Increasing educational attainment is one of the most important and effective tools for health and economic improvements. The extent to which extreme climate events disrupt education, resulting in fewer years of schooling and reduced educational attainment, remains under-studied. Children in low- and middle-income countries may be uniquely…

This edited volume explores how youth and informal sector workers in the global south are pioneering learning and livelihoods that exist at the intersections of, and beyond, the boundaries of the state, market, and other formal institutions. Underpinned by research undertaken in the global south, this book discusses how we might better theorise,…

The use of technologies is seen as a solution to provide high-quality education to the disadvantaged population in the Global South, based on the narrative of 'disruption and revolution designed to supplant 'broken' educational practices at the local level' (Gallagher 2019). Rural schools in Colombia are the most vulnerable to a highly unequal…

National-level monitoring of quality of early childhood education (ECE) is key to achieving inclusive and equitable education. Most countries report structural quality while process characteristics are rarely observed at the national level. This study examined the associations between ECE and children's development in a middle-income country using…

This book offers an expert perspective on two key phenomena in the development of the information society, namely digital inclusion and digital exclusion. Despite the intensive digitalization of various areas in human activity, the lack of proper information and communications technology (ICT) literacy, the lack of access to high-speed Internet,…

In the rapidly changing atmosphere of the global economy, productivity has become a very important concept for long-term economic growth, development, regional and global competitiveness, raising social living standards and increasing the level of welfare for countries. In the 21st century, when scientific knowledge, technology, innovation,…

This academic inquiry examines the efficacy of virtual reality (VR)-based pedagogy for higher learning, specifically analyzing immersive digital instruction for rural agriculture undergraduates studying soil science in Colombia. The investigation tests two hypotheses: first, simulated learning situations improve academic achievement and student…

The article investigates the roles of childhood circumstances (including parental socio-economic status, parental education, parental engagement, and sibling composition) and schooling on adult reading skills in low- and middle-income countries. Using regression models and data from surveys of urban labor-force participants in Armenia, Bolivia,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the efficiency of the Colombian higher education system, differentiating between public and private universities. Design/methodology/approach: A data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is applied to separately and jointly evaluate the teaching and research efficiencies of universities. The empirical…

The present study contributes elements to the literature for the understanding of those institutional factors of organizations that promote the creation of spin-offs in universities. Institutional barriers to spin-off creation within universities are addressed from a qualitative perspective. The study was carried out in Colombia, a country with…

This paper is a reflection upon my previous research on an educational reform initiative in Vietnam that was borrowed from Colombia's renowned Escuela Nueva model. In addition to being situated within the global phenomenon of policy lending/borrowing, or policy transfer, this case also reflects the prevalence of policy borrowing in Vietnam's…

In the past decade, hundreds of impact evaluation studies have measured the learning outcomes of education interventions in developing countries. The impact magnitudes are often reported in terms of "standard deviations," making them difficult to communicate to policy makers beyond education specialists. This paper proposes two…

The aim of this article is to examine challenges and motivations among university teachers regarding the use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools in virtual learning environments in the context of an emerging country that is undergoing post-pandemic educational adaptation. A descriptive study was developed with open-ended…

Educational public-private partnerships (EPPPs) promise to increase education access and quality in developing countries, provided they have an adequate design that restricts the distribution of subsidies including targeted programs, centralized controlled enrolment, and accountability. This study investigates the effects of publicly subsidized…

Despite the diversity of views in the literature about what employability skills are, there appears to be general agreement that employability skills are important. However, there are concerns about whether TVET graduates in developing countries are developing these skills and the onus falls upon TVET teachers to ensure they do so. In this…