Discusses the relationship between funding, management, and quality assurance in engineering education in developing countries. Presents a few case studies on problems of accreditation and quality assessment in larger developing countries such as India and the Philippines, and also in very small developing countries such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji,…

The on going debate about the (World Trade Organisation) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) framework brings out conflicting views about cross-border education the world over. Between the enthusiastic views of trade promoters, at one end, and the sceptical reflections of academics with a traditional outlook, at the other, there are many…

For many years, poverty has dominated international headlines as a global condition. In some countries, poverty has become a chronic socioeconomic problem. This qualitative study explored the incorporation process of poverty into adult identity and assessed the nature of the learning that occurred. Destitute adults in Botswana were chosen and used…

Why has science expanded more in some nations rather than others? The few studies addressing this issue have attributed variation in science to differences in economic development and religion. This article discusses additional explanations, including the impact of domestic political structure, colonialism, and world-system dependency. Also,…

This is a compilation of reports on international literacy research. The report includes 4 separate reports on Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia. In the first report, research correspondent Marta Infante reports on two studies that reflect the growing interest of Chilean professionals in studying reading-related factors such as phonemic…

Sustainable development is basically about learning. It is a process that develops awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the environment and critical thinking skills. It is about respecting, valuing, and preserving the achievements of past generations. The socialization patterns of past centuries taught people to live unsustainably, thereby…

In order to benefit from e-learning, companies should conduct considerable up-front analysis to assess their readiness. There are a number of instruments in the market that can be used for assessing readiness for e-learning. However, almost all of these instruments are developed to be used in countries that have a mature field of human resources…

The reports seem contradictory. With about three billion dollars per year in new loan commitments, the World Bank has become the single largest source of development capital in the field of international education. These resources help expand educational opportunities for young women in South Asia and rebuild primary schools following civil…

Improving science education is often regarded as a priority for developing countries in order to promote longterm economic development. Thus initiatives, both government and foreign-aid sponsored, aimed at improving science education in developing countries abound. However, all too often the focus of such initiatives is limited to the development…

Educators must know their students' backgrounds to effectively increase their knowledge and skills. In determining the best delivery approach, educators must also understand the "market" in which their students will likely work after their formal education. While many students from developing countries attend universities in developed…

What can Montessorians learn from teaching in a war-torn country, and what can they hope to share with others in the process? These questions were much on the author's mind when she went to Sri Lanka in the summer of 2003. This article contains excerpts from e-mails the author sent home, chronicling her experience teaching two high school English…

This article investigates the effectiveness of improvising locally available materials for teaching chemistry in Nigeria, as a case for a culture of improvisation for teaching the sciences in developing countries. The scarcity and cost of imported materials for teaching science has remained a major challenge to teaching sciences in developing…

Within and beyond Africa, it is the public sector much more than the private sector that is the scene of strikes and other forms of disorder, conflict and difficulty. Yet the private sector can be much affected by the public problems. Effects may be simultaneously positive for the private sector and deleterious for the public sector. Although a…

This discussion paper provides an overview and analytic guide to long term planning of education systems in the context of Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals. Long term gains in educational access depend on anticipating future financial and non-financial constraints on growth and on successful implementation of plans which…

The third in a series published by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), this booklet reproduces five addresses and one article from late 2006 and early 2007. This collection of speeches is entitled "Learning for Development" because that is the focus of the work of the COL's work. The addresses presented here were given at the opening and…