Public Funding Observatory

Keeping a close eye on public funding for Europe’s universities

EUA’s Public Funding Observatory captures the very latest trends impacting Europe’s universities and offers the most up-to-date information on dozens of different higher education systems across the continent. The data is laid out in a series of reports and this interactive online tool, which is updated annually and currently contains data from 34 systems.

EUA has been following the evolution of public funding to universities since the 2008 financial crisis. The study reveals that since then, the divide between higher education systems that increase public funding, and those that reduce investment, is getting wider. It also shows that while 2012 was the most difficult year in terms of cuts, any recovery that can now be detected is slow and fragile.

The monitoring is conducted in close cooperation with EUA’s collective members, the national rectors’ conferences, which regularly provide extensive funding data from their countries and report on trends developing within their national higher education systems. This continuous feedback fuels up-to-date reports, and highlights the evolution of public funding for the university sector across Europe.

LLP logoThe PFO online tool was originally set up with the support of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme through the DEFINE project (2012-2015). This webpage reflects the views only of EUA, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Resources

  • Public Funding Observatory 2021/2022

    Report

    24 February 2022

    This report presents the expectations of national university associations across Europe in terms of ...

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  • Public Funding Observatory 2020/2021: part 2

    Report

    14 April 2021

    This report provides a detailed analysis of long-term funding trends captured over the period from 2...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2020/2021: country sheets

    Report

    14 April 2021

    The Public Funding Observatory report 2020/2021, Part 2 is accompanied by individual count...

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  • Public Funding Observatory 2020/2021: part 1

    Report

    22 October 2020

    This report provides a detailed picture of the immediate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on universi...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2019/20 - Country sheets

    Report

    20 February 2020

    The Public Funding Observatory report 2019/20 is accompanied by individual country sheets ...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory Report 2019/20

    Report

    20 February 2020

    The Public Funding Observatory Report 2019/20 offers the most up-to-date information on 34 higher ed...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2018 - Country sheets

    Report

    21 March 2019

    The 2018 Public Funding Observatory report comes with individual country sheets. They offer an overv...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory Report 2018

    Report

    21 March 2019

    The Public Funding Observatory Report 2018 offers the most up-to-date information on 33 different hi...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2017 - Country sheets

    Report

    06 March 2018

    The Public Funding Observatory 2017 report captures the very latest funding trends in Europe an...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2017

    Report

    06 March 2018

    The Public Funding Observatory 2017 report captures the very latest funding trends in Europe an...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2016

    Report

    19 October 2016

    The Public Funding Observatory 2016 data reveals that capital funding and investment in infrastructu...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2015

    Report

    03 November 2015

    The 2015 edition records worrying signals from Northern Europe, a region that has so far kept up inv...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2014

    Report

    21 October 2014

    The observatory analyses both the evolution of funding over the last year (2013-2014) and longer-ter...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2013

    Report

    18 June 2013

    The report provides a new analysis of the pressures that many countries face in terms of funding for...

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  • EUA Public Funding Observatory 2012

    Report

    22 June 2012

    The report confirms that while the impact of the crisis on national systems varies widely across Eur...

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  • Impact of the economic crisis on European universities - 01/2011

    Briefing

    10 January 2011

    The results of the continuous EUA monitoring of the crisis clearly show that European higher ed...

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  • Impact of the economic crisis on European higher education insitutions - 10/2010

    Briefing

    27 October 2010

    European higher education systems have been affected very differently, to some extent reflecting the...

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