Definition: Highest level of education completed

Category: Social statistics

"Highest level of education completed" means level successfully completed and must be associated with obtaining a certificate or a diploma. When determining the highest level, both general and vocational education should be taken into consideration. Persons who have not completed their studies should be coded according to the highest level they have completed. Persons still in education have to indicate their last level of education successfully finished.

The level of education is a critical factor for the knowledge economy and society. The importance of educational level of people for their social position is largely recognised. A higher level of education generally creates more favourable employment prospects and consequently opens up the possibility for better living conditions. For the young people, educational attainment plays an important role in their start in adult life because of nowadays’ economy exigencies for skills which become higher and higher. Educational attainment level of the young people and percentage of early school leavers are two of five benchmarks used in evaluation of the progress of the Lisbon strategy. Many national and European programmes try to give more opportunities to the people to improve their knowledge and skills by raising the level of initial education and by participation in lifelong learning. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code=KS-RA-07-006&mode=view