe) or regional development funds.
Around 40% of total spending on Flemish higher education institutions funds research
Figure 2.8 shows total spending per FTE student broken down by the destination of the funds allocated, rather than just the origin of funds, as shown in Figure 2.7. The chart highlights, firstly, the level of spending per FTE student accounted for by public funding for core and ancillary services. This corresponds to expenditure on instruction and core operating costs, such as staff salaries and buildings, that is paid for by public core grants for teaching and operations and other public subsidies. Secondly, the chart shows the level of total expenditure on research activities in higher education institutions, including spending derived from both public and private sources.
Figure 2.8. Expenditure per student on higher education institutions by destination of funds
Notes: No disaggregated data for R&D expenditure available for Canada, Colombia, Iceland, Israel or Japan.
Jurisdictions are ordered from left to right according to the level of government spending per student on core and ancillary services.
Source: OECD Education at a Glance Database https://stats.oecd.org/. Data for the Flemish Community provided by the Flemish Department of Education and Training.
These figures are calculated by national authorities by assigning a proportion of total institutional expenditure to research activities, based on estimates of the proportion of staff time, infrastructure and other resources dedicated to research activity. The methodologies for assigning expenditure to research follow standard guidelines established in the OECD Frascati Manual (OECD, 2015[13]), but vary in practice between OECD jurisdictions. The ability to assign expenditure to research, rather than teaching or other activities is challenging because many academic staff undertake both activities and there is a strong inter-relationship between teaching and research in research-intensive higher education institutions. Moreover, activity-based costing systems, which allow comparatively accurate assignment of direct and indirect costs to different activities, are used systematically in only a small proportion of OECD jurisdictions.
Finally, the chart shows private (non-government) spending on core and ancillary services. The majority of this spending comes from student fees (the household private expenditure from previous Figure 2.7). In practice, higher education institutions are typically free to allocate these resources from non-public sources as they wish. In many cases, and certainly in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, a proportion of these funds are used for research activities, even though this is not always reflected in official statistics on research spending in higher education.
Figure 2.8 illustrates that average levels of public spending per FTE student on core operations, teaching and ancillary services in the Flemish Community are around the same level as in Sweden and Ireland. However, they are around 10% lower than in Austria and Norway, the two countries that dedicate the highest levels of public spending to instruction and core operations in the OECD. Private spending on core operations, teaching and ancillary services is comparatively low in the Flemish Community, reflecting the comparatively low level of tuition fees paid by students (see Chapter 5). Total expenditure formally assigned to research – from public and private sources – accounts, on average, for around 40% of total expenditure on higher education institutions in the Flemish Community, compared to 43% in Norway, 44% in Finland, 51% in Denmark and 53% in Sweden.
Total spending per student in Flemish higher education increased slightly between 2012 and 2017
Figure 2.9 shows the percentage change, between 2012 and 2017, in spending per FTE student and total spending on higher education institutions, adjusted for inflation, as well as the change in enrolment in FTE students for the Flemish Community and comparator OECD jurisdictions. Unfortunately, owing to a change in the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) in 2012, comparable data are not available for a longer period. The chart shows that total spending (i.e. from public and private sources) on the higher sector in the Flemish Community increased by around 8% in real terms between 2012 and 2017 and FTE enrolment increased by 4.4%, leading to a small increase in real-terms spending per student of just under 4%. This is a broadly similar pattern to that seen in Austria, Sweden and New Zealand. In the United Kingdom, both enrolment and total spending in real terms increased considerably, leading to a real-terms rise in spending per student. In Norway, total spending increased in real terms far more rapidly than enrolment, leading to a significant increase in real-terms spending per student. The opposite trend can be seen in Ireland and Germany in the same period, where per-student spending decreased in real terms. In the period, the largest reduction in total spending on higher education institutions was observed in Finland.
Figure 2.9. Change in per-student spending on higher education in OECD jurisdictions
Note: Selected comparator countries with available data, ordered by percentage change in per-FTE-student expenditure in constant prices (2015) and constant PPP.
