Common use of International benchmarking Clause in Contracts

International benchmarking. In the increasingly global economy referred to in section 4.5, it is clearly important to consider the success and performance of the lifelong learning sector in the UK in comparison with that in other countries internationally. Xxxx Xxxxxx (2005) acknowledged that the UK lags behind many of its international competitors, stating “the UK’s skills profile is unimpressive in comparison with other countries” (p.42) and “is consistently out-ranked by countries such as Sweden and Finland, the USA and Germany” (p.43). Overall (p.43): • The UK performs relatively well on higher-level qualifications compared to the OECD. Even so, a much higher proportion of the population in countries such as the US and Canada hold higher-level qualifications than in the UK. • The UK has a smaller than average proportion of the population with intermediate skill levels, and is ranked 20th across the 30 countries of the OECD. • The UK has more people with low qualification levels than many major comparators and is ranked 18th across the OECD. However, there are several challenges inherent in making international comparisons. Each country collects comparator data separately and each uses its own methods, definitions and timings for data collection and there are occasionally gaps in the data provided by different countries. Moreover, as already alluded to in section 4.5, there are sometimes considerable differences in the structure of the education systems and qualifications frameworks in the different countries being compared. In response to this, the remaining data presented in this section is based on the International Classification of Education Systems (ISCED10) devised by UNESCO, which is fairly broad and in some cases not focused specifically on the lifelong learning sector. There are two main classifications within ISCED that are relevant: • Tertiary education – equivalent to HE and NVQ level 4+ – equates approximately to HE and the NVQ Level 4+ qualifications delivered by FE and WBL constituencies 10 The ISCED 97 classification divides the education sector into seven levels, from pre-primary education (level 0) through to the second stage of tertiary education (level 6). The remit of LLUK relates to level 4 (post-secondary non-tertiary education), level 5 (first stage of tertiary education) and level 6 (second stage of tertiary education). • Post-secondary non-tertiary education – post-compulsory education but excluding HE – equates approximately to parts of the FE, WBL and CLD constituencies. Two key sources have provided the data for the comparisons in the remainder of this section: • Eurostat – the statistical service of the European Union (Eurostat, 10 May 2006a), comparative statistical data for up to 37 European Union (and associated) countries • ‘Education at a glance: OECD indicators 2004’ (OECD, 2004) – comparisons for up to 30 member countries.

International benchmarking. ‌ In the increasingly global economy referred to in section 4.5, it is clearly important to consider the success and performance of the lifelong learning sector in the UK in comparison with that in other countries internationallycountries. Xxxx Xxxxxx (2005) acknowledged that the UK lags behind many of its international competitors, stating “the UK’s skills profile is unimpressive in comparison with other countries” (p.42) and “is consistently out-out- ranked by countries such as Sweden and Finland, the USA and Germany” (p.43). Overall (p.43): • The UK performs relatively well on higher-level qualifications compared to the OECD. Even so, a much higher proportion of the population in countries such as the US and Canada hold higher-level qualifications than in the UK. • The UK has a smaller than average proportion of the population with intermediate skill levels, and is ranked 20th across the 30 countries of the OECD. • The UK has more people with low qualification levels than many major comparators and is ranked 18th across the OECD. However, there are several challenges inherent in making international comparisons. Each country collects comparator data separately and each uses its own methods, definitions and timings for data collection and there are occasionally gaps in the data provided by different countries. Moreover, as already alluded to in section 4.5, there are sometimes considerable differences in the structure of the education systems and qualifications frameworks in the different countries being compared. In response to this, the remaining data presented in this section is based on the International Classification of Education Systems (ISCED10ISCED9) devised by UNESCO, which is fairly broad and in some cases not focused specifically on the lifelong learning sector. There are two main classifications within ISCED that are relevant: • Tertiary education – equivalent to HE and NVQ level 4+ – equates approximately to HE and the NVQ Level 4+ qualifications delivered by FE and WBL constituencies 10 The ISCED 97 classification divides the education sector into seven levels, from pre-primary education (level 0) through to the second stage of tertiary education (level 6). The remit of LLUK relates to level 4 (post-secondary non-tertiary education), level 5 (first stage of tertiary education) and level 6 (second stage of tertiary education). • Post-secondary non-tertiary education – post-compulsory education but excluding HE – equates approximately to parts of the FE, WBL and CLD constituencies. Two key sources have provided the data for the comparisons in the remainder of this section: • Eurostat – the statistical service of the European Union (Eurostat, 10 May 2006a), comparative statistical data for up to 37 European Union (and associated) countries • ‘Education at a glance: OECD indicators 2004’ (OECD, 2004) – comparisons for up to 30 member countries.

