The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) is a statistical framework for organizing information on education maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is a member of the international family of economic and social classifications of the United Nations.
The ISCED was designed 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 first version, known as ISCED 1976, was approved by the International Conference on Education (Geneva, 1975), and was subsequently endorsed by UNESCO’s 19th General Conference in 1976.
The second version, known as ISCED 1997, was approved by the UNESCO General Conference at its 29th session in November 1997 as part of efforts to increase the international comparability of education statistics. It covered primarily two cross-classification variables: levels (7) and fields of education (25). The UNESCO Institute for Statistics led the development of a third version, which was adopted by UNESCO’s 36th General Conference in November 2011 and which will replace ISCED 1997 in international data collections in the coming years. ISCED 2011 has 9 rather than 7 levels, created by dividing the tertiary pre-doctorate level into three levels. It also extended the lowest level (ISCED 0) to cover a new sub-category of early childhood educational development programmes, which target children below the age of 3 years.
During the review and revision, which led to the adoption of ISCED 2011, UNESCO Member States agreed that the fields of education should be examined in a separate process. This review is now underway with the view to establishing an independent but related classification called the ISCED Fields of Education and Training.
Related materials from the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training and also Eurostat provide further information and statistical guidance for the classification of sub-fields of education as a companion to ISCED.
ISCED 2011 levels, categories, and sub-categories
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0 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION01 Early childhood educational development010 Early childhood educational development02 Pre-primary education020 Pre-primary education1 PRIMARY EDUCATION10 Primary education100 Primary education2 LOWER SECONDARY EDUCATION24 General241 Insufficient for level completion or partial level completion, without direct access to upper secondary education242 Sufficient for partial level completion, without direct access to upper secondary education243 Sufficient for level completion, without direct access to upper secondary education244 Sufficient for level completion, with direct access to upper secondary education25 Vocational251 Insufficient for level completion or partial level completion, without direct access to upper secondary education252 Sufficient for partial level completion, without direct access to upper secondary education253 Sufficient for level completion, without direct access to upper secondary education254 Sufficient for level completion, with direct access to upper secondary education3 UPPER SECONDARY EDUCATION34 General341 Insufficient for level completion or partial level completion, without direct access to tertiary education342 Sufficient for partial level completion, without direct access to tertiary education343 Sufficient for level completion, without direct access to tertiary education344 Sufficient for level completion, with direct access to tertiary education35 Vocational351 Insufficient for level completion or partial level completion, without direct access to tertiary education352 Sufficient for partial level completion, without direct access to tertiary education353 Sufficient for level completion, without direct access to tertiary education354 Sufficient for level completion, with direct access to tertiary education4 POST-SECONDARY NON-TERTIARY EDUCATION44 General441 Insufficient for level completion, without direct access to tertiary education443 Sufficient for level completion, without direct access to tertiary education444 Sufficient for level completion, with direct access to tertiary education45 Vocational451 Insufficient for level completion, without direct access to tertiary education453 Sufficient for level completion, without direct access to tertiary education454 Sufficient for level completion with, direct access to tertiary education5 SHORT-CYCLE TERTIARY EDUCATION54 General541 Insufficient for level completion544 Sufficient for level completion55 Vocational551 Insufficient for level completion554 Sufficient for level completion6 BACHELOR OR EQUIVALENT LEVEL64 Academic641 Insufficient for level completion645 First degree (3-4 years)646 Long first degree (more than 4 years)647 Second or further degree (following a Bachelor’s or equivalent programme)65 Professional651 Insufficient for level completion655 First degree (3-4 years)656 Long first degree (more than 4 years)657 Second or further degree (following a Bachelor’s or equivalent programme)66 Orientation unspecified1661 Insufficient for level completion665 First degree (3-4 years)666 Long first degree (more than 4 years)667 Second or further degree (following a Bachelor’s or equivalent programme)7 MASTER OR EQUIVALENT LEVEL74 Academic741 Insufficient for level completion746 Long first degree (at least 5 years)747 Second or further degree (following a Bachelor’s or equivalent programme)748 Second or further degree (following a Master’s or equivalent programme)75 Professional751 Insufficient for level completion756 Long first degree (at least 5 years)757 Second or further degree (following a Bachelor’s or equivalent programme)758 Second or further degree (following a Master’s or equivalent programme)76 Orientation unspecified1761 Insufficient for level completion766 Long first degree (at least 5 years)767 Second or further degree (following a Bachelor’s or equivalent programme)768 Second or further degree (following a Master’s or equivalent programme)8 DOCTORAL OR EQUIVALENT LEVEL84 Academic841 Insufficient for level completion844 Sufficient for completion of level85 Professional851 Insufficient for level completion854 Sufficient for completion of level86 Orientation unspecified861 Insufficient for level completion864 Sufficient for completion of level9 NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED99 Not elsewhere classified999 Not elsewhere classified0 General Programmes01 Basic programmes08 Literacy and numeracy09 Personal development1 Education14 Teacher training and education science2 Humanities and Arts21 Arts22 Humanities3 Social sciences, business and law31 Social and behavioural science32 Journalism and information34 Business and administration38 Law4 Science42 Life sciences44 Physical sciences46 Mathematics and statistics48 Computing5 Engineering, manufacturing and construction52 Engineering and engineering trades54 Manufacturing and processing58 Architecture and building6 Agriculture62 Agriculture, forestry and fishery64 Veterinary7 Health and welfare72 Health76 Social services8 Services81 Personal services84 Transport services85 Environmental protection86 Security servicesNot known or unspecified