Educational Policies: An International Overview

The process of education is as old as the human race. All through human history this process has become increasingly formalized and socialized (one milestone being, for example, the introduction of compulsory education). These steps made the responsibility of education for the future of the whole society (a Nation) more explicit. In spite of the fact that this responsibility has not been questioned for centuries, there are many very recent documents monitoring the disquieting state of the educational process which may not fulfill this responsibility. These signals are coming even from countries which devote considerable resources to education. Because of its importance, education is an inherent part of development strategies in most countries, industrially developed or developing. Appropriate institutions (ministries) are designing policies aiming to influence the behavior of individual actors in education processes in the desired direction. The efficiency of individual measures taken in achieving the selected objectives is difficult to predict because the educational process at large is a complex social phenomenon where several disciplines are involved. The resulting semantic and methodological differences make it sometimes difficult to achieve a fruitful communication through interdisciplinary barriers. Because cultural factors are also involved cross-national, cross-cultural and comparative studies might bring a specific insight into the process. This by no means proves that one could easily transfer experience from one country to another

An integrative review of computational methods for vocational curriculum, apprenticeship, labor market, and enrollment problems

Computational methods have been used extensively to solve problems in the education sector. This paper aims to explore the computational method's recent implementation in solving global Vocational education and training (VET) problems. The study used a systematic literature review to answer specific research questions by identifying, assessing, and interpreting all available research shreds of evidence. The result shows that researchers use the computational method to predict various cases in VET. The most popular methods are ANN and Naïve Bayes. It has significant potential to develop because VET has a very complex problem of (a) curriculum, (b) apprenticeship, (c) matching labor market, and (d) attracting enrollment. In the future, academics may have broad overviews of the use of the computational method in VET. A computer scientist may use this study to find more efficient and intelligent solutions for VET issues

Intertwined effects of gender and migration status on persistence in SET study programmes

This paper explores the intersectional interference of gender and migration status on students’ persistence at an Austrian University of Technology. While controlling for the pre-university education and performance indicators, we estimate the odds for the persistence of male and female students, as well as of students with diverse migration statuses. We use the enrolment data of students from 1998 to 2010. The analysis reveals remarkable and significant effects of gender and migration status, as well as intersectional interference effects from both social categories on persistence. Female and students with immigration status are less likely to persist, even if performance and previous relevant experiences are controlled. A segregated analysis of the student population sheds further light on the interlocked and entangled effects of the social ascriptions underlying gender and migration status. The analysis supports the proposition of the accumulation of (dis-)advantages along students’ careers. The profound quantification of gender and migration status effects can be utilised as basis for further research and purposeful policy measures to increase persistence in Science, Engineering and Technology for students with diverse backgrounds

Pilot Evaluation of the Mexican Model of Dual TVET in the State of Mexico

Since the first public announcement of the Mexican Model of Dual TVET (MMFD) in June 2013, more than 5,000 apprentices have enrolled in the programme and around 2,000 already graduated. The Ministry of Education (SEP and CONALEP), the Chambers of Commerce (i.e. COPARMEX) and the German Cooperation Agencies (i.e. CAMEXA) have been collaborating with state authorities, families, schools and companies to turn this initial idea into a significant and sustainable initiative. Although the numbers are still small, it seemed necessary to undertake a pilot evaluation study of the implementation and impact of this program on its participants to inform those responsible for this policy. We decided to focus our study on the State of Mexico because of the higher number of apprentices in this state and because of the access that the CONALEP authorities gave us to the informants. The report that you are about to read is structured in four main sections. In the first one we reviewed the international evidence on the experiences of policy transfer of Dual TVET. Transferring international good practice sin TVET is always a complex process that requires careful attention to the experiences and lessons from those that tried to do it before. In the second section, we present the main characteristics of the Mexican Model of Dual TVET and the specificities of its implementation in the State of Mexico. In a federal country like Mexico, it is important to understand that national policies may largely vary across states in terms of design and implementation. The third section outlines the methodology of the study, which is inspired by the realist evaluation principles. Realist evaluation, not only tries to measure the impact of interventions on beneficiaries, but also to understand the causal mechanisms that explain why this policy is more effective in certain contexts and with certain beneficiary populations than in others. In the final section, the results of the interviews and the survey with 25 apprentices that completed their studies under the MMFD in the State of Mexico are presented. Obviously, the reduced sample of the study limits the representativeness of our findings but it will offer some expected and unexpected results that should not be ignored by those involved in this policy in the State of Mexico and nationally

HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA AT THE CROSSROAD - PROBLEMS AND MEASURES TO PREVENT THEM

This report identifies some of the problems of higher education in the Republic of Bulgaria related to the demographic crisis in the transition process and measures to overcome them. Emphasis is placed on the legislative framework, the rating system, the financing of higher education institutions and the science in them, the quality of training, the demand for staff from business and the supply of staff from universities, the admission of students and the offered forms of training. The analysis made by the authors is based on summarized data, which has been officially published, on the actual state of higher education in Bulgaria. Measures are proposed to overcome the problems, some of which are based on experience at the Technical University of Gabrovo.

Implications of the Information Technology Revolution for People with Disabilities

The paper focuses on opportunities for the integration of persons with different types of disabilities in the information technology (IT) labour market. Recent IT developments are identified and examined for their potentially harmful or beneficial effects on access to the IT labour market for persons with disabilities. The opportunities created by new job creation, new forms of training, teleworking, and the role of assistive technologies in facilitating workplace accommodations are briefly described. The focus is on new options for the design and implementation of computer-related assistive technologies in the workplace, and the impact of teleworking and the World Wide Web on employability and work-related training of persons with disabilities. The paper closes with a brief discussion of the roles that government agencies, business firms, labour unions, non-governmental organisations and education can play to help people with disabilities join the IT revolution and share its benefits