UNESCO paper shows governments not keeping pace with growing demand for higher education
A new policy paper from the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report and the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) at UNESCO shows that the number of university level students doubled to 207 million between 2000 and 2014. Governments are struggling to keep pace with rapidly rising demand and large disparities in access, with a large cost of higher education often falling to families, many of whom cannot afford it.
The new paper, Six ways to ensure higher education leaves no one behind, sets out a series of measures to make higher education more equitable and affordable, including to ensure that student loan repayments do not exceed 15% of a student’s monthly income. Anything more threatens to leave the disadvantaged behind.
“By creating and transmitting vital knowledge, skills and core values, higher education is a cornerstone for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO. “Demand for higher education is going to continue rising. Governments must respond by introducing a range of new policies that will ensure expansion doesn’t leave the marginalised behind, and that access is based on merit, not privilege.”
Analyzing global trends, the paper also shows that only 1% of the poorest students have spent more than four years in higher education, compared to 20% of the richest.
In South Africa, around one-sixth of blacks and coloreds attended higher education in 2013, compared to over 50% of whites. Similarly, in Mexico, less than 1% of the indigenous population attend higher education. In China, youth from rural areas are seven times less likely to attend university than students from urban areas.
Access to higher education has expanded most rapidly in wealthier countries: Only 8% of young adults are enrolled on average in the poorest countries, compared to 74% in the richest countries. The greatest gender disparities are found among the poorest countries as well. Women made up only 30% of bachelor students in low-income countries in 2014.
“In certain countries with deeply rooted social inequities, affirmative action through quota or bonus systems may be necessary to expand access to underrepresented groups, even if these mechanisms are controversial,” says Suzanne Grant Lewis, director of the IIEP.
Private colleges and universities have expanded to cater to the growing pool of students, enrolling 30% of all students worldwide, rising to 50% in Latin America.
Governments can’t keep pace financially with this expansion and families are left with the tab. Across 26 countries in Europe, households paid for 15% of the cost of higher education in 2011. In other high-income countries, household expenditures were even higher: 40% in Australia, 46% in the USA, 52% in Japan, and 55% in Chile.
UNESCO, the only UN organization with responsibility for higher education, advises governments to use a combination of policies aimed at helping the disadvantaged, such as low tuition fees, need-based scholarships and loans repayments adjusted according to income, to help families manage the costs. The paper draws on a range of examples to show how different countries are expanding and diversifying higher education offerings to achieve greater equity.
“The last thing we want is for higher education to be the ball and chain around students’ ankles,” said Aaron Benavot, Director of the GEM Report. “Coping with dramatic student expansion is not easy, but there are policy solutions governments can put into place to stop the bill falling to households.”
Six specific recommendations are given to policy makers to make higher education equitable and affordable for all:
- Keep an eye on the target: Make sure those who need help the most are getting it.
- Put it into law: Guarantee equity and affordability in regulatory frameworks
- Step up monitoring: Establish national agencies to ensure equal opportunities
- Vary admissions criteria: Use different admissions criteria to respond to different individuals’ needs
- Provide varied student aid: Establish an agency to coordinate different forms of student aid, such as loans and grants
- Limit student loan repayments to <15 annual="" income.="" li="" of="" their="">15>
CPR is pleased to invite you to the second lecture in a series on ‘Globalisation in Question’:
Hyperglobalisation is Dead. Long Live Globalisation
Monday, 8 May 2017, 4:30 – 6:00 p.m.
|Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research|
In the recent years, the international system has witnessed a series of developments which possibly portend tectonic shifts in the global political economy. This lecture attempts to examine and contextualise these developments to understand what they mean for the open global system and for India’s role in it.
Arvind Subramanian is the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, and is on leave from his position as the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He has also served as Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development. He has written on growth, trade, development, institutions, aid, oil, India, Africa, and the World Trade Organisation, and has published widely in academic and other journals.
This is the second in our series of monthly lectures on “Globalisation in Question”, where we will draw upon renowned scholars and practitioners to address specific undercurrents of globalisation and their impact on a variety of issue areas.
Pune, April 21, 2017: PGTI Order of Merit leader Shamim Khan of Delhi and Panchkula’s Angad Cheema emerged halfway leaders at the Pune Open 2017 after both shot second round scores of three-under-68 at the Poona Club Golf Course on Friday. The duo led the field by one stroke at five-under-137.
The cut was set at two-over-73 with 54 professionals making it to the money rounds.
