"The full impact of the global economic crisis on higher-education systems is still unclear, but as national economies struggle to recover their footing and unemployment levels remain high, 'the incentives for individuals to stay on in education are likely to rise over the next years,' says a new report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. "The report, 'Education at a Glance 2009: OECD Indicators,' is the latest in an annual series that analyzes data on the education systems in the group's 30 member countries, which include many European democracies, as well as Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Turkey, and the United States. On average across the OECD, the net public return on the cost of providing a university education for a male student is in excess of $50,000. 'In virtually every country, the public benefits of higher education outweigh the costs,' Mr. Schleicher [head of the OECD unit that produces the Education at a Glance series] said. 'The traditional wisdom was that higher education benefits individuals most, but this was the first time we looked at public costs and public benefits in conjunction.'"