Most countries are far from achieving the new sustainable development target of equal access to higher education by 2030, with those in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa furthest behind. This raises questions about the allocation of public resources across the education system to promote equity. We use data from Demographic and Health Surveys and…

This paper looks at how countries have mobilized additional resources for education and assesses their impact on access and learning outcomes, using the World Bank's new Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling measure. The paper shows that global spending on education has risen significantly over the past two decades, although spending as a share of…

The Population Council is building one of the world's largest bodies of research on programs to improve the lives of adolescents, especially girls. For the past two decades, the Council has been identifying best practices, refining the critical elements of girl-centered programs, and using rigorous evidence to help decisionmakers allocate scarce…

This article synthesises findings from two systematic reviews that examined evidence of the link between large-scale assessments (LSAs) and education policy in economically developing countries and in countries of the Asia-Pacific. Analyses summarise evidence of assessment characteristics and policy goals of LSAs that influence education policy,…

This study examined the social and spill-over benefits as motivating factors to investment in formal education in selected countries in Africa. The paper had three objectives, namely) to profile the key statistics of formal schooling; ii) examine the formal education and iii) link national goals of education with expectations in Ghana, Kenya and…

In the past decades, most of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have been affected by armed conflicts. By means of a time-series cross-sectional (TSCS) database, we attempt to measure the impact of war on a sample of 43 countries in Africa from 1950 to 2010. These conflicts, and especially civil wars, are shown to have a strong negative effect on…

To date, less than ten percent of secondary schools in Kenya offer computer studies as a subject in the curriculum despite its perceived role in the nation's socio-economic development. The few schools that have an Information Communication Technology (ICT) programme limit the number of candidates who take up the subject, considering it a…

Three universal demands characterize higher education globally: the demand for higher quality, for increased access, and for greater equity. In East Africa, where resources are highly constrained, no nation has been able to meet these demands on the basis of public expenditures alone. Instead countries have had to increase resources from nonpublic…

Investment in secondary schooling in sub-Saharan Africa has been neglected over the last two decades. Emphasis on universalising primary schooling has shaped national policy and flows of international assistance to favour rapid expansion at the first level of schooling. Though there are many good reasons for this emphasis, this has resulted in…

A study of resource allocation in the Nigerian university system is reported, and results are used to construct a model for budgeting and fund allocation for other African countries. The model is then applied to actual allocations for three universities to determine the extent to which current allocations fit the design of the model. (MSE)

Examines the past and present state of school libraries in Namibia, with an overview of the effect of apartheid on education; and discusses present and future needs for training and equipping of libraries. Statistics, provided in seven figures, show the uneven distribution of materials to schools. (Author/AEF)

Examines educational expenditures, 1975-87, in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Senegal as a proportion of total government expenditures and with regard to resource allocation. Discusses educational expansion during this period; process indicators such as dropout rates, repetition rates, and availability of trained teachers; and…