Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe

1. Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe H.G. Wells, The Outline of History

2. Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise The Task Force on Higher Education and Society

3. Central questions • What is the role of higher education in supporting and enhancing the process of economic and social development? • What are the major obstacles that higher education faces in developing countries? • How can these obstacles best be overcome?

4. Five areas of inquiry • the public interest • systems of higher education • governance • science and technology • general education curricula

5. Longstanding problems • funding • faculty quality • student conditions and preparedness • curriculum • teaching methods • research capacity • vision

6. New realities • rapidly changing world • increasing use of information technology • growing income inequality • knowledge capital replacing physical capital as source of wealth • higher education becoming more important and in greater demand • resulting expansion: rapid, chaotic, and unplanned

7. Public interest • high private and social returns • build knowledge capital resource • address topics with long-term value to society • promote equal opportunity • venue for free and open discourse of ideas and values

8. Government as supervisor • deter abuses of private education • encourage autonomy • ensure coherence and coordination • ensure cooperation and openness • encourage competition • encourage connections to broader economy and society

9. Governance – some problems • governments often closely involved in running of universities • universities are hostage to changes in political weather • lack of open dialogue about reform • corruption • active student political life

10. Science now • accelerating pace of scientific progress • link between scientific capacity and economic performance • higher education essential for strong science

11. Science and the developing world • large and growing scientific gap between developed and developing countries • brain drain • scientific advance and global public goods

12. General education • develops the whole individual • interactive teaching methods over a broad range of subjects • promotes citizenship, ethics, and ambition • encourages broad-mindedness, critical thinking and communication skills • provides adaptable leaders, and is a good grounding for specialists • contributes to national development

13. Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire W. B. Yeats