A Comparative Study on the Use of Composite Indicators in the Development of Educational Systems in Finland and Estonia, and and the possibility of benefiting from them in Egypt

Composite indicators have emerged in the field of interest since the beginning of the twentieth century; they are associated with educational planning, assessing educational needs for decision-making, and formulating educational policy.

A composite indicator is a mathematical combination or aggregation of a set of single indicators, which represent the various dimensions of the phenomenon to be measured; composite indicators provide an integrated picture of all dimensions of the phenomenon, something that single indicators are unable to do.

Since the adoption of statistical methods in comparative education, there has been an increasing emphasis on the creation and use of composite indicators for the study of educational systems; through analysis and evaluation, this approach aims toward development.

Recently, policymakers have relied on composite indicators as valuable tools in the analysis and enhancement of educational policies; a practice that has enabled international organizations to conduct international comparisons that benefit national systems through benchmarking against others.

Given the significant value of Output, Outcomes of education systems in portraying the success of educational systems, the current research aimed to design a composite indicator to measure these Output and ,Outcome. Additionally, it proposed a number of proposed actions to activate the creation and use of composite indicators in the development of the Egyptian educational system, informed by the experiences of Finland and Estonia and tailored to the cultural context of the Egyptian society. This relied on the application of the statistical approach in comparative educational studies.