Three universities in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: the struggle against corruption and for social cohesion

Universities may contribute to a nation’s social cohesion through both direct and indirect means. In their syllabi they may include techniques necessary for understanding complex social problems. Faculty may model good behaviour in terms of listening and understanding points of view that may contradict their own. University administrators may illustrate ways to lead honourably, which can enhance the chances for achieving consensus with respect to future dilemmas. This project assessed typical areas of university tension, including academic freedom, equity of participation and academic honesty. Three different universities were chosen as sites for faculty interviews—a foreign private university in Kyrgyzstan, a flagship state university in Georgia, and a regional teacher training college recently upgraded to university status in Northeast Kazakhstan. Results suggest that the single most important arena wherein universities can influence social cohesion in these countries is the manner by which they address education corruption. The paper reproduces the statements of those faculty members who participate in corruption as well as those who refuse to participate. It concludes with some predictions about the future of the relationship of higher education to social cohesion.

持续增长的国际教育商品与服务商业市场

本文对教育产品和服务做出了厘定，并提出两种分支领域的结构；论述了商业活动的规模及其走向；为那些有兴趣投资该领域的人们检视其机遇与挑战；探讨了几个问题：商业方式提供教育商品与服务是好还是不好?是不得已而为之还是必然选择?对于那些不知道如何对此做出适当回应的国家来说，是应该欢迎还是应该抵制这些趋势?     

The quality of education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

The quality of education is an issue in every region undergoing economic change, hence it is a universal issue. Where the quality of education is already low, the need to raise it is more urgent. In the Middle East and North Africa, data on educational quality are scarce. Nevertheless, available data would suggest that the quality of education is low. The cause of the problem, however, is not a scarcity of monetary resources but the inefficiency of managing the resources already allocated.Many of the regulations and traditions for managing educational systems in the Middle East and North Africa have their origin in the era of central economic planning. Changes are suggested in six areas. These include: an end to early vocational tracking; coherence in content between curriculum, examinations, textbooks and classroom teaching; a shift in textbook production away from state monopolies; a professionalized teaching force with higher salaries differentiated by mandatory re-licensing; creative financing and provision of higher education; and a significant improvement in education statistics and indicators of progress.     

Research on education in the developing countries

Developing countries are in a major educational crisis. Educational opportunity has expanded but quality has been sacrificed. In some instances the quality of education has become so low that one might do well to question whether the costs of expansion do not outweigh the benefits. Research on education has not prepared the developing countries to meet the crisis at hand. The article mentions three examples—in pedagogy, in curriculum and in ‘deschooling’ theory—where educational research has not been helpful. On the other hand, the article points to several areas where there has been useful work, and where new work might make a substantial contribution in the years ahead.     

Protection of the textbook industry in developing countries: In the public interest?

Many developing countries protect their textbook industries to safeguard national image, local jobs, infant industries, and foreign exchange. Yet, as this article points out, protection itself has costs, and these costs have become excessive. Reducing protection for textbook production, the author argues, would benefit both education and economies in developing countries. Stephen P. Heyneman is chief of the Human Resources Division in the teaching arm of the World Bank, the Economic Development Institute. His division is responsiblefor conducting policy-level discussions in the fields of education, health economics, family planning, and nutrition. He has personally been working on problems having to do with the quality of education in developing countries since 1971.     

Educational Qualifications: The economic and trade issues

This paper describes the commercial provision of education goods (books, pedagogical software, etc.) and services (testing, evaluation, management consulting, etc.) and argues that a vibrant private sector is an essential ingredient for an efficient and high-quality public school system. It also describes the rising trade in education goods and services and points to areas of controversy associated with that trade. It concentrates on one ingredient of the overall picture, that of educational qualifications. It discusses how changes in technology and labour markets are forcing a shift in the debate over access to education. Some argue that education, chosen by the individual, is a human right. Others argue that education by nature is different from other public services justifying government prohibition of private and/or international providers. Central to the debate are the differences from one part of the world to another in how educational institutions are accredited and how graduates become certified to enter the professional workforce. However one may feel, these issues are destined to become an important ingredient of the international education debate over the next decade.     

Educational quality and the crisis of educational research

This paper was designed not as a research product but as a speech to comparative education colleagues. It argues that there is a crisis of educational quality in many parts of the world, and that there is a parallel crisis in the quality of educational research and statistics. Compared to other major public responsibilities in health, agriculture, population and family planning, educational statistics are poor and often getting worse. Our international and national statistical institutions are impoverished, and we as a profession have been part of the problem. We have been so busy arguing over differing research paradigms that we have not paid sufficient attention to our common professional responsibilities and common professional goals. The paper suggests that we, as professionals interested in comparative education issues, begin to act together more on these common and important issues.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel ist nicht als Forschungsprodukt sondern als Ansprache an Kollegen im Bereich der vergleichenden Bildung zu verstehen. Es wird argumentiert, daß die Qualität des Bildungsangebots in vielen Teilen der Welt in einer Krise steckt und parallel dazu eine Krise hinsichtlich der Qualität der Bildungsforschung und -statistik besteht. Verglichen mit anderen wichtigen öffentlichen Verantwortlichkeiten in den Bereichen Gesundheit, Agrikultur, Bevölkerung und Familienplanung sind die Statistiken im Bildungswesen oft dürftig mit sinkender Tendenz. Unsere internationalen und nationalen statistischen Einrichtungen sind verarmt, und wir sind als Berufszweig Teil des Problems. Wir haben so geschäftig über auseinanderdriftende Forschungsparadigmen diskutiert, daß wir unseren allgemeinen beruflichen Aufgaben und Zielen nicht nachgekommen sind. Dieser Artikel schlägt vor, daß wir, als an Themen der vergleichenden Erziehung interessierte Berufsgruppe, mehr in diesen allgemeinen und wichtigen Angelegenheiten zusammenarbeiten.

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Résumé Le présent article a été conçu moins comme le produit d'une recherche que comme un entretien avec les collègues de l'éducation comparée. L'auteur prétend qu'une crise de l'éducation sévit dans de nombreux pays du monde entier, et qu'on observe parallèlement une crise de la qualité de la recherche en éducation et des statistiques y afférentes. Comparées aux autres grands domaines de la fonction publique tels que la santé, l'agriculture, la population et le planning familial, les statistiques de l'éducation sont médiocres et vont souvent en empirant. Nos institutions internationales et nationales de statistique sont affaiblies, et nous avons une part de responsabilité dans ce problème en tant que membres de la profession. Nous avons été si occupés à discuter des différents paradigmes de recherche que nous n'avons pas prêté suffisamment attention à nos responsabilités et à nos buts professionnels communs. Cet article suggère que nous commencions, en tant que professionnels intéressés par les questions d'éducation comparée, à agir ensemble davantage sur ces problèmes communs et importants.

     

Multiple determinants of “blocking” effects on operant behavior

Blocking was investigated in a free-operant procedure by presenting a response-contingent signal prior to reinforcer delivery. At issue was the way in which blocking effects previously reported with this procedure are related to conditioned reinforcement effects, also previously found with similar procedures. Signal presentation decreased response rate when delay of reinforcement was 0 or .5 sec, but the signal increased response rate when the delay of reinforcement was increased to 3 sec. Thus, which effect (blocking or conditioned reinforcement) occurred depended critically on the response-reinforcer interval.