In seven years the number of young people who complete higher education has increased by nine percentage points.

An increased focus on the importance of education, greater demands from the labor market and a better organization of the education system are among the reasons that more Danes choose to pursue higher education. In 2000, 33.1 percent of Danes aged 30-34 completed a short, medium or long higher education. In 2007, the figure is 42.5 percent. It shows the latest figures from the European Commission's interview-based Labour Force Survey (LFS). The EU has just adopted a new strategy for European cooperation in education between 2010-2020. The strategy contains five benchmarks, of which higher education is one. Preliminary statistics show that among other things can look at the figures for higher education that Denmark many places above the EU average and will contribute positively to the EU to live up to the common European objective in this area. In the area of ​​higher education, the EU has a common objective that the proportion of 30-34 year olds with tertiary education in 2020 should be at least 40 percent. Overall, the figure in 2007 of 29.9 percent. Denmark is above average, but there is a marked increase in the proportion in most countries. More people completing tertiary education thus seems to be a general trend in the EU. According to a professor at Aalborg University, Palle Rasmussen, it partly due to a labor market that make different and better than ever. "There is an increasing demand from the labor market for higher skills. Many unskilled jobs are moved outside the borders of Europe, and then there are the more skill-intensive jobs back, which require a higher education, "he says. On top of that Palle Rasmussen increased political focus on that more must have an education as a possible cause. "The programs are tried are designed to promote the proportion who are in training. We see this for example with the government's goal that 50 percent in 2015 complete higher education. It should be and may have been natural to move on from a youth, "he says. Education Minister Bertel Haarder welcomed the figures. "I'm really glad that more people to complete higher education. It is important in a globalized society where the requirements for what the individual can and must be, all the time getting bigger. But I have to point out that the problems of the future will be no shortage of scholars generally but rather the lack of skilled workers and the technicians in a broad sense, "he says. Source: Ministry of Education