This paper examines how entrepreneurial visions of the future contribute to neoliberalism's appropriation of language learning as a strategy for capital accumulation. Taking as an example South Korea's heavy investment in children's English language learning -- commonly known as early English education ("yeongeo jogi gyoyuk") -- it…

These Key Indicators on Education, Skills and Employment (KIESE) are a collection of statistics that are part of a broader set of indicators proposed by the ETF to enable an assessment of developments in the field of human capital in the partner countries. They include data on education, initial vocational education and training, lifelong…

This paper builds a model of human capital accumulation driven by increasing specialization of the workforce. Individuals increase the efficiency of time dedicated to human capital acquisition by focusing investments on narrower sets of skills. The evolution of secondary and post-secondary curricula in the United States from 1870-2000 confirms the…

What is the University today? In this paper, a Foucault and Deleuzo-Guattarian inspired approach is taken. I argue that the University is, today, a site of "neoliberal governmentality," which governs students and academics as sites of human capital. That is, students and academics are governed to self-govern themselves as sites of human…

Lifelong learning has become a catchword in almost all countries because of its growing influence on education policies in the globalised world. In the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU), the promotion of lifelong learning has been a strategy to speed up economic growth and become competitive.…

This paper critically examines conceptions of international employability. Drawing on a study of stakeholder views on the employability curriculum at the Malaysia campus of a British university, the paper questions whether there is an identifiable notion of international employability. Contrasting the perceptions of Malaysians and expatriates,…

In this provocative volume, Chester E. Finn, Jr., and Brandon L. Wright argue that, for decades, the United States has done too little to focus on educating students to achieve at high levels. The authors identify two core problems: First, compared to other countries, the United States does not produce enough high achievers. Second, students from…

This article examines the effects of synthesising existing theoretical approaches to understanding the effects of adult learning. The paper focuses on aspects of the findings of a small Australian research project that explored the significance of everyday learning in people's lives. One key part of the research involved examining and synthesising…

Achieving tenure and promotion are significant milestones in the career of a university faculty member. However, research indicates that racialized and female faculty do not achieve tenure and promotion at the same rate as their non-racialized and male counterparts. Using new survey data on faculty in eight Canadian universities, this article…

Purpose: Economic problems of the system of education were the object of interest of classics of economic science--A. Smith and A. Marshall--who viewed education as a source of public capital, and acquired skills and competences--as a part of national wealth. These ideas were further developed in the theory of human capital by T. Schultz, G.S.…

It is widely believed that the time children spend with parents significantly impacts human capital formation. If time varies significantly between black and white children, this may help explain the large racial gap in test scores and wages. In this study, I use data from the American Time Use Survey to examine the patterns in the time black and…

One hundred years of research (1916-2016) on intellectually precocious youth is reviewed, painting a portrait of an extraordinary source of human capital and the kinds of learning opportunities needed to facilitate exceptional accomplishments, life satisfaction, and positive growth. The focus is on those studies conducted on individuals within the…

Responding to David Stoesz's invited article criticizing the Children's Bureau and the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI), the author's inaccurate assertions are challenged, and new information is provided about the significant work underway to support the child welfare workforce. The Children's Bureau has made historic investments…

As undergraduate degrees have become increasingly common and their relative value has declined, employers increasingly look for evidence other than human capital that can distinguish one candidate from another. Both social and personal capital are important in this respect, but also create disadvantages for university graduates from less…

The Scandinavian countries currently face their largest ever wave of immigration. The immigration wave increases the need for immigrants to learn the host language to be able to participate in work life and become a citizen of the host country. Yet, the language training programmes -- 'Swedish for Immigrants' in Sweden have come under great…