Student loans in Ghana

Student loans were first introduced in Ghana in 1971, but the scheme was abandoned the following year, due to a change of government. A revised scheme was introduced in 1975, but faced problems of high rates of default. Attempts to improve recovery since 1986 have had some success, but in 1989 the Government of Ghana introduced a new student loan scheme, which is administered by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust. This article summarises the current pattern of finance of higher education, gives a brief history of student loans in Ghana and describes the new scheme, introduced in 1989.     

香港地区学生贷款:贷款机构的视角

根据政府对资本市场干预程度的不同 ,香港地区形成了三类教育贷款 ,即政府补贴性贷款、成本回收型教育贷款和盈利性教育贷款。这三类教育贷款在满足不同群体的教育需求上是互补的。香港入息教育款的成本回收率达 71 .4% ,这表明香港的教育贷款已形成了一个良好的资金发放与回收体系 ,1 %的贷款拖欠率亦表明香港已具备了完备的个人信用制度与金融网络体系     

Student loans in Nigeria

The Nigerian Students Loans Board was first established in 1972, and between 1973 and 1991 it provided loans totalling 46 million Naira, to help Nigerian students finance undergraduate or postgraduate study in Nigeria or abroad. There have been severe problems, however, and the rate of recovery of loan repayments has been very disappointing. This article describes the operation of the student loan programme in Nigeria and its past problems, outlines the current attempts of the Nigerian Students Loans Board to improve the efficiency of loan collection and proposes the establishment of a new Education Bank to finance student loans and other forms of investment in higher education.     

Student loans repayment and recovery: international comparisons

Student loans schemes are in operation in more than seventy countries around the world. Most loans schemes benefit from sizeable built-in government subsidies and, in addition, are subject to repayment default and administrative costs that are not passed on to student borrowers. We probe two issues in this paper, for 44 loans schemes in 39 countries: how much of the original loan is an individual student required to repay (the “repayment ratio”) and what percentage of the total costs of loans schemes can the lending body expect to receive back in repayments (the “recovery ratio”)? The analysis shows considerable variation in the size of the repayment and recovery ratios across schemes. Moreover, many loans schemes exhibit sizeable built-in subsidies accruing to student borrowers—in over 40% of the schemes examined, the repayment ratio is 40% or less. Overall loans recovery is considerably lower. Policy implications of these findings are discussed together with a consideration of steps that may be taken to improve the financial outcome of loans schemes.     

Student loans for higher education in Singapore: some observations

The higher education system of Singapore is seen as crucial for the economic prosperity of the country. It is highly elitist, with fierce competition for limited places, and high private returns. In 1989 the Government announced a policy of reducing subsidies for higher education, in order to reduce the financial burden on the tax-payer, increase expenditure on other levels of education and achieve a more equitable distribution of costs. Tuition fees were increased sharply and a new student loan scheme, the Tuition Loan Scheme (TLS), was introduced. There are in addition two other loan schemes in Singapore, the Student Loan Fund (SLF), and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Approved Education Scheme, under which parents may borrow from their CPF savings in order to finance their children's higher education, but must repay the loan. This article examines the arguments for and against student loans in Singapore, and concludes that the conditions necessary for a successful loan scheme are already in place: full employment, high private returns to higher education, and an efficient banking system and financial infrastructure. In the light of those conditions student loans seem to be an efficient and equitable form of finance for higher education in Singapore.Views do not implicate The National University of Singapore or The International Institute for Population Sciences. I am thankful to Mr Geoffrey Lau, Planning Services Unit, National University of Singapore for some suggestions and assistance. The usual disclaimers are relevant.     

Student loans in financing higher education in India

Confronted with declining public budgets for education on the one hand, and the need for more resources on the other, many developing countries such as India, have been examining alternative methods of financing higher education. One such mechanism is student loans. A student loan programme is not a new phenomenon in India. The National Loans Scholarship Scheme has been in operation since 1963. This article critically reviews the experience of implementation of the National Loan Scholarship scheme. It examines strengths and weaknesses and problems specific to this programme in India, with a view to identifying measures for marginal improvement in the programme. The conclusion is that at present student loans make little contribution to either the efficiency or equity of higher education in India.     

Student loans in developing countries: feasibility,experience and prospects for reform

Student loan schemes now exist in more than fifty countries, but many are not working well and critics question whether student loans are feasible in developing countries. This special issue of Higher Education compares experience of student loans and other forms of student support in selected Asian and African countries and examines the prospects for reform of student loan programmes in order to improve their effectiveness and reduce default. This introduction to the volume describes current research on student loans by the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and the World Bank, and draws on the conclusions of a series of Educational Forums on student loans organised by IIEP, to conclude that student loans are feasible, and can promote wider cost-sharing and help to generate additional resources for higher education, but only if loan programmes are well designed and efficiently managed. The purpose of this introduciton and the subsequent articles in the special issue is to suggest some ways of improving performance of student loans in developing countries, drawing on lessons from experience in Asia and English-speaking Africa.     

