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Yunnan is a medium-sized Chinese province that has experienced rapid economic growth rates over the last decade and is expected to maintain an annual growth rate of 10 per cent or higher. This report investigates the readiness of the province and its education and training system to meet the skills challenges of rapid economic growth, and the nature of the skills required to achieve economic and social transformation.

The report begins with a demand-side analysis, examining historical trends in demand for skills, revealing the types of skills in demand, and projecting future demand for skills driven by economic growth and policy development. It also highlights the emerging skills shortages and mismatches in Yunnan. The rest of the report focuses on the access, quality, and relevance of Yunnan's education and training system and how effective it is in supplying the skills in demand. An overview of Yunnan's formal and non-formal education and training system is presented, followed by a focus on the formal technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system, examining its governance, industry participation, curriculum reforms, quality assurance, and finances. Analysis of the formal education and training system focuses mainly on secondary and tertiary TVET. The next section of the report addresses two major training programs outside the formal education system: non-formal training for rural workers and work-based training for urban workers, both of strategic importance. Finally, drawing on lessons from the Shanghai Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, the role of schools in developing the cognitive skills of 15-year-olds is demonstrated. The report concludes with a summary of findings and a set of policy recommendations for meeting the skills challenges and improving the education and training system.

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Despite internal conflict and the global financial crisis, Sri Lanka has continued to progress over the past decade, experiencing economic growth and substantially reducing poverty. Sri Lankan has a 98 per cent literacy rate, widespread access to education and training, high completion rates in both primary and secondary education, and gender parity in general education. However, the authors note that skills shortages and mismatches are widespread, and firms with undereducated employees and a shortage of skilled labour are less productive. The authors propose a skills development system to help diversify Sri Lanka’s economy, improve its labour productivity and competitiveness, offer the country the flexibility to compete effectively in the global economy, and further reduce poverty in the country. Skills demand and supply are analysed along with how skills are formed, what factors shape skills demand, and how responsive the education and training system is. Suggestions are also offered for improving skills development so that Sri Lanka can meet its economic growth and poverty-reduction goals.

Chapter two describes the general education and training system in Sri Lanka, especially the [technical and vocational education and training] TVET sector. Chapter three examines the main drivers of skills demand and skills mismatches and gaps in Sri Lanka. Chapter four studies the relationship between education, training, and labour market outcomes, including skills already available in the workforce. Chapters five and six analyse factors affecting the skills supply system, such as cost, financing, and governance, and private sector provision. Chapter seven briefly reviews firm-based training in Sri Lanka based on evidence from the employer survey. Chapter eight assesses workforce development policies in Sri Lanka based on the World Bank’s Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) framework. Finally, chapter nine provides the summary of main findings and outlines possibilities for the way forward in skills development in Sri Lanka.

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The revival of economic growth across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) since the beginning of the millennium is a heartening development. Sustaining it over the indefinite future is not only a necessity, but also a challenge of the first order. The key to economic success in a globalized world lies increasingly in how effectively a country can assimilate the available knowledge and build comparative advantage in selected areas with good growth prospects. Increasing the relevance of tertiary education and research in Sub-Saharan Africa will enable the region to increase its comparative advantage by pushing the frontiers of technology through innovation, encourage the diversification of products and services, and maximize returns from capital assets through more efficient allocation and management. African countries have gone far in achieving high levels of literacy and raising primary enrollments. This progress is providing a foundation for future development. Now it is necessary to move quickly to acquire the higher-order skills and expertise that will allow African countries to add value in existing economic activities and enter new industries and services. [This publication] compellingly spells out the case for more knowledge-intensive growth and demands increasing attention to secondary and, most importantly, post-secondary education. It demonstrates why tertiary education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa must become better aligned with national economic development and poverty reduction strategies, and has identified the benefits likely to be associated with such a shift in perspective.

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South Asia is in the midst of a demographic transition. For the next three decades, the growth of the region's working age population will far outpace the growth of dependents. Close to one million individuals will enter the workforce every month. This large, economically active population can increase the region's capacity to save and make crucial investments in physical capital, job training, and technological advancement. But for South Asia to realize these dividends, it must ensure that its working-age population is productively employed. As one of the most prominent labor-intensive industries in developing countries, apparel manufacturing is a prime contender.

With around 4.7 million workers in the formal sector and another estimated 20.3 million informally employed (combined with textiles), apparel already constitutes close to 40 per cent of manufacturing employment. And given that much of apparel production continues to be labor-intensive, the potential to create more and better jobs is immense. There is a huge window of opportunity now for South Asia, given that China, the dominant producer for the last 10 years, has started to cede some ground due to higher wages. But the region faces strong competition from East Asia - with Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam already pulling ahead. Plus the sector suffers from production inefficiencies and policy bottlenecks that have prevented it from achieving its potential.

Against this backdrop, this report hopes to inform the debate by measuring the employment gains that the four most populous countries in South Asia - Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (hereafter 'SAR countries') - can expect in this new environment of increased competition and scrutiny. Its main message is that it is important for South Asian economies to remove existing impediments and facilitate growth in apparel to capture more production and create more employment as wages rise in China. The successful manufacturers will be those who can supply a wide range of quality products to buyers rapidly and reliably - not just offer low costs.

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This study examines current research and new evidence from Ghana and Pakistan - representative of two of the poorest regions of the world - to assess how education can increase income and help people move out of poverty. This study indicates that in addition to early investments in cognitive and noncognitive skills - which produce a high return and lower the cost of later educational investment by making learning at later ages more efficient - quality, efficiency, and linkages to the broader macro-economic context also matter. Education and relevant skills are still the key determinants of good labor market outcomes for individuals. However, education policies aimed at improving skills will have a limited effect on the incomes of that skilled workforce or on the performance of a national economy if other policies that increase the demand for these skills are not in place. For education to contribute to national economic growth, policies should aim at improving the quality of education by spending efficiently and by adapting the basic and postbasic curricula to develop the skills increasingly demanded on the global labor market, including critical thinking, problem solving, social behavior, and information technology.

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