Learning and skills contribute to economic growth both directly, by improving the skills base available to employers, and indirectly, by underpinning the five foundations of productivity identified by the government: ideas, people, infrastructure, business environment, and places. This is the case for all levels of learning from basic skills to…

The System-wide Collaborative Action for Livelihoods and Environment, or SCALE process, has become one of the Academy for Educational Development's (AED's) and the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) most utilized and replicated models, with applications in education, health, natural resources management, tourism,…

Historically, Chinese educational philosophy has been dominated by Confucianism and, since 1949, by Marxism. However, rapid industrialization, ideological demands, and loyalty to traditions have now led to a situation where various Western philosophies have been adopted into vocational education in hopes of moving the country forward without…

Human Capital development through education is a long time investment made by the state to enhance the well being of her citizenry. By investing in education, well educated individuals bring to bear their talents, knowledge, skills and experiences as they function in the various sectors of the economy. Human Capital development is therefore a…

Recognising both the complexity of skills policies and the potential for peer learning, the OECD has developed a global Skills Strategy that helps countries to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their national skills systems, benchmark them internationally, and develop policies that can transform better skills into better jobs, economic…

Human capital is a broad and multifaceted concept encompassing many different types of investment in people. However, the key aspect of human capital has to do with the knowledge and skills embodied in people. Human capital has always been an extremely important determinant of individual and social progress. In the present scenario, it is the…

The higher education in Nigeria has witnessed a tremendous growth in the last 50 years in terms of producing manpower that could bring about development. However, the problem of Nigeria today is not about human and natural resources, but how to translate the human potentials to meet the realization of its all round development and sustain economic…

Against a backdrop of some two decades of sustained economic growth in Ghana, this paper argues that there are a series of sustainability challenges related to technical and vocational skills development (TVSD) that need to be addressed. This paper analyses several sustainability dimensions of TVSD related to: promoting the sustainability of…

This article presents a concise, historical overview of university extension and continuing education in western Canada. It argues that, over the course of the twentieth century, the major universities in western Canada made three basic claims regarding the purposes of their extension and continuing education units. Prior to 1940, universities…

Higher education in India has grown large since the country's independence in 1947. Starting from a small base, the pace of growth was initially rapid. Initially, the pace of growth was rapid. Enrollments grew by 13 to 14 percent per annum during the 1950s and 1960s. Over the past few decades, the growth rate has declined noticeably. Since then it…

Canada weathered the global economic crisis well, mainly reflecting sustained growth in domestic pending, and the economy is continuing to grow despite the persistence of international turbulence, most recently stemming from the euro zone sovereign debt crisis. In Canada's case, several factors are acting in its favour. Federal fiscal plans are…

Countries in the Arab region are faced with the challenge of developing their populations' skills and technical knowledge, or human capital, in order to compete in the 21st century global economy. The authors describe the education and labor market initiatives implemented or under way in four countries in the Arab region -- Lebanon, Oman, Qatar,…

In the context of aging populations, governments in Australia and in other Western nations fear that slower growth in the numbers of people of working age (15-64 years) will have a dampening effect on economic growth. They are thus considering how to encourage older workers to remain in the workforce beyond the point at which many currently…

Despite economic theory postulating that increases in investment in human capital and physical capital leads to increase in economic growth, in the Kenyan case, this has not been true. This paper empirically examines the contribution of human capital and physical capital to economic growth in Kenya. Measures to be undertaken by higher education…

Presents a summary of research on key aspects of the indirect effects of expanding education from grade six through grade nine, followed by a comprehensive analysis of social rates of return to investment in all levels of education in Indonesia and underemployment in urban and rural areas. (three figures, nine tables, 33 references) (MLF)