As tertiary education has expanded, it has diversified both in respect of institutional missions and in forms of study. Higher vocational and professional tertiary programmes include a variety of programmes, such as associate degrees, higher technical programmes, professional bachelor qualifications and professional examinations. From a policy perspective, there are strong arguments for countries to monitor professional programmes and to benchmark their own experience against that of other countries, so as to develop their tertiary offer in a constructive way.

As tertiary education has expanded over the past decades, it has also diversified, including programmes with very different designs and functions, ranging from two-year programmes in tertiary institutions to free‑standing professional examinations designed to upskill existing practitioners. Tertiary institutions have also diversified, for example in the very different missions of traditional universities and universities of applied science. In some European countries the scale of enrolment in the professional sector of tertiary education now rivals that in regular universities. But not all countries have established a separate professional tertiary sector, in some countries, including the United States, similar applied, practically‑oriented programmes like business studies or culinary arts are taught within multi-purpose institutions alongside programmes focused on single academic disciplines, like physics or history.

Professional tertiary education is a key component of country skills systems. This report compares this sector across OECD countries, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data. This chapter introduces the report by describing the diverse forms of the sector in different countries, including, for example, short-cycle tertiary education; professional examinations designed to upskill experienced practitioners, and professional bachelor’s programmes at level 6. Currently our data on this type of provision have major gaps, because of the lack of internationally agreed definitions. This chapter proposes a three-way classification to resolve this problem, distinguishing first, programmes that prepare students for a particular profession, second, programmes that prepare students to work within an occupational family or industrial sector, and third, programmes in the pure sciences, humanities and arts. The chapter concludes by setting out a set of practical tools to implement this proposal and thereby improve data availability.

In a world of rising educational aspirations and increasing skill demands in the labour market, the scope for graduates of upper secondary vocational education to enter tertiary education has often become key to the attractiveness of such programmes. This chapter therefore looks first at the different access options for vocational upper secondary graduates in different countries to enter tertiary education. For some vocational upper secondary graduates, short cycle programmes provide a stepping stone to bachelor’s degrees, and are often articulated to allow such progression. It also describes the employment experience of students in different types of programme, recognising that some professional tertiary programmes are designed for working adults, and often delivered part time. Data on completion rates in bachelor’s level programmes are also reported.

This chapter describes comparative data on the learners who pursue professional tertiary education and training. The age of learners is closely related to the function played by different programmes in skill systems. So where programmes, as in short cycle professional programmes in France, are primarily designed as part of initial education, learners are relatively young, mostly 25 or younger. Where such programmes often serve to upskill adult workers, as in Germany, there are many older learners. Similarly, upskilling short cycle programmes are often delivered part time (as in Switzerland) whereas when the programmes are part of initial education (as in Chile) full-timers dominate. The gender mix in professional programmes is closely related to fields of study: in the field of education, for example, there are more than three times as many women enrolled as men on average in OECD countries.

To be of value, professional programmes need to develop the skills needed by the labour market. This chapter looks at some evidence and indicators showing how well that is achieved in practice. Work-based learning plays a critical role, both because it provides a powerful learning environment in which students may acquire the hard and soft skills needed in the workplace, and because it offers a framework in which employers and potential recruits may get to know one another, facilitating transition to employment. This chapter reports some new evidence on the use of work placements in professional tertiary education, especially on the extent to which such placements are mandatory. In addition, this chapter describes the institutional architecture which facilitates engagement of professional tertiary education with the world of work. It also provides data on the different fields of study included within professional tertiary education and their links to subsequent labour market outcomes.

This chapter presents key findings from comparative data on professional tertiary education and advances proposals for the development of internationally agreed definitions for programme orientation at tertiary levels. Countries report a wide range of programmes as professional, including one- or two-year programmes, professional bachelor’s degrees and professional examinations, which upskill existing professionals. Comparative data provide some insights into the functions of professional programmes, the profile of learners, pathways leading into programmes and associated outcomes. However, huge gaps remain in data because of the lack of internationally agreed definitions for programme orientation at tertiary levels. This report proposes a three-way classification of programmes, to distinguish between profession-oriented (e.g. training for nurses and interior designers), sector-oriented (e.g. food technology, business studies) and general (e.g. history, physics) programmes.