This paper is an attempt to sketch a historical, cultural and social background of recent educational developments in Qatar, briefly review the traditions of western liberal arts education with its goals and teaching and learning methodologies, explain its benefits and their relevance to Muslim Qatari students of universities in Education City in…

Within the context of neoliberal globalization, portrayals of "literacy" and "knowledge" are increasingly emphasized for their instrumental value for individuals and markets. At the same time, locally situated movements have emerged to challenge, resist, and transform these representations. This article examines a grassroots…

Various accounts have noted a growing visibility and influence of presidents, governors, and mayors in the shaping of educational policy. Typically, explanations for this are discrete and situational: specific to particular levels of government, particular jurisdictions, particular visionary leaders, and transitory external events. This article…

With a view to meeting the demands of the knowledge economy and taking up a leading role in its further development, Europe and its member states are urging universities and institutions for higher education more generally to innovate and modernise themselves. Organisational structures, governance and management systems, curricula and teaching…

European policy-makers hope that by 2010 tertiary education in European countries will be "connected" and become the much sought for European Higher Education Area. The reforms currently unfolding will modernize the daily practices of European higher education institutions. From transferability of degrees, employing a credit-based system…

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…

Corruption in higher education is known but not described theoretically. Decentralization and privatization of higher education and the increasing scale and scope of corruption in higher education in the former Soviet Bloc, as well as numerous other countries, urges better understanding of the problem within the context of socio-economic…

The study was concerned with the range of public and private provision of secondary education and how it is configured in terms of key dimensions of participation, staffing, curriculum, management and costs. It sought to explore how private schools have been developing to meet rapidly growing demand for secondary education of different types in…

This paper focuses on approaches by non-government organisations (NGOs) to reach primary school-aged children excluded from access to the conventional state education system. It highlights recent shifts in international literature and agency priorities from the portrayal of NGO provision as a (non-formal) "alternative" to (formal) state…

While 2010 was originally stated as being the end point for the creation of the European Higher Education Area through the Bologna Process, it is in fact a point along the way. The journey from Sorbonne (1998) to Bologna (1999) towards 2010 has seen an expansion of the number of signatory states (from 4 to 29 to 46) and a broadening of the…

This article examines the changing nature of comprehensive schooling in Finland since the 1990s and focuses on analysing the impact of the changes on equity and equality of opportunity. Comparisons are made between the development of "school markets" in the south of the country and the situation in the north of the country where the case…

Identities are constructed throughout people's lives. In this paper, I explored the emerging reading identities of 10 adults who were pursuing GED (General Educational Development) credentials. While part of a much larger study that included many data sources, this paper draws on interview data to examine how one group of adults positioned…

This article charts the development of education in the lower Arabian Gulf from its traditional beginnings in the nineteenth century to the provision of more formal schooling and eventually a ministry of education following Britain's withdrawal from the region in 1971. In order to provide a better understanding of the complexities and relative…

Learner retention in adult secondary education has been studied only with respect to the General Educational Development (GED) preparation program. This paper compares the retention of learners enrolled in the GED preparation program to those enrolled in two other adult secondary completion program options. It discusses why significantly higher…

This article reports on the dispute about the creation of an institute named for the late economist and free-market advocate Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago. Five months after the University of Chicago announced plans to invest $200-million in an economics institute named for the late Milton Friedman, the project is still generating…