International benchmarking. In the increasingly global economy referred to in section 4.5, it is clearly important to consider the success and performance of the lifelong learning sector in the UK Wales in comparison with that in other countries internationallycountries. Most available comparative data is based on UK figures, so it is these that are used in the remainder of this chapter. Xxxx Xxxxxx (2005) acknowledged that the UK lags behind many of its international competitors, stating stating, “the UK’s skills profile is unimpressive in comparison with other countries” (p.42) and “is consistently out-ranked by countries such as Sweden and Finland, the USA and Germany” (p.43). Overall (p.43): • The UK performs relatively well on higher-level qualifications compared to the OECD. Even so, a much higher proportion of the population in countries such as the US and Canada hold higher-level qualifications than in the UK. • The UK has a smaller than average proportion of the population with intermediate skill levels, and is ranked 20th across the 30 countries of the OECD. • The UK has more people with low qualification levels than many major comparators and is ranked 18th across the OECD. However, there are several challenges inherent in making international comparisons. Each country collects comparator data separately and each uses its own methods, definitions and timings for data collection and there are occasionally gaps in the data provided by different countries. Moreover, as already alluded to in section 4.5, there are sometimes considerable differences in the structure of the education systems and qualifications frameworks in the different countries being compared. In response to this, the remaining data presented in this section is based on the International Classification of Education Systems (ISCED10ISCED8) devised by UNESCO, which is fairly broad and in some cases not focused specifically on the lifelong learning sector. There are two main classifications within ISCED that are relevant: • Tertiary education – equivalent to HE and NVQ level 4+ – equates approximately to HE and the NVQ Level 4+ qualifications delivered by FE and WBL constituencies 10 8 The ISCED 97 classification divides the education sector into seven levels, from pre-primary education (level 0) through to the second stage of tertiary education (level 6). The remit of LLUK relates to level 4 (post-secondary non-tertiary education), level 5 (first stage of tertiary education) and level 6 (second stage of tertiary education). • Post-secondary non-tertiary education – post-compulsory education but excluding HE – equates approximately to parts of the FE, WBL and CLD constituencies. Two key sources have provided the data for the comparisons in the remainder of this section: • Eurostat – the statistical service of the European Union (Eurostat, 10 May 2006a), comparative statistical data for up to 37 European Union (and associated) countries • ‘Education at a glance: OECD indicators 2004’ (OECD, 2004) – comparisons for up to 30 member countries.

International benchmarking. In the increasingly global economy referred to in section 4.5, it is clearly important to consider the success and performance of the lifelong learning sector in the UK in comparison with that in other countries internationally. Xxxx Xxxxxx (2005) acknowledged that the UK lags behind many of its international competitors, stating “the UK’s skills profile is unimpressive in comparison with other countries” (p.42) and “is consistently out-ranked by countries such as Sweden and Finland, the USA and Germany” (p.43). Overall (p.43): Overall: • The UK performs relatively well on higher-level qualifications compared to the OECD. Even so, a much higher proportion of the population in countries such as the US and Canada hold higher-level qualifications than in the UK. • The UK has a smaller than average proportion of the population with intermediate skill levels, and is ranked 20th across the 30 countries of the OECD. • The UK has more people with low qualification levels than many major comparators and is ranked 18th across the OECD. However, there are several challenges inherent in making international comparisons. Each country collects comparator data separately and each uses its own methods, definitions and timings for data collection and there are occasionally gaps in the data provided by different countries. Moreover, as already alluded to in section 4.5, there are sometimes considerable differences in the structure of the education systems and qualifications frameworks in the different countries being compared. In response to this, the remaining data presented in this section is based on the International Classification of Education Systems (ISCED10ISCED8) devised by UNESCO, which is fairly broad and in some cases not focused specifically on the lifelong learning sector. There are two main classifications within ISCED that are relevant: • Tertiary education – equivalent to HE and S/NVQ level 4+ – equates approximately to HE and the S/NVQ Level 4+ qualifications delivered by FE and WBL constituencies 10 The ISCED 97 classification divides the education sector into seven levels, from pre-primary education (level 0) through to the second stage of tertiary education (level 6). The remit of LLUK relates to level 4 (post-secondary non-tertiary education), level 5 (first stage of tertiary education) and level 6 (second stage of tertiary education). • Post-secondary non-tertiary education – post-compulsory education but excluding HE – equates approximately to parts of the FE, WBL and CLD constituencies. Two key sources have provided the data for the comparisons in the remainder of this section: • Eurostat – the statistical service of the European Union (Eurostat, 10 May 2006a), comparative statistical data for up to 37 European Union (and associated) countries • ‘Education at a glance: OECD indicators 2004’ (OECD, 2004) – comparisons for up to 30 member countries.