Higher education services market in Europe: size, suppliers and public contracts
Market size and key facts
In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 378 supply contracts for higher education services through award notices on TED; the 317 of them that state a value (83.9%) add up to €64.4 million.
- Since November 2023, 188 companies have won 696 public supply contracts for higher education services in 30 European countries, in 148 award notices from 40 public buyers.
- 0% of these awards went to a company registered in a different country from the buyer.
- The five companies that win most often hold 21.1% of all awards across Europe.
- 68.3% of the awards whose notice states the number of tenders received a single bid.
In proportion
All public purchasing in the EU-27 — general government spending on goods, services and investment, the measure the OECD and the European Commission use for public procurement — came to €2.93 trillion in 2025, 15.5% of GDP (Eurostat). Award notices on TED cover only the contracts above the EU thresholds, so they show who wins, not the whole of that spending.
Source: Eurostat, government finance statistics (gov_10a_main, gov_10a_exp) and GDP (nama_10_gdp), retrieved 9 November 2026.
Updated · counted daily from contract award notices on TED and Eurostat international trade data · figures as JSON · free to quote with attribution (CC BY 4.0)
How to cite: Cresques, "Higher education services market in Europe", https://cresques.com/markets/europe/803-higher-education-services, from TED contract award notices (© European Union) and Eurostat Comext, updated 13 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
CPV group 803 across the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein: how much public buyers award, who wins, where from, and how the market splits by country.
The market in numbers
Public supply contracts in Europe: award notices published on TED from 2023-11 to 2026-11, by publication year.
- Contracts awarded
- 696
- in 148 award notices
- Awarded value
- €146.6M
- from 84% of awards with a published value
- Winning companies
- 188
- with at least one award
- Public buyers
- 40
- hospitals, cities, agencies
Table view
| 2024 | 93 |
| 2025 | 378 |
| 2026 | 225 |
Table view
| 2024 | €29.1M |
| 2025 | €64.4M |
| 2026 | €53.1M |
- Other1
Table view
| Hospitals and health services | 586 |
| Cities, regions and central administration | 57 |
| Urban transport operators | 34 |
| Economic affairs | 10 |
| Police, fire services and prisons | 4 |
| Universities, schools and research | 2 |
| Armed forces and defence agencies | 1 |
| Electricity utilities | 1 |
| Other | 1 |
- Romania616156 companies
- Sweden378 companies
- France3718 companies
- Poland33 companies
- Norway11 companies
- Italy11 companies
- Hungary11 companies
Table view
| Romania | 616 |
| Sweden | 37 |
| France | 37 |
| Poland | 3 |
| Norway | 1 |
| Italy | 1 |
| Hungary | 1 |
- Large companies
- Medium-sized
- Small
- SME (size not stated)
- Size not stated
Table view
| Large companies | 88 · 12.6% |
| Medium-sized | 315 · 45.3% |
| Small | 185 · 26.6% |
| SME (size not stated) | 11 · 1.6% |
| Size not stated | 97 · 13.9% |
Awards to companies registered in the buyer's own country
100%
0 awards went to companies registered elsewhere.
Share of the 5 biggest winners
21.1%
Of all awards; a high share means a concentrated market.
Lots with a single bid
68.3%
Among 693 awards whose notice states the number of tenders.
How we count: one award per procedure, lot and winning company, from live contract award notices; a joint procurement counts on every buyer's market. Values are the awarded amounts published in the notice (framework ceilings and estimates are never added), converted to euro at the ECB yearly average. Company size is the SME flag of the notice (eForms BT-165). Read the methodology.
Country pages
Countries with fewer than 25 winning companies in this group have no separate page; their awards are counted above.
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Questions
- How big is the higher education services market in Europe?
- In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 378 supply contracts for higher education services through award notices on TED; the 317 of them that state a value (83.9%) add up to €64.4 million.
- How many public contracts for higher education services are awarded in Europe?
- Since November 2023 public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 696 supply contracts for higher education services in 148 TED award notices; the 582 awards with a published value add up to €146.6M.
- Which countries buy the most higher education services through public tenders?
- Romania (616 awards), Sweden (37 awards), France (37 awards) lead; 188 companies won at least one award across Europe.
- How often do foreign suppliers win higher education services contracts?
- 0.0% of the awards went to a company registered in another country than the buyer.
Source: contract award notices on TED — Tenders Electronic Daily (ted.europa.eu), © European Union, published since November 2023; processed by Cresques. Numbers updated 2026-11-13.