Source: OECD Education at a Glance Database https://stats.oecd.org/. Data for the Flemish Community provided by the Flemish Department of Education and Training.
The income of universities in the Flemish Community
Table 2.2 provides an overview of the income of the five Flemish universities in the financial year 2019, based on the annual report for universities of the Government Commissioners (Regeringscommissarissen) for higher education (Flemish Government, 2020[14]). In 2019, the total revenue of the Flemish university sector was just over EUR 2.5 billion. By convention, the core income of universities is categorised into four income streams:
Stream 1, accounting for 43% of total income, corresponds to the core public operating grant (werkingsmiddelen) for teaching, basic research functions and general operations. The bulk of this is allocated to institutions through the formula discussed in the next chapter, although separate budget lines exist for capital investment and on-campus student services (Studentenvoorzieningen - STUVO). The latter is discussed in Chapter 5.
Stream 2, accounting for an average of 15% of total income on average, is public funding for basic research. The two largest components of this funding stream are:
The Special Research Funds (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds – BOF), which is allocated directly to universities using a specific, separate formula and allocated internally to projects within universities.
Competitive funding for doctorates, post docs and research projects from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) – which is the Flemish counterpart to research councils that exist in many other OECD countries.
Stream 3, accounting for around 17% of total income, is funding for strategic basic research, applied research, innovation and knowledge transfer from Flemish and international sources. Funds from the EU research Framework Programmes are classified as part of stream 3.
Stream 4, accounting for around 10% of total income, is income for commercial contract research and service activities performance on behalf of private and public clients.
The remainder of university income comes from tuition fees, which accounts for less than 10% of total income, and a range of additional sources, ranging from rental income to gifts, bequests and donations.
Table 2.2. The income of Flemish universities
Notes: *Only the most important components are named: additional smaller mechanisms may exist alongside these.
** Complementary Research Funds are additional payments for research activities associated with academic programmes transferred from university colleges to universities and in Schools of Arts, which are provided as part of Stream 1 funding.
Source: Flemish Government (2020[14]) Verslag over de financiële toestand en de evolutie van het personeelsbestand van het hoger onderwijs in 2019 Deel II - Universiteiten (Report on the financial situation and the evolution of staffing in higher education in 2019 – Part II – Universities) https://www.vlaanderen.be/publicaties/verslag-over-de-financiele-toestand-en-de-evolutie-van-het-personeelsbestand-van-het-hoger-onderwijs (accessed on 12 January 2021).
The income of university colleges in the Flemish Community
In 2019, the total revenue of the 16 Flemish university colleges amounted to just over EUR 1 billion. Around 75% of this total income came from public grants, although the composition differs from the pattern seen in universities. The majority of income (65%) came in the form of the public funding grant for teaching and operations, which is awarded using the same basic formula used to fund teaching and operation in universities. As discussed in the next chapter, unlike universities, university colleges do not receive funds for research through the core allocation formula. Additional – albeit comparatively limited – funds are allocated specifically for practice-oriented research and the development of research capacity in university colleges. The Schools of Arts, which have academic programmes, receive additional “Complementary Research Funds” (Aanvullende onderzoeksmiddelen), but remain located within, or with the status of, university colleges. Around 9% of total income comes from tuition fees and the remainder from a range of campus services and commercial activities.
Table 2.3. The income of Flemish university colleges
Notes: *Only the most important components are named: additional smaller mechanisms may exist alongside these.
Source: Flemish Government (2020[15]) Verslag over de financiële toestand en de evolutie van het personeelsbestand van het hoger onderwijs in 2019 Deel I - Hogescholen (Report on the financial situation and the evolution of staffing in higher education in 2019 – Part I – University Colleges) https://www.vlaanderen.be/publicaties/verslag-over-de-financiele-toestand-en-de-evolutie-van-het-personeelsbestand-van-het-hoger-onderwijs (accessed on 16 January 2021).
References
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