Peripheries and centers: research universities in developing countries

The research university is a central institution of the twenty-first century—providing access to global science, producing basic and applied research, and educating leaders of the academe and society. Worldwide, there are very few research universities—they are expensive to develop and support, and the pressures of massification have placed priorities elsewhere. For developing countries, research universities are especially rare, and yet they are especially important as key ingredients for economic and social progress. This article argues for the importance of research universities in developing and middle-income countries and points out some of the challenges that such institutions face.     

Current research in developing countries: Teacher credentialling and distance education

Current research is reviewed on two aspects of educational efficiency in ‘developing’ countries: the effect of teacher credentials on student achievement and the cost-effectiveness of distance education. Major research findings on each topic are reviewed, followed by selected abstracts of current research publications and a brief annotated reference list. Complex debate over teacher credentials now concurs that investment in teacher credentialing is frequently productive but that the efficiency of particular investment strategies is often unknown. The potential cost-savings in distance teacher education are often not realized because of the small scale programs.     

The higher education crisis in developing countries: Issues,problems, constraints and reforms

This paper looks at the current higher education crisis in developing countries and discusses how problems are analyzed and decisions made in the context of higher education reform. It focuses in particular on discrepancies between objectives and achievements in an attempt to highlight the importance of risk analysis in strategic planning for higher education development.The paper observes that traditional approaches to higher education planning and decision making have failed to build into their development and reform strategies appropriate mechanisms to evaluate risks and deal with uncertainties. Countries have been following three main strategies to minimize the adverse effects of the higher education crisis: thepassive risk approach, thepositive risk approach, and thediffuse risk approach.Experts have advocated a contingency planning approach to planning for educational projects sponsored by international donor agencies, taking into account the management requirements for a smooth implementation of innovative projects. In the case of higher education reforms, focusing on management variables is important but not sufficient. Animpact assessment approach is needed to reflect the challenging nature of higher education reforms which, by essence, confront established practices and vested interests.

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Zusammenfassung In diesem Artikel wird die gegenwärtige Krise der Höheren Bildung in den Entwicklungsländern untersucht und erörtert, wie zur Umgestaltung der Höheren Bildung Probleme analysiert und Entscheidungen getroffen werden können. Schwerpunktmäßig werden die Diskrepanzen zwischen Zielsetzungen und Leistungen herausgearbeitet, um die Bedeutung der Risikoanalyse in der strategischen Planung zur Entwicklung der Höheren Bildung hervorzuheben.Der Autor deutet darauf hin, daß bei den traditionellen Ansätzen zur Planung und zum Treffen von Entscheidungen in der Höheren Bildung versäumt wurde, in den Reform-und Entwicklungsstrategien geeignete Maßnahmen zur Evaluierung von Risiken und zum Auffangen eventueller Unsicherheitsfaktoren vorzusehen. Die Länder verfolgen drei Hauptstrategien, um die negativen Auswirkungen der Krise in der Höheren Bildung so gering wie möglich zu halten: denpassiven Risikoansatz, denpositiven Risikoansatz, und dendiffusen Risikoansatz.Experten befürworten, Pläne für von internationalen Spendeninstitutionen geförderte Bildungsprojekte auszuarbeiten, durch die man auf jeden möglichen Fall vorbereitet wäre. Dabei sollten die Anforderungen an die Verwaltung zur reibungslosen Durchführung innovativer Projekte berücksichtigt werden. In Bezug auf die Reform der Höheren Bildung ist es zwar notwendig, das Hauptgewicht auf verwaltungsbezogene Variablen zu legen, jedoch reicht dies nicht aus. EinAnsatz zur Einschätzung der Auswirkungen wäre der richtige Weg, um die Herausforderung, die die Höhere Bildungsreform für traditionelle Praktiken und einflußreiche Kreise bedeutet, aufzuzeigen.

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Résumé Le présent article examine la crise que connaît actuellement l'enseignement supérieur dans les pays en développement et étudie la manière dont les problèmes sont analysés et les décisions prises en ce qui concerne la réforme de l'enseignement supérieur. L'accent est mis en particulier sur les différences entre les objectifs fixés et les résultats obtenus afin de mettre en lumière l'importance de l'analyse des risques dans la planification stratégique pour le développement de l'enseignement supérieur.On fait observer dans cet article que les approaches traditionnelles de la planification et de la prise de décision en matière d'enseignement supérieur n'ont pas réussi à intégrer dans leurs stratégies de réforme et de développement des mécanismes appropriés pour évaluer les risques et prendre en compte les incertitudes. Les pays suivent trois stratégies majeures pour minimiser les effets nuisibles de la crise de l'enseignement supérieur:l'approche passive, l'approche positive et l'approche diffuse des risques. Les experts plaident en faveur d'une approche de la prise en compte des événements imprévus dans la planification des projets d'éducation financés par les agences donatrices internationales, en tenant compte des exigences de gestion pour une mise en oeuvre souple des projets novateurs. En ce qui concerne les réformes de l'enseignement supérieur, l'accent mis sur les aspects administratifs est important mais insuffisant. Uneapproche de l'évaluation de l'impact paraît nécessaire pour refléter l'aspect déf: des réformes de l'enseignement supérieur qui, par essence, se heurtent aux pratiques établies et aux intérêts acquis.

