Author Description

Higher education plays a vital role in society and the quality, accessibility, and form of higher education is highly dependent on financing. Financing of higher education is conceived to be of central importance for the future creation and dissemination of knowledge and research. Therefore, the financing of higher education is a topic that has been always at the core of the work of student organisations, even more so in the times of economic and financial crisis. This is why the European Students' Union decided in 2009 to apply for a grant for a project whose purpose was to increase the knowledge of the effects of financing systems in Europe on students and to enhance the capacity of its member national unions of students with regard to active involvement on higher education funding reforms. The Compendium is the culmination of the research process carried out during the project, the rationale being that it neatly brings together the various different research components. The project began with the formulation of a series of hypotheses, with data gathered in order to test them. Certain topics that were of particular interest to the research team were then investigated in more depth through research articles. The Compendium begins with a short overview of higher education funding systems, which should give the reader a basic picture about the current situation in Europe, based on some selected indicators from the "Financing the Students' Future" (FinSt) mapping process. The second part presents a series of hypotheses that have been set to analyse the differences among funding systems and their effects on the student population. The third part consists of several articles on issues that are related to the overall topic of financing of higher education and that provide various insights into the matter. The last part tries to formulate some overall conclusions from the research and policy processes that have been reviewed. In summary, the Compendium should give the rea