"The internationalization of education means sharing best practices, fostering innovation, and increasing transparency."

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Athens, Greece — U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings delivered remarks on higher education to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial today in Athens, Greece. Secretary Spellings discussed the growing importance of higher education and the benefits of partnering with the private sector to prepare students for jobs in the 21st century. Following are her prepared remarks:

I'd like to thank Minister Giannakou for her work in education reform and for hosting this dialogue on higher education, and I'd also like to thank OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria.

I'd like to recognize my fellow ministers. It's an honor to be here with all of you and I've very much enjoyed the discussions over the past two days on the critical issue before us all.

More than 40 years ago, when the OECD was established, higher education was viewed as a luxury; in the 21st century it's become a necessity.

Recent technological advances that have improved the quality of life, revolutionized the means and speed in which we communicate, and opened new doors of opportunity have also redefined the skills all our citizens need to capitalize on these opportunities and thrive.

Not so long ago, one could live a comfortable life and get a good job without post-secondary education. But, in today's global economy, a college education is more important than ever before. In my country, in particular, 90 percent of the fastest growing jobs require some post-secondary education. Whether you want to be a cancer researcher or an auto mechanic, a college degree or certification is the ticket to success.

Since the 1990s, OECD nations such as Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, and Korea have seen tremendous higher education growth with college access rates exceeding 60%.

And by 2003, more than half of OECD member nations, including the U.S. had at least 25% of their adult population with a higher education degree – a near doubling in the number of nations with this level of education in the workforce.

Higher education is the next big frontier in public policy, in my opinion. To ensure that our systems are best serving and equipping our citizens will take a coordinated effort that engages the public and private sectors – policymakers, educators, business leaders, and government.

This meeting has explored the higher education issue from a variety of angles and perspectives, yet it's remarkable how similar our concerns are – promoting access, increasing affordability and ensuring quality.

In fact, Minister Kosaka, I was struck by your presentation this morning and your observations on the need for transparency and evaluation; fostering of institutional diversity and the recognition of the need to provide lifelong learning opportunities; and our challenges around funding.

A year ago, I established a Commission on the Future of Higher Education to examine these very issues. Our Commission is made up of university presidents, corporate leaders, philanthropists, policymakers and researchers. They've traveled around the country holding a series of public meetings to examine accessibility, accountability, affordability, and quality – similar to the themes we've talked about here.

They will submit their final report in September with specific findings and recommendations, which will lay the groundwork and shape debate for our future work in higher education.

America has an excellent system of higher education, and we are proud of it. Our decentralized system has empowered students with a wide range of options, from large universities to community colleges to vocational and technical schools, from public institutions to private and religious ones.

It's a system that encourages innovation and adapts to meet many differing needs and, as a result, has given millions of Americans the chance to realize their potential and contribute to society. In addition, we are proud of our commitment to our neediest students, and our belief that lack of finances should not be a barrier to learning.

In launching this Higher Education Commission, we recognized that to remain a quality system we had to ask the tough questions and anticipate necessary changes that can and must be made if we are to have a robust system 50 years from now – especially as needs for all become greater.

As a nation, we spend more than $300 billion dollars a year on higher education – a third of which comes from the federal government. Yet, we have very little information on what we are getting in return for that investment. And what we do know is cause for action.

How can we tackle issues around funding or ascertain the adequacy of resources when we don't fully understand our customer – the student – who rightly pays part of the bill – and don't know the true costs of education, and the effectiveness in terms of adding educational value? We say we need more resources, but for what and where?

For example, a National Assessment of Adult Literacy Survey released in December showed that advanced literacy skills among college students are in decline. It's not enough for our nation, or any nation, to just get students in the college door. Our innovation economy demands that graduates exit college capable of demonstrating sophisticated knowledge and skills.

In addition, at the U.S. Department of Education, we can tell you almost anything you want to know about traditional first-time, full-time, degree-seeking, non-transfer students. The problem is that over half of today's college students are nontraditional students.

As a result, we're missing valuable data to help guide policy decisions and more importantly help parents and students make good decisions for their future.

More and better information is a critical need if we are going to maintain the quality of higher education and that information must be available, accessible, and easily understandable by those who need it most – parents and students. Our goal is to build a system that's transparent and accountable for results.

The United States certainly does not have all the answers. But we have benefited tremendously from the insight of education stakeholders outside the government, especially from the business community. The private sector has been a critical supporter of our nation's universities – actively supporting education efforts as well as partnering with them on research, technology transfer, and other initiatives.

Companies within the private sector were instrumental in spotlighting that our secondary students were frequently graduating from college under-prepared or unprepared for the workforce – especially in the critical fields of math, science, and foreign language – the new currencies of our global economy.

To address this challenge, earlier this year, President Bush outlined a plan aimed at increasing academic rigor in high school and strengthening math and science education.

The President also launched a language initiative to increase the study of foreign languages – an area where we lag behind the world with only 44 percent of our high school students studying any foreign language and less than 1% combined studying Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Japanese, Korean or Urdu. Learning new languages teaches the value of reaching out to and understanding other cultures.

Of course, better preparing our students to succeed in college and the workforce begins long before college. It starts with high standards and accountability in the early grades. These principles are the pillars of our nation's commitment to leave no child behind.

And, thanks to these principles and our landmark education reform law, the No Child Left Behind Act, our students have made more progress in the last 5 years than in the previous 28 years combined. Yet, there is still more work to do.

Currently, less than half of our high school students graduate ready for college-level math and science. Every year about a million U.S. students drop out of high school and nearly 5 out of 10 of our minority students don't graduate from high school in four years.

That's why we're working on high school reform that focuses on core subjects like reading, math, and science to help more students graduate ready for post secondary education. In fact, our issues in higher education policy are strongly influenced by the performance of our K-12 systems. A strong higher education system gives students a good foundation to be successful in whatever endeavor they choose.

Higher education is a public as well as a private good. Government has an important role to play in promoting access to the system and ensuring resources are spent wisely. And we also have a responsibility to make sure our systems continue to meet our countries' need for an educated and competitive workforce.

That's a responsibility we all share – and in member nations from the U.K. to Japan to here in Greece – a lot of work is being done on higher education reform.

That's why forums like this are so important – an opportunity to share best practices, increase communication, and open a dialogue on how to reach our shared goals of making sure our higher education systems are keeping pace with our rapidly changing world.

For us, the internationalization of education means sharing best practices, fostering innovation, and increasing transparency.

OECD itself has embraced the need for change in the face of an increasingly global world and recent reforms to the political governance will help lead to a more effective, modern, and responsive organization.

I know Secretary General Gurria is committed to these efforts, and I'd like to encourage the OECD's Education Directorate to embrace efforts to empower the education committee to more effectively address the pressing issues that are so important to us all.

No matter what country we call home, all of us share the same commitment to see students succeed. Education opens the doors of opportunity and is the foundation for a better life and a bright future not only for them, but for our nations as well. And working together, learning from each other, we can help attain that future.

Thank you and I look forward to our discussion.

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