Analysis of trends in the structure of higher education market of European countries

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The structure of the higher education market in 2012–2021 in 38 European countries was analyzed using concentration levels and Herfindahl-Hirschman indices based on the number of higher education institutions and their share in the QS World University Rankings, and the number of students. This market in 2021 has a low concentration: the 3 countries with the largest number of higher education institutions (Germany, Ukraine, France) covered about 36% of the market in total; the 3 countries with the largest number of universities in the QS (United Kingdom, Germany, Italy) – 5%; the 3 countries with the largest number of students (Germany, France, United Kingdom) – 37%; and the 3 countries with the largest number of foreign students (United Kingdom, Germany, France) – 5%. Using parametric and non-parametric comparison tests, it was found that although the number of higher education institutions and students does not generally depend on the population’s income level, the number of universities ranked in the QS and foreign students does. The correlation analysis revealed that GDP and GNI, population, and separately the employment and unemployment rates (for ranked universities and foreign students) are important factors that determine the uneven structure of the higher education market. The identified factors formed the basis for clustering countries using Ward’s hierarchical method, which revealed the clear existence of 3 clusters: the smallest of them accumulates the 4 largest European economies with the most ranked universities; the largest (24 countries) is quite diverse, which indicates relatively equal opportunities in the market and its unification.

Acknowledgment
Tetiana Vasylieva and Artem Artyukhov thank project 0122U000772, and Nadiia Artyukhova thanks project 0124U000545 for carrying out their part of this research.

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    • Figure 1. Comparison of the number of higher education institutions among European countries in 2021
    • Figure 2. Comparison of the number and share of higher education institutions in the QS World University Rankings among European countries in 2021
    • Figure 3. Comparison of the number and share of higher education students in the population among European countries in 2021
    • Figure 4. Correlation matrix on the relationship between the structure of the higher education market in European countries and socio-economic and demographic factors
    • Figure 5. Clustering of the higher education market structure in European countries
    • Table 1. Characteristics of the research input data set
    • Table 2. Characteristics of parametric and non-parametric comparison tests
    • Table 3. Comparison of indicators of concentration in higher education markets among European countries: university dimension
    • Table 4. Comparison of concentration indicators in higher education markets among European countries: student dimension
    • Table 5. Comparison of similarity of concentration indicators in higher education markets among European countries
    • Table 6. Analysis of the uneven concentration of the higher education market in European countries depending on a country’s income level
    • Table 7. Correlation between the structure of the higher education market in European countries and socio-economic and demographic factors depending on a country’s income level
    • Table 8. Statistical analysis of clusters of European countries by the level of concentration of higher education institutions
    • Table A1. List of countries included in the sample
    • Table B1. Results of the Dood-Hart test for determining the optimal number of clusters
    • Data curation
      Nadiia Artyukhova, Anna Vorontsova
    • Formal Analysis
      Nadiia Artyukhova
    • Methodology
      Nadiia Artyukhova
    • Software
      Nadiia Artyukhova, Anna Vorontsova, Pavlo Rubanov, Tetiana Vasylieva
    • Validation
      Nadiia Artyukhova
    • Investigation
      Nadiia Artyukhova
    • Writing – original draft
      Nadiia Artyukhova, Anna Vorontsova, Artem Artyukhov, Yuliia Yehorova, Sergej Vasić, Pavlo Rubanov, Tetiana Vasylieva
    • Writing – review & editing
      Nadiia Artyukhova, Anna Vorontsova, Artem Artyukhov, Yuliia Yehorova, Sergej Vasić, Pavlo Rubanov, Tetiana Vasylieva
    • Visualization
      Anna Vorontsova, Yuliia Yehorova, Sergej Vasić, Pavlo Rubanov, Tetiana Vasylieva
    • Resources
      Artem Artyukhov, Yuliia Yehorova
    • Supervision
      Artem Artyukhov, Tetiana Vasylieva
    • Project administration
      Artem Artyukhov, Yuliia Yehorova, Sergej Vasić, Tetiana Vasylieva