Angad Cheema (69-68) gained four places from his overnight tied fifth place as a result of his 68 in round two. Angad, a former winner on the PGTI, didn’t have the best of starts as he dropped two strokes on the first three holes. The 27-year-old rallied with five birdies thereafter.
After a couple of good chip-putt birdies on the seventh and ninth, Cheema, drove the green on the par-4 10th to set up his third birdie of the day. Two birdie conversions from seven to 10 feet on the 13th and 14th elevated Angad to joint first. The Panchkula lad, however, missed out on taking the sole lead when he three-putted for par on the closing 18th.
“I’ve played really well on the first two days but on both days there’s been one stretch that has troubled me and that’s the first three holes. I bogeyed those three holes yesterday and today again I bogeyed the second and third. I really need to improve on that stretch and play it smarter there,” said the lanky Cheema.
He added, “I’ve been working on figuring out a few things with my coach. I’ve worked on my swing and my consistency. I’ve shot one good score and then not been able to repeat that effort in the following rounds in recent events. I’m now more confident when swinging a club.
“I’ve hit 14 to 15 greens in regulation on each of the first two days. I would like to continue doing the same in the next two rounds. However, I need to watch out on the first three holes.”
Shamim Khan (69-68), like Cheema, also followed up his first round 69 with a 68 on day two to move up four places to joint first. Shamim, who won the last PGTI event staged at the Poona Club Golf Course in 2012, made steady progress through the day.
He picked up two birdies on his back-nine, the second of which was from 20 feet, before adding two more on the first and seventh. The approach on the first was the highlight of his round as he landed it within a foot from a distance of 175 yards. Khan’s only blemish was the three-putt for bogey on the eighth.
Shamim, who won in Kolkata last month, said, “I’ve won here before so that will be a big psychological advantage for me going into the last two rounds. I struggled a bit yesterday since chipping was tougher in the afternoon with the greens being faster. But it was a better round today.
“I quite enjoy playing at this course as the layout and the shape of the holes suit my game. I played some terrific approach shots today that set up many scoring opportunities. It’s been a very consistent season for me so far and I would like to keep it going,” added Shamim, who has a win and four other top-5s to his credit from the six starts this season.
Patna’s Aman Raj shot the day’s joint best score of five-under-66 to share third place with Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi (70) at four-under-138.
Viraj Madappa of Kolkata, one shot behind in tied fifth, was the other player who fired a 66 on Friday. He shared fifth place with round one leader Sudhir Sharma (72) of Greater Noida and three others at three-under-139.
The Chandigarh duo of defending champion Harendra Gupta (74) and KPS Sekhon (74) slipped from overnight tied second to tied 18th at even-par-142. Bengaluru’s Udayan Mane was also in tied 18th place.
The two Pune-based professionals who made the cut, were Saurabh Bhaduri, who was placed tied 25th at one-over-143, and Sameer M Shaikh, who was a further shot back in tied 31st. Mumbai’s Anil Bajrang Mane occupied tied 39th place at three-over-145.
World’s 1st online museum for Vintage & Current Coins, Stamps & Currency Notes celebrated their first anniversary by offering a Free Bonanza for Coins & Currency Note collectors from 21st to 23rd April 2017 at “Shukla Day Fair’, World Trade Centre Cuffe Parade
- Invited collectors to get a coin or currency note from their precious collection, which is currently not in circulation. Got it professionally clicked and the digital image of its soft copy was gifted to them for FREE
- Announced 2 unique features “Mintage Photo Pro” & “Mintage Image Match” to enhance the experience & knowledge of the collector’s precious collection
- The museum also home delivers various accessories that are used to clean, store, preserve and restore a collectors valuable coins, stamps & notes collection
21st April 2017, Mumbai: Launched with an objective to impart and share knowledge. This museum aspires to create interest within the general public, hobbyists, students, scholars, collectors, dealers, investors, buyers & sellers. It brings together experts and researchers to share their experience with the lovers of these rare collectibles. Mintage world is a wonderful way to educate the contemporary world about the rich global historical heritage, tradition & culture. This online museum imparts rare information such as detailed catalogues of stamps, coins and currency notes from worldwide all under one roof.
Every coin in this online museum is uploaded with well curated important aspect like mintmarks, inscription details, weight, metal, denomination, the ruling emperor, date of issue etc. Similarly you would also find crucial insights of stamps like the issue date, type of stamp, perforation, value etc. Information about notes is updated with signatory details, motif description, denomination, date of issue, type of note etc.
Apart from that, the news section keeps you updated with the most recent happenings, latest releases and topical news from worldwide along with respective images in all the 3 sectors. A Unique event calendar will give you prior notifications about the various events, auctions, seminars and forums held worldwide in this sector. A regularly updated blog, run by a team of experts, researchers and writers throws light on some of the most interesting stories that you might have never come across about your favorite hobby till date.
