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Southern Arizona has developed into a hub of light-based industries but ranks near the bottom third of US cities in per capita income. State funding for education is in decline, accentuated by the economic crisis, and the public good of tertiary education is under threat. In a time of financial stringency, how can the University of Arizona and community colleges preserve their existing strengths and address the needs of the diverse population? How can the region and its tertiary education institutions fuel local growth and create high quality jobs and new businesses? How can the institutions prepare for the post-crisis economy and help diversify the economy? This publication is part of a series of reviews that help mobilise higher education institutions for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. They analyse how the higher education system impacts upon regional and local development and bring together universities, other higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and to work towards them.

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Governments are seeking to channel research funds into universities and other institutions in ways that support high-quality research in strategically important areas and bolster effective knowledge diffusion. These issues of steering and funding have even more relevance in light of the current financial crisis and economic downturn which have seen severe fiscal pressures fall on many countries. This publication presents a collection of papers presented at an OECD workshop on performance-based funding for public research in tertiary education institutions in 2010, as well as a rapporteur's report and workshop summary. It takes stock of current thinking and practice around performance-based funding for public research in tertiary education institutions as a tool to help governments meet their research goals. These funding models are essentially systems of ex-post evaluation of research outputs and outcomes from universities and other tertiary institutions, and are generally based on peer review, bibliometrics or other quantitative indicators. Their results are used to inform government decisions about how much and which institutions to fund. An online annex provides additional detail of the performance-based funding systems in place in Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flemish Community), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom. Show less

Drawing on data from two OECD sources, the Survey of Adult Skills and the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), this paper focuses on the current competencies and skill needs of teachers in relation to information and communication technology (ICT) and problem-solving skills. The paper concludes that the education sector performs well for ICT and problem-solving skills as teachers, who make up a large proportion of its workforce, tend to have better ICT and problem-solving skills than the overall population. In Japan and Korea, primary and secondary teachers are over 40 percentage points more likely than other tertiary graduates to have good skills when age is taken into account.

In a world where students must learn to navigate complex digital landscapes to succeed in the future, teachers play an important role which poses high demands on their skills and competencies. This may be why, despite their relatively high skills, more than half of lower secondary teachers expressed the need for professional development in ICT skills for teaching.

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The Polish government, acknowledging the importance of its human capital to Poland's transition to a market economy and accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), requested an OECD review of its education sector. The review, undertaken in 1995, covered all areas of the Polish system of education and training, including the quality and effectiveness of education, the teaching profession and teacher education, higher education and the financing of education. The report consists of two parts: a summary of the background report prepared by the Polish authorities and educational researchers from the Ministry of National Education and the examiner's report compiled by education experts from outside Poland. A number of recommendations are made in relation to curriculum development, evaluation of the performance of the system, the professional status of teachers, and the reorganisation of higher education. The report concludes with proposals for the development of a human resource development policy in Poland. Show less

Economic and cultural globalisation has ushered in a new era in higher education. Higher education was always more internationally open than most sectors because of its immersion in knowledge, which never showed much respect for juridical boundaries. In global knowledge economies, higher education institutions are more important than ever as mediums for a wide range of cross-border relationships and continuous global flows of people, information, knowledge, technologies, products and financial capital. Even as they share in the reinvention of the world around them, higher education institutions, and the policies that produce and support them, are also being reinvented. For the first time in history every research university is part of a single world-wide network and the world leaders in the field have an unprecedented global visibility and power. Research is more internationalised than before and the mobility of doctoral students and faculty has increased. The specifically global element in academic labour markets has gained weight, especially since the advent of global university rankings. This working paper explores the issues for national policy and for individual institutions. Part one provides an overview of globalisation and higher education and the global responses of national systems and individual institutions of higher education. Part two is focused on certain areas of policy with a strong multilateral dimension: Europeanisation, institutional rankings and typologies and cross-border mobility.

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The State of Victoria is a knowledge-intensive centre for Australia: educational services are Victoria's strongest export worth more than AUD five billion, surpassing tourism and automotive sectors. Victoria is a magnet for immigration and the international student enrolment represents over 30 per cent of the total for Australia. The higher education system in Australia is moving to a more competitive phase with the decision that the government funding will follow students wherever they choose to enroll. How can Victoria continue to increase participation in higher education and widen access to lower socio-economic groups? How can its higher education institutions help transform Victoria into an innovative state with knowledge-intensive industries and jobs? This publication explores a range of helpful policy measures and institutional reforms to mobilise higher education for regional development. It is part of the series of the OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development. These reviews help mobilise higher education institutions for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. They analyse how the higher education system impacts upon regional and local development and bring together universities, other higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and to work towards them.

