Higher Education Data
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Higher Education Data

Before Informatics Europe started working on it, reliable sources of raw facts and figures about higher education in Informatics across Europe were essentially unavailable. Fundamental information - like which are the universities and departments offering education and doing research, what degrees and programs they offer, the number and gender distribution of students they enroll and graduate at the different levels, the statistics about the academic workforce and salaries - was not systematically collected and reported at the European level. Serious, comprehensive, and beneficial policy work for research and education in the field is only possible when the state of affairs of these activities is fully known. Informatics Europe, as the representative of the European Informatics academic and research community, decided to become a driving force to enable this fundamental information to be known and properly collected and reported.

To fill this gap and bring forward solid, accurate facts and figures about Informatics research and education in Europe, in 2013 we started a project aiming at issuing yearly a comprehensive publication reporting Key Data on Informatics Higher Education in Europe. Key Data reports published between 2013 and 2019 (with data from 2008 to 2018) are downloadable under the below tab Outcomes.

IE Higher Education Data Portal

As a further step, in 2019 Informatics Europe in collaboration with the Software Institute, Università della Swizzera Italiana (USI), launched the Informatics Europe Higher Education Data Portal, one of our most appreciated and used services. Data – covering 24 countries across 13 years - is the only one of its kind in Europe and is fully available to Informatics Europe members (a sample set of the first 5 years is publicly available). Prepared by members of the Informatics Europe Working Group on Data Analysis and Reporting, in 2023 the article “Informatics Higher Education in Europe: A Data Portal and Case Study” was published in the Communications of the ACM Journal, recognising our work on this area.

In 2024, we are delighted to have collaborated with the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) on the Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024. Now in its 7th edition, this globally recognized report includes European data for the first time, with IE as the Analytics and Research Partner. Our IE Higher Education Data Portal provided the latest data on Informatics graduates in Europe, offering groundbreaking analysis of postsecondary informatics and AI education, as well as diversity trends. This collaboration underscores the value of the IE Higher Education Data Portal in enhancing understanding and informing policy decisions in Europe and beyond

We work with our members to identify reliable sources of correct data. Your help in this ongoing process is greatly appreciated. Please get in touch This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if willing to contribute to adding/finetuning your country's data.

The Data Portal in detail:

The portal presents a wealth of fundamental data such as:

  • statistics of students enrolled and degrees awarded at Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD level, including gender distribution in absolute numbers and percentages, both at Research Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences;
  • A range of qualitative data supplements and complements the statistics presented, including a list of subjects identifying Informatics programs, a list of universities and academic units offering Informatics higher education, and a description of the higher education system in each country;
  • a comparative analysis of some key academic positions - PhD Candidate, Postdoctoral Researcher, and Professor – and corresponding employment details and estimations of academic salaries in selected countries.

The focus on Informatics, and the central role played by data curation make the data presented unique, reliable, and relevant. Data is collected from national sources across Europe and a considerable amount of time and effort is spent in carefully analysing and screening the raw data. Consulting with academics, active and knowledgeable in the field in their countries is an integral part of our data curation process. This quality control allows us to publish statistics that indeed represent what we, as a community, understand and recognize as Informatics higher education studies and programs in Europe.

The portal is one of the most widely used services Informatics Europe offers to its members, the community, industry, and policymakers interested in the future of Computer Science and Technology in Europe. It provides plenty of opportunities for more in-depth analyses of key trends, issues, and aspects that need or could be improved with a better understanding of the higher education system in the field.

If you are interested in contributing to our data collection, analysis, and reporting efforts please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

IE Data Analysis and Reporting Working Group

Collecting and reporting Informatics Higher Education reliable data is already a significant step, but Informatics Europe aims to go beyond that. There are certainly other indicators to report on and other ways of presenting what is already available. The amount of data makes it possible to extract more high-level information and analytical outputs. Various stakeholders, within Informatics Europe and outside, may have various needs and questions that the data could help answer. Aiming to create a place to discuss these issues, establish priorities towards data portal functionalities, and drive the creation of analytical outputs and reports, the Data Analysis and Reporting Working Group was created in 2021. Its work should contribute both to the Informatics Europe community and to external decision-makers at various levels. Join the working group by filling out the form here

 

  • Current members:

  • 2025 - Bachelor-Level Informatics Education in Europe: Key Data & Trends, 2018/19 – 2022/23 (available through this link)

    2024 - 2025 - European Informatics Retention and Graduation Rate Report 
    (joint Informatics Europe and ACM Europe report)

    2021-2022 - Informatics Higher Education in Europe: A Data Portal and Case-Study
    (article featured in the November 2023 issue of the Communications of the ACM Journal available through this link).

    2019 - present - Informatics Europe Higher Education Data Portal 

    National contacts contributing to obtaining and interpreting country-specific data and developing and revising the Data Portal are listed here.

    2013-2019 - Informatics Education in Europe: Institutions, Degrees, Students, Positions, Salaries - Key Data Report Series

    Authors collaborating in various editions of the Key Data Report Series:

    2018 - Pilot Study on “Industry Funding for Academic Research in Informatics in Europe”

    *Note that the affiliation indicated was the one at the time of their participation in the Informatics Europe activities. Some people have changed affiliation since then.

    • Report "Bachelor-Level Informatics Education in Europe: Key Data & Trends, 2018/19–2022/23"
      Download
      Date: September 2025 
      Details: The report presents key data on Bachelor’s level Informatics education across 24 European countries from 2018/19 to 2022/23. It analyses enrolment (first-year and total), degrees awarded, gender distribution, and the role of different higher education institutions, with data based on official national statistics validated by experts and available in the Informatics Europe Higher Education (IEHE) Data Portal.

    • European Informatics Retention and Graduation Rate Report
      Download
      Date: September 2025 
      Details: The report presents the first pan-European analysis of student retention and graduation rates in bachelor-level Informatics programmes. Conducted jointly by Informatics Europe and ACM Europe, it draws on the Informatics Europe Higher Education (IEHE) Data Portal and examines trends across thirteen European countries over the period 2010 to 2023.

    • CACM Article "Informatics Higher Education in Europe: A Data Portal and Case-Study"
      Download
      Date: November 2023 
      Details: The article published in the "Communication of the ACM" journal presents the Informatics Europe Higher Education (IEHE) Data Portal and offers - by way of case-study research - a data-driven perspective over how Informatics education can be studied and improved in a data driven-fashion.

    • ECSS 2023: Higher Education Data Workshop "Analysis of Data in European Informatics Higher Education Landscape"
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      Date: October 2023 
      Details: Workshop description and presentation slides from the ECSS 2023 workshop, held in Edinburgh on 24 October 2023.

    • Report "Industry Funding for Academic Research in Informatics in Europe"
      Download
      Date: November 2018
      Details: The report presents the results of a pilot study exploring the landscape of industry-funded Informatics research in academic institutions in Europe. The main goal is to understand the current level of industry funding going to different areas of Informatics research in Europe, similarities or differences in the way this money is invested in different countries.