A global challenge

Updated on: Monday, February 14, 2011

One of the key global risks that we face is economic disparity, and it was high on the agenda at the World Economic Forum 2011. A reason for rising economic disparity is the failure of education systems to keep pace with the increasing demands of the workplace. What is your view?

It is widely understood that education is key to advancing and sustaining economic vitality, and there is ample evidence to support this. The question of how education systems are able to respond to this is quite complex, however, and the way in which this challenge arises varies across and even within nations.

There are situations in which educational infrastructure is not adequate, others in which it may be adequate but the culture does not adequately focus on the importance of education. There may be inadequate investment to sustain educational structures because of an unwillingness of the public or government to recognise the long-term importance of this investment, and in other cases there can be massive investment but it will simply take time for the fruits of this investment to be realised.

In some nations higher education is outstanding but primary and secondary school education not as strong, and in some cases the converse is the situation. And there are many, many more such variations. The result of this is that we must recognise the importance of education, but likewise recognise that the challenges of realising a full and vital educational system will vary across countries and regions.

The challenge of reducing disparities can be tackled by investing in universal education. What is the role that universities can play to meet the challenge?

Universities are a key component of higher education. With respect to primary and secondary schooling, universities can also play a key role. Universities are almost uniquely positioned to bring a high level of analytic analysis to the many issues that arise in primary and secondary education—from the way in which assessments are used in the classroom, to the nature of school education systems, to the effectiveness of curricula, and more.

This analytic capability can be both enhanced and brought to even better use when the universities themselves participate in operating some schools. Similarly, universities train teachers, and the more this training is based on analytic work the more effective it will be. We have implemented a multi-faceted and ambitious approach to school education at the Urban Education Institute of the University of Chicago and some of this work is being emulated more broadly.

Obviously, we cannot by ourselves address all the issues of school education in Chicago, nor should universities more generally be expected to do this in their own locales. But our experience has shown that universities have a major contribution to make that can be informative to the work of others as well.

Times of India

A global challenge

More Education news