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This volume presents the results of a seminar that took place in 1994 in Marseilles on the advantages and pitfalls of modern forms of apprenticeship. It deals with ways in which alternating learning (called alternance in French) at school and work can provide young people with relevant work skills and facilitate their integration in the world of work and how it may contribute to relating practical and theoretical learning. This type of learning can take many forms across countries. These include traditional apprenticeship, the Germanic dual system variant, and vocational education in schools with shorter or longer periods of practical work experience. Part one contains papers from the seminar with a synthesis of the debate. Part two presents a selection of national contributions to the seminar. Paper titles and their authors follow: The issues / Marianne Durand-Drouhin and Claudine Romani; The difficult rediscovery of 'professionalism' / Burkhart Lutz; Pedagogical objectives and organisation of alternating training / Vincent Merle; Issues, problems and perspectives: lessons from an international debate / Olivier Bertrand with Marianne Durand-Drouhin and Claudine Romani. The country studies follow: Belgium (the French community): from the socio-economic context to the needs of school-based training / prepared by National authorities; Finland: open skills, open knowledge / Matti Vesa Volanen and Matti Kyro; France: alternance in initial vocational education and training / Claude Pair; Germany: pedagogical objectives and the organisation of alternating learning at school and at work / Richard Koch; Spain: constructing an institutional framework for the social regulation of alternance / Jordi Planas; Switzerland: apprenticeship: the features of the Swiss Dual System / Christine Kubler, Jean-Pierre Gindroz, Alvaro Mellini, Ruedi Jorg and Marc Genilloud; The Netherlands: the links between school and firm-based vocational and technical education: highways to the labour market and pathways to higher education / Peter C. van den Dool and Harry M. Weijs. See TD/TNC 63.219 to TD/TNC 63.229 for the individual chapter entries. Show less

Catalonia is the main contributor to Spain's economy. For a long time it has led strategic investment in research and development in Spain and developed highly successful programmes to attract talent. The region also has a unique identity with its own language and a distinct cultural heritage. Catalonia is now feeling the effects of the economic crisis. How can it prepare for the post-crisis economy with the help of the university system? How can it balance attracting expertise from abroad with nurturing talent among its diverse population? How can it unleash the potential of universities to contribute to local and regional development? This publication is part of the series of OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development. These reviews help mobilise higher education institutions for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. They analyse how the higher education system impacts upon regional and local development and bring together universities, other higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and to work towards them.

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This review of higher education policy in Mexico was undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1994, before Mexico became a member. Higher education in Mexico has witnessed an impressive expansion and its number of enrolments compares with many other OECD countries. A central policy issue is whether higher education provision now meets the needs of society and serves further economic development. The team of OECD experts found that these structures, designed at a time when participation was much more restricted, are now too rigid and complex. The review has led to a number of recommendations on quantitative priorities; equity; quality and relevance; differentiation and flexibility; staff development; and the steering and governance of the system and institutions. Show less

Eastern Germany is well on its way to becoming a modern economy and developing its high growth potential. Start-ups and young businesses have become key contributors to the region's growth due to their dynamism and their capacity to renew the local knowledge base. In the context of a global economic crisis, we need to reflect upon the role of start-ups and their capacity to contribute to local economic development. Over the last years, the entrepreneurship activity gap between western and eastern Germany has been significantly reduced, leading to almost equal levels in both parts of the country. The total business start-up rate in Germany, amongst the age group 18 to 64 years, was 1.7 per cent in 2007. The entrepreneurial potential however, especially amongst the highly qualified, is far from being exhausted. Studies show that in addition to the entrepreneurial culture within regions, education also plays a considerable role in developing entrepreneurial activity. In order to further explore the link between education and entrepreneurship, we requested the OECD to carry out a study on the three east-German university cities of Halle, Rostock and Berlin. The results of this project are very encouraging and the presentation of good practice initiatives in eastern Germany helps us understand how science can support the business-creation process: How many men and women can be identified as potential entrepreneurs? What contributions can be made by universities? What are the links between business creation, university activities and urban and regional economic development policies?

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