- Mintage Photo Pro : Using this unique feature, Collectors & Hobbyists can get their valuable collections Professionally, aesthetically & Digitally photographed in the right ambience. Making them share it with anyone & eliminating physical carriage of it
- Mintage Image Match : One who don’t know much of their coins or notes can simply click a picture of it and upload it on the website. The museum’s immense database will provide the closest reference of the said item detailing the make, origin, mint, Dynasty, ruler, rarity and other details
Till date www.mintageworld.com has 1 lakh registered members, 2 lakh Facebook followers and 3,300 News articles. The museum has a unique “Historical Articles”, “News”, & “Blogs” section by experts who give all information, amazing facts and all update in this sector.
We aim at becoming the world’s best online community that works towards promoting these highly educational and noble hobbies of coin, notes and stamp collection.
“The Other Thought: French-Indian Encounters on Creativity and Innovation”.
Wednesday, April 26 at Institut français India, 9 AM onwards.
The Embassy of France in India, in association with Institut français India has great pleasure in announcing Copyright engagement in creation, appreciation and collection: A seminar for artists, historians and critics, curators, art dealers and consultants, collectors and museums. This event will take place on April 26, 2017 on the Institut français premises at 2, APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi. The event is organized to commemorate World Intellectual Property Day which also falls on April 26.
This workshop is supported by UNESCO Delhi, Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities, the French National Institute for Intellectual Property, Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation and and Centre for South Asian Studies.
MOBILES MAY MAKE BANKS EXTINCT
April 17, 2017
The mobile phone is now being used for small-time financial activities, such as information on prices, billing settlements, etc. We have service providers like Air Tel/Jio providing internet based TV channels which will provide competition to Dish TV /Tata sky etc. Over period of time satellite based TV channels might be extinct if the number of TV towers serves well to offer hundreds of channels.
This is one major disruption .But more important is the service provider replacing banks.
Service provider as banker
Already Jio is tied up with, SBI and Air Tel with Kotak bank etc. This is to act as payment banks.
One step more is required to make mobile revolution complete in the Banking services. The important development that service providers and bankers should work towards is to make it drive a retail credit revolution. One observes that in the boat markets of Bangkok, one can either pay by baht, the local currency or get charge cards from the service providers and pay through them.
The service providers initially provide an overdraft or revolving credit facility to the retail trader, which is adjusted on a daily basis by crediting the retailer for every debit incurred by the buyer. The payments made by customers are used to bring down credit given in the morning. This is one of the interesting possibilities, wherein the retail trade network is provided a credit facility and which reduces their cost of borrowing. It requires one mobile instrument with them and periodic crediting of their account based on received calls, which are mostly available free.
The share of trade, [around 10 per cent of the national income] is at Rs 17 L crore. The trade sector would have needed Rs. 14 lakh crore as credit requirements (since, in trade, the major portion of capital is working capital). The combined financing to trade by all banking sources was around Rs 5 lakh crore. This implies that around 30 per cent of credit requirement is met by banking channels and the remaining by non-banking ones including money lenders. So, the potential available for mobile phone service providers is a market of the order of Rs9 lakh crore for digital-based lending.
Even assuming only Rs 1 lakh crore of this is tapped in the next, say, five years, at an interest cost of 20 percent (retail credit today in the `open’ market is around 48 to 60 per cent) the sum to be earned is Rs 20,000 crore. We can call this digi-financing.
Instead of permanently singing the WalMart kirtan, we should think of innovative ways in which technology can facilitate the vast base of self-employed groups. The millions of entrepreneurs involved in the retail trade, instead of being dismissed as “unorganized,” can be made more effective by the credit enhancement and price discovery process simply by using mobile telephony.
It is not required for WalMart to come here and squeeze our farmers and small manufacturers and sell their produce/products to consumers at “lower prices”. We can think of leveraging on telecommunications to make all factor markets more efficient and lower consumer prices.
The most important thing about the mobile phones is that — unlike computers — even people who are not literate can use them. The only requirement is ability to speak and/or hear. We need not worry about language or massive software development. This small communication device provides phenomenal power unthinkable by economists or financial experts some ten years ago.
Hence the interesting question is if the service provider will swallow the banks or other way. Here the technology savvy service provider can give banking services easily compared to banks becoming tech savvy. So banks may become endangered species to be shown on animal planet or National Geography channelsJ
The appropriate thing to consider is to make the mobile sets—more so the “smart” ones- free goods for the poorer, self-employed groups. This can be done even through SHGs, wherever they are active, as they may be better able to identify the right beneficiaries. The Central and State governments, as well as various aid organizations, can give the handset free to many in these segments.
