Between 1970 and 2000, the U.S. high-school graduation stagnated while in many other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries it rose markedly. By 2000, the high school graduation rate in the United States ranked 13th among the 19 OECD countries for which comparable data are available. Evidence from two independent…

Background: This study was originally prepared for the African Inter-Ministerial Conference on Literacy (September 2007) with the objective of analysing the costs of successful adult literacy programmes run both by government ministries, as well as international and national non-governmental organisations. Objectives: This study aims to increase…

Discusses the continuing education program at the University of Oklahoma as a basis for comparison with Great Britain. Topics include funding, appropriate teaching approaches, types of staffing, competition with junior and community colleges, business and industry involvement, and attitude of the public. (CT)

Compulsory education is the fundamental education for citizens and is the source of state power, which radically determines thought level, political awareness, cultural sense and production ability of the entire nation. Therefore, to popularize compulsory education is the root of a country. This paper explains the meanings of compulsory education,…

Examines the implications of a British plan to provide one-year paid traineeships to all unemployed 16 year-old school dropouts. Rising youth unemployment has prompted proposals for new postsecondary vocational and technical education programs. The program's impact on the secondary curriculum and postsecondary educational systems and on program…

Discusses the Canada Studies Foundation as a Canadian approach to curriculum development and provincial cooperation, and includes two brief cross-national comparisons, one with the United States and the other with the United Kingdom. (Editor/RK)

The Hong Kong system of student loans for higher education has worked efficiently since 1969. Many factors in its success are location-specific, but other governments may both learn from and contribute to the Hong Kong experience. (MSE)

The latest data on public expenditures show that since 1973 world expenditures on education have exceeded military expenditures in developed nations, but that the opposite situation prevails in developing nations. Beginning with 1965, this article summarizes these expenditures for the world as a whole, including developed and developing nations.…

Examines a three-tiered class structure: a mass lecture followed by small group instruction followed by student-directed discussion sessions. Course evaluations by staff and students were generally favorable to this approach. Discusses the design of other economically efficient educational processes. For journal availability, see SO 506 073. (JK)

The Kikuyu seminar, third in a series of international meeting on the use of comparative studies as a tool of adult education, focused on the application of the comparative approach to developing countries, particularly Africa. Essential components of the structure of adult education were divided into main sectors, which are individually discussed…

Aspects of American and British postsecondary education are compared. Two lessons are seen in the American system: (1) it is easy to establish a mass-access system and difficult to reverse the process; and (2) providing undergraduate courses in community colleges is cheaper than providing them in research universities. (MSE)

Reports on a study of the way children are provided for in Scandinavia and explores those aspects of the child-care system which are potentially adaptable to American needs. Topics include prenatal and health care, parental leave, home child care, and the cost of education. (IAH)

Examines another dimension of the vocational training issue, namely the relationship of training and performance in specific jobs. It explores the relative effects of alternative types of job training on the performance and promotion of tradesmen in a large, modern factory in south India. (Author)

Financial and other support services for undergraduate students in West Germany's Fernuniversitat are compared with those of Britain's Open University and the factors influencing the problems and successes of each are discussed. These factors include administrative problems, costs, regional cooperation, and admission criteria. (MSE)

Changes in higher education that affect teaching and research are addressed in the proceedings of the 1982 forum of the European Association for Institutional Research. In addition to six invited papers on adaptation or guidance of universities, papers on faculty, resources and cost indicators, research facilities and equipment, and institutional…