Under the Saudi Vision 2030, the Ministry of Education (MoE) is responsible for educating Saudi Arabia's youth and preparing them for future employment. The recent expansion of higher education institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia both in terms of quantity and quality demonstrates the government's belief that higher education is critical to…

This occasional paper provides the views of 17 "thought leaders" in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector. Their insight and opinions were sought to inform a larger research project focused on the student entitlement reforms that were introduced into the national VET system from 2012. These individuals offered a…

Quality outcomes from vocational education and training (VET) are fundamental to ensuring a skilled workforce and supporting a productive economy. In a competency-based training system, assessment is the gatekeeper for quality. Audits undertaken by the Australian Skills and Quality Authority (ASQA) have identified concerns with compliance against…

The objective of this "backgrounder" is to better understand the contributions of universities to innovation in Finland, as a means of widening the consideration of policy options in Australia. Finland is a small but advanced industrial economy with limited resources and markets, dependent on external trade and the internationalisation…

This article addresses the broad-based reform movement led by state and federal policy makers and designed to increase dramatically the number of students graduating from the nation's colleges and universities. This movement--known as "the completion agenda"--aims to collect more and better data about students' educational progress toward degrees,…

The New Opportunities Initiative (NOI) is a Portuguese flagship programme to recognise and accredit prior learning (RPL, APL) and to endow low-skilled adults with upper secondary qualifications, which is defined as the minimum entry threshold to the exercise of a full citizenship in a knowledge-rich society. NOI's major achievement has been its…

In Australia, as in the UK, much of the skills debate in research education has reflected a deficit model, whereby candidates are deemed to be in need of supplementary training. In response to the demands of employers and governments, most universities have added employability skills to postgraduate curricula, while simultaneously boosting their…

America's secondary schools are failing far too many of their students. Policymakers and members of the education community generally agree that the problems in America's high schools have reached crisis proportions in recent years. Transforming schools and educating all students well requires thoughtful, coordinated, systemic change. To ensure…

Society is becoming increasingly aware of the need for education to play a key role in integrating knowledge and understanding about sustainability into practical, vocational skills which can be used in the workplace. Education for sustainability is now a widely accepted concept which seeks to promote and develop sustainability skills and…

This document records the oral and written testimony of more than 50 witnesses who testified in a series of hearings held by a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on establishing a streamlined top quality and efficient system of work force preparation for young people and dislocated workers. The hearings focused on what the federal role…

The conference reported in this document focused on the issues surrounding the progress of urban public schools in bringing about reforms aimed at providing the nation's future workforce with marketable skills, obtainable only through education. Section 1, "Perspectives on Educating Tomorrow's Workforce," contains the following articles:…

Economic inequality is tearing our civil society apart. Addressing this problem through school governance reforms (vouchers, privatization, and charter schools), or curriculum changes (teaching new basic skills), or a new instructional focus (Rifkin's civil sector) ignores the real challenge: redistributing wealth and softening inequalities.…

Establishment of a national-state system of world-class occupational skill standards is a first step in restructuring adult vocational-technical education and job training programs. Occupational skills standards provide the necessary foundation for addressing three major state policy issues: the state's proper role in private work-based training,…

This book looks at ways European governments can create changes in institutions that will foster cooperation among states, focusing on company investment in general skills and using data from France and Germany. Chapter one provides a general description of the challenges governments face in developing policies to change company-level vocational…

A heuristic revolution, a new wave of learning technology, is about to transform not only the nature of education and training but the entire U.S. economy. By the end of the century, "knowledge jobs" will be the main employment of nearly three out of four workers in the U.S. economy. Swiftly progressing technologies are making automated…