BOSTON — The US higher education system – often considered the best in the world – is starting to lag behind other countries’, according to a report released yesterday. The report, produced by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, an independent research group based in California, highlights the need for the US to improve college participation rates among young adults and support degree completion, the report’s authors said. ‘The rest of the world has a much stronger sense of the relationship between having a college-educated society and being economically competitive,’ said Patrick Callan, president of the centre. ‘This knowledge-based economy is a real thing and [the US] hasn’t gotten the message yet.’ Mr Callan said the US had not made significant progress in the past 15 years on many measures of college participation and student attainment, while other countries had enhanced their systems. Because of this, the US’s educational firepower was more concentrated in its older adult population. For example, the US ranks second – behind Canada – in the percentage of adults aged 35 to 64 who hold at least an associate degree, according to the report, which draws comparisons with countries […]