Costs of University Education, Systems of Student Support and Student Mobility in Europe

Over the last two decades, university education in the EU has undergone a transition from elitist to mass education. Consequently, in 2000 the university student population in the EU numbered some 12.6 million, constituting 5 percent of the population of working age (15 to 64). Italy, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria are at the lower end of university participation, Belgium, France and Greece at the upper end.