Problems of accreditation and quality assurance of engineering education in developing countries

The relationships between funding, management and quality assurance of engineering education in developing countries are discussed in this paper. It is proposed to raise the debate on engineering education up to the global economic level and to examine some of the issues facing developing and poorer countries in managing and improving the quality of engineering education in their countries. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world is now divided in two realigned blocks: one of developed (rich or advanced) countries that have a social security safety net for their population and another of developing (or poor) countries that have no such luxuries for their population. For the general public in the developing countries, any engineering degree is a passport to lifelong well-being of an individual and his/her extended family.Therefore, the demand for such qualifications is very high and it is almost a rat race amongst school graduates to get into engineering/technical colleges. In view of this booming demand, there are hundreds of privately funded engineering/technical colleges in countries like the Philippines, India, Thailand, etc. besides state-funded ones. It is extremely difficult to ensure good quality in this mushrooming scenario. There are also many very small poorresource developing countries where there is only one engineering school and/or two to three technical colleges. Products of these schools/colleges work only in their own country and educational globalization has little or no meaning for them. Besides highlighting the aforementioned general issues, the paper also presents a few case studies on problems of accreditation and quality assessment in larger developing countries such as India and the Philippines and also in very small developing countries such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Arab countries.     

试论我国著作权法技术保护措施的限制规则

技术保护措施是数字网络时代权利人的一种自力救济手段,为技术措施提供法律保护是我国作为WCT与WPPT成员国应尽的义务。对技术措施的保护需要协调好与合理使用制度间的关系,对技术措施进行限制。通过比较,发现我国著作权法关于技术措施的保护力度高于美国、欧盟等发达国家或地区,与作为发展中国国家的基本国情不符,需要进一步限制技术保护措施。通过分析限制技术措施的正当性所在,在比较国外先进立法模式基础之上,提出完善我国技术措施的建议。     

发展"技术教育":20世纪的重大创举

在20世纪,世界各国积极发展"技术教育",适应了高新技术快速发展的需要."技术教育"成为培养技术型人才的一种新型的、独立的教育类型与教育制度.当前在我国确立"技术教育"的独立地位,对于明确人才培养类型具有重要意义.理论知识和实践技能掌握程度、人才分类的"职业带"学说可作为划分工程型、技术型、技能型人才及相关教育的依据.     

国际政治系统稳定与科技进步

国际关系各行为主体的利益结构、实力对比、存在方式及国际政治系统稳定机制功能是影响国际政治系统稳定的内部因素。科技发展则是影响国际政治系统稳定的外部环境中至关重要的因素。当今世界存在的国际秩序仍是非正义的，广大发展中国家应致力于发展科技，逐步缩小与发达国家的实力差距，重构有利于自身发展的国际政治系统。     

Nine Years of Experience in Professional Training for Urban Staff from Developing Countries in Technical Urban Management

Rapid urban growth is a common phenomenon in most developing countries. Classical planning approaches and investment projects were given priority in the past, while management and maintenance aspects were often neglected. Since 1980 the University of Technology of Compiégne has organised an annual 9-month professional training programme (GTU) in Technical Urban Management for technical and administrative urban staff from developing countries. This article deals with such aspects as background philosophy and programme content and tries to evaluate the experience of the nine sessions organised so far.     

发达国家和发展中国家中小企业发展的有效举措

中小企业在各国经济发展中都有着重要作用,发达国家和发展中国家十分重视中小企业发展,一些国家中小企业发展中的经验,如政府扶持、技术创新、融资服务、营造良好的经营环境、成功中小企业的自身因素等值得借鉴。     

Towards Universal Primary Education: investments, incentives, and institutions

The UN Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality, an expert advisory group commissioned by the UN Secretary‐General, was asked to examine how dramatic improvements in education can be achieved in the developing world. The task force investigated the problems of low enrolment, early drop‐out and poor learning outcomes that so profoundly affect many children in the developing world. The experiences of both countries that have achieved important successes in rapidly scaling‐up access to primary education, and countries that have made only slow progress, shed light on the priorities for the leadership in both developing countries and donor agencies. The task force developed specific recommendations about overcoming demand‐ and supply‐side constraints to greater primary school completion; and about how international donors and technical agencies can stimulate and support country‐led progress, with financial resources that are linked to performance.     

论高等职业技术教育的发展

随着科技进步、产业结构调整，生产过程中技术水平的不断提高，社会对专业技术人才的需求日益迫切，积极发展高等职业技术教育已成为众多国家及中国的普遍共识和重要战略。高职教育灵活办学特色和适应个体智能结构差异及发展需要，以促进高职教育的蓬勃发展。     

Structural elaboration of technical and vocational education and training systems in developing countries: the cases of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

While technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is re-emerging on the agenda of many development agencies and governments of developing countries alike, there remains a serious lack of theoretically grounded literature on how skills formation systems in developing countries change over time, and how these transformations are interrelated with global trends. This article is an attempt to address this shortfall by way of analysing the historical trajectories of TVET in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from the perspective of ‘historical institutionalism’. The analysis finds that, contrary to major assumptions of ‘neo-institutionalist world culture’ perspectives, TVET institutions and policies in both countries have developed to some extent in opposition to the priorities of international donor organisations. It is argued that more generally these developments are strongly related to the path-dependent structural elaboration of the two education systems. As a conclusion it is pointed out that the fact that in both countries TVET became a political priority well before the recent reformulation of donor priorities may raise doubts about the validity and dominance of world culture models for explanations of educational change.     

