International Standard Classification of Education

The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) was designed by UNESCO in the early 1970s to serve "as an instrument suitable for assembling, compiling and presenting statistics of education both within individual countries and internationally".

The present classification, now known as ISCED 1997, was approved by the UNESCO General Conference at its 29th session in November 1997. The English version was revised in 2006 - it is also available in French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese.

The levels are as follows:

0. Pre-Primary Education
1. Primary Education or First Stage of Basic Education
2. Lower Secondary or Second Stage of Basic Education
3. (Upper) Secondary Education
4. Post-Secondary Non-Tertiary Education
5. First Stage of Tertiary Education (Not leading directly to an advanced research qualification)
6. Second Stage of Tertiary Education (Leading to an advanced research qualification)

It is an atractive theoretical scheme, but it is a challenge to ensure a common interpretation of ISCED between and even within countries.

In many countries there are problems in deciding the ISCED level of certain courses and institutions - in particular colleges.

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