     

Problematical aspects of expatriate educational research with and in developing countries

Discussions of the problems of expatriate educational research with and in developing countries are at the core of this paper. How should a research project be set up? Who should initiate it and finance it? How does it fit into an overall development strategy? These and other questions are analysed sensitively and with understanding. The paper also examines how research questions should be formulated and how the research should be designed. Inevitably there are hidden objectives which do not appear explicit in the early stages. There are yet others which should be made explicit. Problems also arise over collecting and disseminating data, especially when the time comes to publish a report. So often political and other considerations influence the final report. Ultimately, however, the success or failure and the value or otherwise of any research depends on an intricate web of relationships, at the heart of which must be mutual trust.     

The intellectual labour market in developed and developing countries: Women's representation in scientific research

Women's representation in scientific research in countries with differing levels of development is analysed. The under‐representation of women in this area is worse in developed countries than in the group of semi‐industrialized and newly industrialized countries. In countries which were late to industrialize, the development of science took place at a stage when women's economic and social participation was more acceptable. Moreover, in developing countries the links between research and the productive system are weak. Both facts are connected with greater discrimination against women in scientific research in developed countries. Within the framework of long‐term economic cycles and technological change, some assumptions can be made about the future. This approach can be used to set up a theoretical framework for women's strategies.     

Conditions of educational research with and in developing countries (Konferenzbericht)

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Conditions of educational research with and in developing countries (Konferenzbericht)

     

Uses of examinations in developing countries: Selection, research, and education sector management

In September 1984, The Chinese government asked if the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank would be interested in assisting the officials in the Ministry of Education to think through some of the policy options in the field of examinations and standardized testing. In response, in April 1985 a meeting was held in Beijing. Attending the meeting were all officials in charge of examinations at the provincial and national levels, technicians and psychometricians in charge of designing examination items, and senior university officials and planners in the Ministry of Education. Attending from outside the country were the chief executive officers of examination agencies in three OECD countries: from the United States, Robert Solomon (ETS); from Japan, Tadashi Hidano (National Center for University Examinations); and from the United Kingdom, John Reddaway (Cambridge University Examination Syndicate); directors of the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement; and experts on the examination systems in Sweden, Australia and Kenya.This article summarizes the comments given to the Chinese Government following that meeting. The amount of attention devoted to problems of logistics and economies of scale is perhaps more pertinent to large, heterogeneous nations like China, but many of the comments could be applied to developing countries generally. These comments cover three areas (1) specific testing issues such as aptitude vs achievement tests, multiple choice vs other formats, etc.; (2) management issues within the system of selection such as whether government agencies or universities should make the selection decision, and whether a testing agency should be autonomous from government control; and lastly, (3) the uses of testing to perform necessary research and education sector management functions.     

Current research in developing countries: Inset and the impact of examinations on classroom practice

Current research in developing countries on the inservice education and training of teachers (INSET) and on the effects of examinations on classroom practice is reviewed. Major issues on each topic are outlined, research findings are summarized, and selected abstracts of current empirical research in five developing countries are provided, along with brief, annotated reference lists. The main trends apparent with INSET are emphases on the professional development of teachers, and increased attention to school-focused INSET. No firm conclusions from the research evidence can be drawn yet, with some expensive successes contrasting with cheaper alternatives to accepted practice. The conclusion from the literature on examinations is that it is a necessary but not sufficient condition that attempts to change classroom practice should not be incongruent with teachers' and pupils' perceptions of the requirements of any public examination system.     

Creating world-class universities: Implications for developing countries

Many countries are now creating world-class universities (WCUs) as essential parts of their higher education reform agendas, and as national goals. It is legitimate to ask whether every county that aspires to build a WCU can do so—especially developing countries. To answer this question, this paper provides a three-step framework. The first step in building a WCU is to understand its characteristics. The second is for the country to systematically assess whether it has the capacity to create a WCU by rationally appreciating the challenges it would face in creating one. Third, it must understand, given the challenges discovered in the second step, what to do to create a WCU. Considering this framework, only a few developing countries have the potential to foster a WCU. Thus it is difficult for many universities in developing countries to enter an existing market already occupied by well-developed education systems and universities.     

INSET: prospects and practice in developing countries

Recent years have witnessed considerable growth of emphasis in the inservice education and training of educational personnel. It has come to be generally accepted that the pace of social and educational change makes preservice training an inadequate basis for long‐term professional competence, and that inservice training is an essential instrument for updating and upgrading staff. In contrast to preservice training, inservice courses can often be more easily related to the practicalities of the education profession, and several models of inservice training avoid removing staff from the workforce. Inservice practices are not usually without problems, however, many of which may be logistical and financial constraints arising from the decision to cater for trainees in their workplaces rather than in one central location.

This paper highlights some of these issues by reference to the experience of several less developed countries, and in particular by reference to practices in Papua New Guinea. For over a decade, university inservice courses have been organized in Papua New Guinea for school teachers and a variety of educational administrators. These programmes were developed independently of ‘main stream’ thinking on INSET, but analysis of their operation within a more general and contemporary theoretical context sheds useful light on issues of international interest.     

Mobiles for literacy in developing countries: An effectiveness framework

In recent years, the advent of low-cost digital and mobile devices has led to a strong expansion of social interventions, including those that try to improve student learning and literacy outcomes. Many of these are focused on improving reading in low-income countries, and particularly among the most disadvantaged. Some of these early efforts have been called successful, but little credible evidence exists for those claims. Drawing on a robust sample of projects in the domain of mobiles for literacy, this article introduces a design solution framework that combines intervention purposes with devices, end users, and local contexts. In combination with a suggested set of purpose-driven methods for monitoring and evaluation, this new framework provides useful parameters for measuring effectiveness in the domain of mobiles for literacy.