Higher education's ability to retain students through to graduation appears to be an international challenge. This is also the case in South Africa where only 27% of student complete their studies in minimum time and where 55% are unlikely to ever graduate. These challenges have meant that extended degree programmes, where degrees are formally…

This publication is the outcome of the international conference organized by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), in collaboration with the Centre for Validation of Prior Learning at Inholland University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, and in partnership with the French National Commission for UNESCO that was held in Hamburg in…

Within the context of work-based learning, this article reviews the available evidence that supports the assumptions behind, and the claims made for the practice of accrediting prior experiential learning. Many of the claims made for accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) were found not to have been substantiated and some of the…

In the light of the uncertainty surrounding the new National Senior Certificate that was written in South African schools for the first time in 2008, this article aims to examine the new Grade 12 National Senior Certificate results quantitatively in the context of the Grade 11 application score for entry into higher education and the Grade 12…

The Education Action Zone programme in Gauteng province, South Africa, has been widely seen as a very successful school improvement initiative, with particular significance as it represents a unique model of top-down, bureaucratic accountability as a vehicle for turning- around dysfunctional secondary schools. In this article I evaluate the impact…

Recent research has identified trends in the training systems of 13 countries in Africa (Egypt, Mauritius, South Africa); the Arab States (Bahrain, Jordan); Asia (Australia, Fiji, Malaysia); Eastern Europe (Albania, Slovenia); Western Europe (Ireland, Portugal); and the Mediterranean region (Malta). The trends identified are legislation;…

These 24 papers represent the proceedings of a program presented by the research network on vocational education and training (VET). They include "School-Arranged or Market-Governed Workplace Training?" (Ulla Arnell-Gustafsson); "Prospects for Mutual Learning and Transnational Transfer of Innovative Practice in European VET"…

A comparison of vocational training and technical qualification systems in Korea and South Africa shows both countries are responding to similar changes in economic and enterprise structures. South Africa's work experience learnership system is more desirable than Korea's more traditional separation between formal education and workplace training,…