America’s global rank in college completion among young adults is slipping, according to a report released Tuesday, signaling that the higher-education ambitions of other nations are progressing at a swifter pace.
The analysis, based on 2009 data, comes two years after President Barack Obama sought to stir the nation’s competitive spirit with a pledge to retake the lead by 2020.
Instead of gaining ground, the United States has fallen from 12th to 16th in the share of adults ages 25 to 34 who hold degrees, according to the report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It trails global leaders South Korea, Canada and Japan and is mired in the middle of the pack among developed nations.
The stagnant U.S. performance on this key international benchmark reflects at least two trends: the rapid expansion of college attendance in Asia and Europe, and the continuing emphasis on four-year degrees in the United States while other nations focus far more on one- and two-year professional credentials.
“Most of these countries are moving ahead,” said Jamie Merisotis, chief executive of the Lumina Foundation, an advocate of higher-education reform. “And we are stuck in neutral.”
Tuesday’s report showed the U.S. college-attainment rate for young adults, as the measure is known, is 41 percent. But in South Korea, the rate has reached 63 percent. Canada and Japan rank second and third, respectively, with attainments of about 56 percent.
The United States trails Russia, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Israel and Belgium — as well as Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, France and Sweden, all of which passed the U.S. in the latest ranking.
“We don’t have any evidence that anything is getting worse in the United States,” said Andreas Schleicher, head of the Indicators and Analysis Division of the OECD in Paris. “It is just that there is a great deal of dynamism all over the world, and many countries are catching up.”
The United States fares much better in rankings that consider the full adult population. Older Americans have much higher college-attainment rates than those who are younger. The attainment rate for younger adults is hindered by a growing population of immigrants from families without a tradition of college attendance. Many U.S. economic rivals, by contrast, are smaller, homogeneous nations with shrinking populations.
The best U.S. universities are still the best in the world. U.S. schools claimed the top five spots on the 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and 18 of the top 25. The best-placed Canadian, Chinese and Japanese institutions ranked 17th, 21st and 26th, respectively.