The problems of the current spoken English teaching and possible solutions

With the development of the soceity,The importance of English has been shown in various aspects of our life,especially spoken English.Therefore,The burden fallen on the shoulders of English teachers has become more and more heavy,So,finding out some effective measures to deal with the problems of the current spoken English teaching should be the one of the major tasks teachers should do     

Student loans and their alternatives: improving the performance of deferred payment programs

The opportunities for increasing student contributions to the costs of higher education are many. Student loans have received much attention both in literature and in practice. While they have not always worked well, we have argued that suitably reformed, they can constitute a productive, though limited, mechanism for cost recovery. In certain countries, however, other mechanisms may be more appropriate. Indeed, the policy maker is presented with a wide menu of policy choices, though some creativity may be required in their application to particular local settings. Currently, loan programs exist in over 50 developing and industrial countries, and have been introduced most commonly to assist students to pay their living expenses.In order to improve financial effectiveness, programs should be targeted toward the most needy and able students. Hidden subsidies should be limited by charging positive real interest rates, combined with repayment plans that take account of the likely pattern of graduate earnings. Default reductions require that loan programs be managed by institutions with the capacity and financial incentives to collect - namely banks, private collection agencies, or taxation departments. Such reforms offer great potential to transform small programs into relatively efficient forms of student support.Larger programs, however, may be more difficult to manage. Some countries have considered alternatives which preserve the basic concept of paying for education from future income. The most notable is a graduate tax in which a student pays a fixed percentage of income over the entire working life, regardless of how much is repaid. Another option is national service which require students to perform socially productive work in exchange for part or all of education costs. In the presence of an effective tax system, a graduate tax could bring in significantly more revenue than traditional loan programs. Besides improved financial efficiency, income contingent payments may be more equitable since they limit the risk to poorer students. In countries with weak taxation systems, this option may not be feasible.     

教育问责背景下学生学业评测的进展

近年来,教育问责背景下学生学业评测作为教育改革与发展的重要内容备受人们关注。学业评测主要在三个领域得到了广泛的发展:在监测教育质量的宏观层面,为了扩大考查范围或测试覆盖面,同时缩短被试的测试时间,包含矩阵取样设计、测验等值技术的大尺度学业测评的新技术广泛应用在教育质量监测的实践当中;在对学校效能进行评价的中观层面,使用发展性评价方法如增值性评价,用学生多次考试成绩的追踪数据来评价学校的教育情况,不仅能够更合理地评价学校和教师的工作,也使学生的成长和发展更加受到关注;在促进学生学业发展的微观层面,为了学习的评价理念和认知诊断技术的发展使得测验对教学反馈作用得以显现和发展。当前学业评测的新理念、新技术和新实践,要求教育部门和教育工作者只有重视测量与评价技术、改变考试观念,才能更好的使学业评测工作服务于教育事业的发展。     

高职院校推行国家助学贷款的现状及发展思路

国家助学贷款政策实施几年来，由于银行参加热情不高、部分院校不被重视、学校心存顾虑、社会信息失真等因素的影响，这项政策虽然在全国各地取得了不同程度的进展，但总体情况不尽如人意，贷款的地域发展不平衡，学生申贷成功的比例较低，贷款覆盖的院校结构不尽合理，特别是高职院校几乎还是空白，离政府、学生、高等学校等有关各方对这项工作的热切期望相差较远，解决的主要措施是加大政策扶持力度，完善银行存款实名制和全国统一信用体系的建设，加强学生诚信意识的培养，增加学生家长的连带责任，降低作为经营实体的银行在这项工作中的坏帐风险，增强银行信心和自觉参与意识，推动国家助学贷款工作在高职院校的实施。     

Student and non-student protest in Japan and the USSR: Some uniformities

Student and non-student protest in both the Soviet Union and Japan is compared through analysis of protest demonstrations. Correlates between student dissent and a number of protest demonstration variables in the two samples are presented. Comparisons between student and non-student dissidence along several contextual, behavioral, and outcome characteristics are found similar in both countries. The uniformity in comparative structure is hypothesized to derive from similar characteristics in the two post-industrial countries. Conclusions for subsequent research and policy implications for the future stability of advanced developed societies are drawn.     

Teacher shortage in mathematics and physics: some possible solutions

Mathematics and physics have long been recognised as hard shortage subjects in secondary school staffing. It appears that we have now reached a critical position where recruitment to PGCE courses, the main route into secondary school teaching, is in a state of rapid decline. The number of entrants to PGCE courses in September 1985 showed a 13% decrease in mathematics and a 20% decrease in physics on the previous year. The figures for 1984 entry compared to 1983 were 13% down in mathematics and 12% down in physics. Applications for places on PGCE courses commencing September 1986 are presently down by 32% in mathematics and 28% in physics on corresponding figures for Setember 1985 entry. This downward trend in applications is in part offset by falling rolls in secondary schools, but mathematics and physics are subjects where specialist staffing is already a scarce resource. Recent surveys have shown that 38% of all mathematics teaching and 22% of physics teaching in the 11‐16 age range is in the hands of unsuitably qualified teachers. In addition teacher wastage is high in these key areas with many teachers leaving the profession for better paid jobs in industry or commerce. In this paper I consider a range of possible solutions to the shortage problem, some of which have been attempted, while others are merely proposals at this stage. It is not suggested however, that each proposed stategy should operate in isolation.     

Student outcome indicators in Canada: Uses,issues and solutions

This chapter provides a Canadian perspective on K-12 student outcome indicators and has three major purposes: to identify types of indicators and sources of information, to describe provincial and national uses, and to discuss issues and solutions. It draws on a 1995 survey of provinces and territories.