Creating critical mass has become a cornerstorne of science policy on both national and transnational levels. It suggests that once a certain size is reached, exponential growth or accelerated change will occur. In reconstructing theories, policies and practices associated with critical mass, the paper traces the image of critical mass as a size…

This contribution focuses on Austria and its response to Youth Guarantee (YG) by explaining the reasons of the Austrian government not to participate in the YG, but to continue using a significant part of ESF funding for the 2014-2020 period for programmes with a high intake of young adults. This chapter therefore explores the specifics of an…

This paper is a first effort to systematically document programmatic interventions in five of the ten communities participating in The Jewish Teen Education & Engagement Funder Collaborative, a joint philanthropic effort launched in 2013. The paper identifies patterns and trends reflected in the programmatic choices made by each community. It…

The Commission increased aid for education in emergencies and protracted crises to 10% of its total humanitarian aid in 2019. We assessed how the Commission managed this new level of support. We found that projects were relevant and achieved their expected results, but reached fewer girls than boys. Most projects in our sample were too short…

Many of today's engineering students are seeking international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary educational opportunities that involve acquiring real-world project experiences while working toward making a difference in communities. Even as university teaching and learning is tied to terms and learning modules and therefore has certain…

This article examines a school program operated by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) for Palestinian refugees in Gaza in 1949 and 1950. Drawing on historical records from organizations involved in the broader relief effort, it examines why the school program was set up and how it operated, and considers the lessons it offers for…

Traditionally media production with young people has been characterized by an aspiration to 'give voice' or 'empower youth', but this core value is under threat. Recently, the rationale for undertaking youth media production has shifted to focus on enabling young people to acquire digital and entrepreneurial skills that serve the needs of rapidly…

Lack of adequate access to capital is a major barrier for rural entrepreneurs. Washington State University Extension and the Association of Washington Cities partnered to explore and test an innovative local investment approach that provides access to capital and engages the community in the success of individual businesses. The approach offers…

In this paper we critically examine the research landscape in South Africa. We do this by documenting the progression and transformation of the country's National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated researchers from 2005 to 2015. Results indicate that most NRF-rated researchers in South Africa are white and male but this trend is slowly changing with…

Within the process of harmonizing and strengthening Europe as a competitive knowledge economy education is presented as a basic pillar of economic growth in a multitude of European policy papers. But how do individuals respond to incentives coming from European education politics? (How) are they appropriating given targets and how do they engage…

This paper examines an "experimental" program in African American adult education that took place at the Harlem branch of the New York Public Library in the early 1930s. The program, called the Harlem Experiment, brought together a group of white funders (the Carnegie Corporation and the American Association for Adult Education)--who…

The purpose of this paper is to highlight, using examples, how the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Jamaica) is strategically using a modest internal research development fund, which is managed by the research managers in its research and innovation management office, to support impactful research projects. Critical reflection and the…

This article briefly reviews the social, political, and economic context that explains the present status of elementary language education in the United States and addresses the challenges identified by recent reports on the state of language education in the United States. Different curricular models of world language education--exploratory,…

Texas educates the second-most students in the country with a home language other than English. Students are identified as English learners (EL) based on a state language assessment that evaluates a student's primary language other than English to determine if the student qualifies for additional support to develop the English language skills…

In the last decades, the documentation of endangered languages has advanced greatly in the Americas. In this paper we survey the role that international funding programs have played in advancing documentation in this part of the world, with a particular focus on the growth of documentation in Brazil, and we examine some of the major opportunities…