How Europe Tracks Students

By Doug Lederman. It has become an article of faith among many policy makers in the United States that the country needs better data about student progress through higher education and into the work force. The perceived inadequacy of currently available federal and state information, for accountability and institutional improvement purposes alike, has prompted a drive by the Obama administration and its foundation partners in the “completion agenda” to strengthen federal, and state and institutional data collection and usage.
This is far from an American affliction, a new report suggests. The study, by the European University Association and several other groups, shows that while many individual institutions and national higher education systems on the continent have in place structures for tracking the movement of students and graduates, the extent to which higher education leaders make use of the data varies widely.