Vocational education is often ignored during discussions of secondary education reform even though it accounts for between 25 percent and 79 percent of upper secondary enrollment in the former centrally-planned countries of the European Union. Based on information, data, and feedback from most of these countries, this paper develops a set of propositions about vocational education reform, not with a view to prescribing a detailed 'one-size-fits-all' strategy, but rather it derives some principles that continued reform of vocational education could take into account, to the benefit of fiscal efficiency.

'Higher Education Financing in the New EU Member States' summarizes the experiences to date of the new EU countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia the EU8) in the reform of higher education systems in a period of growing demand; changing patters of access; rapid expansion and increased participation rates; and an apparent dilution of average quality. The study discusses the growing experience with a variety of financing mechanisms in EU8 countries, drawing on detailed country case studies, and seeks to develop some useful lessons from experience, mindful that each country will continue to develop its own solution based on national priorities.