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Higher Education Data

Reliable sources of raw facts and figures about higher education in Informatics across Europe are essentially unavailable. Fundamental information - like what 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 - is 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 community aims at being the driving force to enable this fundamental information to be known and properly collected and reported. With the aim to fill this gap and bring forward solid, accurate facts and figures about Informatics research and education in Europe, Informatics Europe started in 2013 a project aiming at issuing every year a comprehensive publication reporting Key Data on Informatics Higher Education in Europe. All Key Data reports can be found and downloaded 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 over 20 countries across 12 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.

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.