It must be seen as a process of asset creation and making markets work and should not be condemned, by the metropolitan experts, as a populist scheme. Most of the time, these beneficiaries need to receive calls rather than make them. If we have a market of 800-1000 million smart sets, the unit cost can be brought down to even less than 000rs. But the Government seems to think that the service sector is the economy’s milch-cow, rather than the engine of India’s growth. It may now be taxed at 18 per cent, and the argument is that their share is more than 50 per cent in our GDP and, hence, they should contribute more.
The impact of telecommunications on the self-employed and more particularly among the poorer groups has not been fully understood or appreciated. Mobile phones have created a sort of tsunami among lower level entrepreneurial groups like plumbers, carpenters, masons, small time construction contractors, painters, cooks, repair mechanics, winders, welders, water suppliers, tea suppliers, vegetable vendors, retail traders, flower vendors, auto drivers, priests, astrologers, etc. Actually, more than three hundred categories of self-employed entrepreneurs.
Since the growth in the economy is not due to the Government but in spite of it, the least it can do is to allow million of these entrepreneurs to flourish for a vibrant and sustained growth process.
Prof R. Vaidyanathan; Cho. S Ramaswamy Visiting Chair Professor of Public Policy SASTRA University; Professor IIMB[Rtd]
18 – 19 MAY 2017, THE LALIT, NEW DELHI
After the very successful first edition of RAIL India Conference 2016, Messe Frankfurt is back with the second edition of Rail India Conference & Expo scheduled for May 18-19, 2017 at Hotel The Lalit, New Delhi.
PIANO RECITAL: GABRIELE CARCANO
Thursday, 27th April, 2017 @ 6:30 pm
India International Centre,
40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi
Gabriele Carcano, born in Turin in 1985, began studying the piano at the age of seven and graduated from the Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi in Turin at the age of seventeen with the highest grades and honors. He continued his studies with Andrea Lucchesini at the Accademia di Musica in Pinerolo and with Aldo Ciccolini in Paris, followed by Nicholas Angelich at the Conservatoire National Superior de Musique as well as with Marie Françoise Bucquet. He has also worked with Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, Robert McDonald and Mitsuko Uchida.
Recipient of a 2010 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award, he is a pianist equally at home in recital, as a soloist with orchestras, and as a chamber musician. Praised by the Süddeutsche Zeitung as a “sculptor of sound” and “aesthete” after his Munich debut at the Herkulessaal, Gabriele is the winner of numerous awards, including the Casella Prize at the Competition Premio Venezia, where he made his debut at Teatro La Fenice.
Gabriele has appeared in recitals in Berlin, Florence, Hong Kong, Madrid, Milan, Munich, New Delhi, Rome, Turin, Zurich. He has been featured at the Kissinger Sommer in Bad Kissingen, the Festival Musique en Côte Basque, the French May Festival in Hong Kong, the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, at the prestigious Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse and at the MiTo Festival in Turin. He also participated in the Marlboro Festival during the summers of 2010 through 2012. Gabriele has performed as a soloist with various orchestras. In 2012 and 2013 he was featured on Musicians from Marlboro tours, performing in Philadelphia, Boston and New York. Highlights of the 2015/2016 season include his debut recital at the Mariinsky International Piano Festival in St Petersburg as well as a residency project at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris.
The years 2016/2017 saw recitals and chamber music concerts in Berlin, Frankfurt, Perugia, Pordenone and Turin, his return engagements at the Firenze and Padova Amici della Musica, at the Marlboro Music Festival (concerts in Montréal, New Jersey, New York, Toronto, a.o.), the Società del Quartetto di Milano, the Tonhalle Zurich and his recital debut at the Tongyeong Concert Hall in South Korea. In summer 2016 Carcano released his first CD with early works by Johannes Brahms for the label OehmsClassics. For the recording he received great critical acclaim and the Supersonic Award by Pizzicato. He currently teaches at the Accademia di Musica in Pinerolo.
Thanks a lot!
Public Relations & Social Media Coordinator,
Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, New Delhi
National Launch of the UN World Water Development Report 2017: Wastewater, the Untapped Resource on Wednesday 26 April 2017, 11.00 – 12.30 pm, at UNESCO Auditorium (1, San Martin Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi). The event will include the prize distribution of the #Science4Sustainability photo contest and will be followed by lunch.