Education and Business Links in St Lucia

ABSTRACT

In developed as well as in developing countries there is a continuing debate about the need for education and business to develop links (particularly in the area of technical and vocational education and training) In order to provide countries with the adequately trained manpower needed for their economic development. This paper is intended to add to this debate. It outlines some of the existing relationships between education and business in St Lucia, suggests a number of possible developments and makes a few recommendations.     

An alternative technical education system: a case study of Mexico

Many developing countries have relied on the varied forms of diversified secondary technical education as the main venue for training skilled workers and mid-level technicians. But there have been numerous and strong critics against this mode of technical education. As an alternative, the Mexican Government established the CONALEP system in the late 1970s. This study tests the viability of the system by evaluating CONALEP graduates' labor market performance in comparison with other forms of education. It also supplements the scant literature on the transition from technical education to work and on the use of technical skills. Through innovations — inter alia, an autonomous national organizational structure, decentralized operations, strong links to industry, use of industry-experienced instructors, terminal program with modest cost recovery, and highly practical courses — CONALEP has forged an effective technical secondary education system aimed at the Mexican labor market with substantial spill-over effects. Although it is a Mexican program, the special features of the CONALEP system bear policy implications for other countries as well. With globalization and rapidly changing technology requirements of the Mexican economy, however, this alternative form of technical secondary education faces new challenges, notably adjustment of its curriculum to changing market circumstances and improvement of its external and internal efficiency.     

Manpower Forecasting and Rapid Labour Market Analysis: the demand for technical school graduates in Egypt

ABSTRACT

Debate about manpower forecasting has continued for 25 years or more. The investigation reported here is an attempt to add to the debate. It focusses on the provision of secondary technical education in Egypt and the demand for technical school graduates, especially graduates from courses in agriculture. Egypt's secondary school system is more strongly vocationally oriented than that in most other developing countries. The approach used in the investigation has two components: interviews with potential employers and interviews with secondary school graduates. The supply of graduates from agriculture schools is seen to be far greater than likely demand. Severe constraints on the effective working of the labour market are apparent.     

浅谈技术贸易壁垒对我国的影响及防范

随着贸易自由化的不断加深,数量限制和高关税已经成为历史,技术贸易壁垒正成为发达国家保护本国产品的新手段,我国作为最大的发展中国家不可避免的受到了很大冲击,如何冲破技术壁垒并利用合理的技术壁垒保护我国国内市场和经济安全是亟待解决的问题,也是近年我国出口贸易中面临的重要挑战.     

发挥行业协会作用促进外向型纺织业发展

发展中国家之间的激烈市场竞争,以及发达国家的绝对技术优势,将使我国的外向型纺织工业发展面临许多新问题。为此,亟需充分发挥纺织行业协会在各种关系中的桥梁纽带、服务与自律作用,加强出口秩序管理,以尽快弥补政府职能转变后在行业管理、产业导向、经营服务等方面所出现的断层。     

我国转基因食品安全问题的思考

农作物基因改良技术已显示出其独特的技术优势和全新的开发前景，同时也引起了转基因食品的安全之争。目前，有关转基因食品安全问题国际尚无定论，各国大多采用转基因标识法，尊重公众的知情权和商品选择权。根据我国国情，借鉴国外经验，对加强我国转基因食品的安全管理颇有益处。     

浅析我国应对绿色壁垒的策略

绿色壁垒作为技术性贸易壁垒的一种,日益受到国际社会的广泛关注。国内的主流观点大多站在发展中国家的立场上,认为绿色壁垒是发达国家专门针对发展中国家设计的,为了保护本国市场而采取的一种新型贸易壁垒。应该客观地看待绿色壁垒,并从绿色壁垒产生的背景、经济学理论依据及绿色壁垒存在的必然性等方面进行分析,绿色壁垒就其本质来讲是中性的,并为我国未来的发展提供了若干建议以期能够从容应对绿色壁垒。     

A Special Correspondent

Around 1950 the widespread raising of the school-leaving age in the developed countries gave an enormous boost to secondary and technical education. As the developing nations strove for mass literacy the demand for language training proliferated. These pressures gave rise to a much increased market for the teaching of written native tongues, official national languages, and the languages of international communication.     

论入世后政府对职业教育扶持的必要性

中国加入WTO后,将成为国际加工业中心,这意味着我国需要大批技能型人才。但是,作为专门培养技能型人才的我国职业教育,目前存在着管理渠道不畅、办学资金不足、法律支持不力以及社会观念歧视等制约因素。根据西方国家的历史经验,政府积极通过各种手段扶持职业教育,全社会都重视职业教育,使之终身化、社会化,成为发展经济的重要手段。我国职业教育存在的问题以及今后经济的发展走势都说明,入世后职业教育需要政府发挥其管理职能加以扶持,促其发展。     

从异化到和谐——马尔库塞的社会异化理论对构建和谐社会的启示

马尔库塞认为技术理性是造成社会异化的根源,社会异化在当代发达工业社会集中表现为“单向度的社会”。同西方发达工业社会一样,我国在大力发展生产力、构建和谐社会的过程中也不可避免地出现了异化,极大地阻碍了和谐社会的构建。马尔库塞的社会异化理论蕴含着丰富的和谐思想,启示我们在构建和谐社会的过程中应善用技术理性,坚持多面性的社会和谐观,更要注重人本精神,保障人的全面发展。     

浅析“绿色壁垒”的若干问题

绿色壁垒是非关税性贸易壁垒的一种,它是指进口国以保护有限资源、环境和人类健康为名义,以限制进口、保护贸易为目的,通过颁布实施一系列严格的环保法规和苛刻的环保技术标准,以限制国外产品进口的贸易保护措施。而由绿色壁垒所引起的发展中国家商品在国际市场上屡遭拦截的现象,亦成为理论界和实务界所日益关注的焦点。