Jamil Salmi

Constructing knowledge societies : new challenges for tertiary education

This report describes how tertiary education contributes to building up a countrys capacity for participation in an increasingly knowledge-based world economy and investigates policy options for tertiary education that have the potential to enhance economic growth and reduce poverty. It examines the following questions: What is the importance of tertiary education for economic and social development? How should developing and transition countries position themselves to take full advantage of the potential contribution of tertiary education? How can the World Bank and other development agencies assist in this process? The report draws on ongoing Bank research and analysis on the dynamics of knowledge economies and on science and technology development. Using this background, it explores how countries can adapt and shape their tertiary education systems to confront successfully the combination of new and old challenges in the context of the rising significance for tertiary education of internal and international market forces. It examines the justification for continuing public support of tertiary education and the appropriate role of the state in support of knowledge-driven economic growth. Finally, it reviews the lessons from recent World Bank experience with support of tertiary education, including ways of minimizing the negative political impact of reforms, and makes recommendations for future Bank involvement.

The road to academic excellence : the making of world-class research universities

For middle-income and developing countries as well as some industrial nations a major challenge for building and sustaining successful research universities is determining the mechanisms that allow those universities to participate effectively in the global knowledge network on an equal basis with the top academic institutions in the world. These research universities provide advanced education for the academic profession, policy makers, and public and private sector professionals involved in the complex, globalized economies of the 21st century. In addition to their contribution to economic development, these universities play a key societal role by serving as cultural institutions, centers for social commentary and criticism, and intellectual hubs. The positive contribution of tertiary education is increasingly recognized as not limited to middle-income and advanced countries, because it applies equally to low-income economies. Tertiary education can help these countries to become more globally competitive by developing a skilled, productive, and flexible labor force and by creating, applying, and spreading new ideas and technologies. A recent study on how to accelerate economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa spells out the crucial contribution of tertiary education in supporting this endeavor (World Bank 2008). It observes that the key for success in a globalized world increasingly lies in how effectively a country can assimilate available knowledge and build comparative advantages in areas with higher growth prospects and how it can use technology to address the most pressing environmental challenges. The main chapters of this book are nine case studies that illustrate what it takes to establish and sustain research universities and help validate the analytical model outlined above, including the paths to building research excellence.

Knowledge and innovation for competitiveness in Brazil

Brazil has made considerable progress toward macroeconomic stability since reform measures began to take hold in the early 1990s, and its economy has produced stronger growth as a result an average of 2.5 percent annually over the past decade. This study provides a broad, cross-sectoral analysis of Brazils capacity for producing knowledge and innovation. As such, it moves beyond the traditional recommendation that is, builds a stable macroeconomic environment and business-friendly physical and policy infrastructure and instead seeks a more comprehensive approach. The fact is that Brazil has delivered some important successes with efforts to develop innovation in agriculture, aerospace and energy. But like other middle-income nations, it is discovering that it must re-evaluate its education system, its information technology infrastructure, and its policy framework for encouraging innovation to ensure that its economy as a whole is growing fast enough to keep up with the global competition while also guaranteeing progress in its fight against poverty. This study was developed in close consultation with Brazilian government and civil society leaders, who are deeply engaged with the question of how to foster innovation and greater economic competitiveness. Indeed, the breadth of the support for this study is a testament to Brazils pragmatism and perseverance in pursuing more robust growth. It is also a welcome reflection of its continually evolving relationship with the World Bank. Today, Brazil has emerged as a leader of efforts to build South-South cooperation. In this role, it can set an important example for other middle-income nations and act as a bridge between the northern and southern hemispheres.

Equity and quality in private eduction: the Haitian paradox

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, has a unique education system. The overwhelming majority of children are enrolled in private schools. In the absence of a functioning system of public schools, religious communities and private operators have become the main providers of educational services. This situation raises the question of the fairness of a system in which the quality of the education children receive is directly related to the level of tuition their families can afford. This paper assesses whether private education is playing an appropriate role in a poor country like Haiti in terms of providing quality education and promoting equity. It also reviews strategies which could allow the government to use its limited financial resources in a more cost-effective and equitable manner.

Transforming higher education in developing countries: the role of the World Bank

The World Bank has actively supported tertiary education reform efforts in a number of countries. Nevertheless, there is a perception that the Bank has not been fully responsive to the growing demand by clients for tertiary education interventions and that, especially in the poorest countries, lending for the subsector has not matched the importance of tertiary education systems for economic and social development. Given these perceptions, the rapid changes taking place in the global environment, and the persistence of the traditions problems of tertiary education in developing and transition countries, reexamining the World Banks policies and experiences in tertiary education has become a matter of urgency.

If Ranking Is the Disease, Is Benchmarking the Cure?

Preoccupations about university rankings reflect the general recognition that economic growth and global competitiveness are increasingly driven by knowledge and that universities play a key role in that context. However, attempts to measure and analyze what works at the tertiary education level have emphasized so far the performance of individual institutions for example in terms of the competitiveness of admissions, research output, and employability of graduates among other factors. While rankings may provide information about individual institutions in comparison to others, they do not provide an adequate measure of the overall strength of a countrys tertiary education system. This article explores, therefore, the appropriateness of rankings as a measure of performance of tertiary education systems. After looking at the uses and abuses of rankings, it explains the difference between rankings and benchmarking methodologies. Finally it presents the World Banks benchmarking tool under construction.

Improving Higher Education in Malawi for Competitiveness in the Global Economy

As the Government of Malawi investigates options to expand access to higher education and improve the quality of higher education provision, the objective of this report is to contribute to an improved understanding of the challenges confronted by the higher education sub-sector in Malawi. The report summarizes the key findings of an in-depth study of factors affecting access and equity in the Malawian higher education sub-sector, the quality and relevance of educational outputs, the financing of the sector, and the frameworks structuring governance of the sector and its management. The study was initiated in response to a request from the Government of Malawi, to the World Bank, to support the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) in its pursuit of financially sustainable policy options to increase equitable access to higher education, and to improve the quality of higher education provision in alignment with the needs of the labor market.

Violence, integrity and education

In many parts of the world, schools, which are supposedly the main social venue for intellectual enrichment and value formation, are often places of suffering and distress, raising important questions about the relationship between violence and education. What are the different forms of violence that can be encountered in a schooling setting? How prevalent are these manifestations of violence? Do they occur in a random fashion or are they associated with specific factors and patterns? What can be done to reduce or eliminate their occurrence? To begin to address these questions, this article is divided into three parts. First, it proposes an analytical framework to identify, in a systematic way, the various forms of violence that can take place within the ambit of school systems. Second, it shows how this typology can be applied along the various analytical dimensions developed. Finally, it reviews ways in which education can be used as a positive force to address violence issues in the school context and beyond.

International Advisory Councils: A New Aspect of Internationalization

International advisory councils—committees of external experts that help universities discuss performance and suggest future direction—are increasingly common. This article discusses how these councils are organized, their roles and functions, and the contributions that they make to universities.

Innovations in the Allocation of Public Funds

Jamil Salmi and Arthur Hauptman Jamil Salmi is coordinator of the World Bank’s Tertiary Education Thematic Group. Arthur Hauptman is an independent public policy consultant specializing in higher education finance issues. Address: The World Bank, 1818 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA. E-mail: Salmi: jsalmi@worldbank.org; Hauptman: hauptman_a@yahoo.com. This article is drawn from a forthcoming World Bank paper on allocation mechanisms.