Shadow economy revisited: logic, morality and intuition in corrupt practices and illegal channels

The aim of the paper is to analyze how corruption contributes to the spread of shadow economy and damages viable economic development of any country. The unfreedoms that are created under the conditions of illegal transactions and corrupt practices considerably limit the opportunities of individuals to develop and use their capabilities (Sen, 2000) to the full extent and make their contribution to the development of their countries’ economies and sociocultural progress. The short-sighted desire to receive gain and extra revenue through illegal actions often obscures the capacity to comprehend the size and extent of the damage that such actions bring to the economic development of the country and sociocultural progress of the society in the long run. Under these conditions, the paper perceives logic (e.g. cost-benefit analysis, pragmatic calculations of profit-making, etc.), morality (i.e. ethical norms) and intuition (i.e. the intuitive decision whether to engage in illegal practices, where the estimation of the degrees of risk and confidence plays significant role) as three important human features that influence individuals’, corporations’ and governments’ decisions whether or not to engage directly or foster indirectly the cultivation of illegal practices. Therefore, the idea that the paper is trying to support is that while analyzing the instances of corruption on any given level (individual, organizational, governmental, or cross-country), the factors of logic, moral and intuition should be all taken into consideration in order to better understand such illegal actions, systems, channels and mechanisms and design more comprehensive fighting strategies against corruption than are offered today by numerous scholars, organizations or public bodies.shadow economy; unofficial GDP; illegal income; corruption; illegal contracts and channels; economic development; economic growth; logic; ethical values; risk evaluation; intuition; corruption on individual, corporate and governmental levels.

Higher Education Funding Issues: U.S. / UK Comparison

The paper compares and contrasts higher education funding sources and systems in the U.S. and the UK. The issues raised in the paper pertain to the major challenge of academia: finding financial support in times of limited resources and enhanced competition. The issues discussed throughout the paper are: funding and quality assessment of universities; funding and equity of access to post-secondary education; marketization and privatization of universities; funding, autonomy and accountability of higher education institutions.Funding higher education; scarce resources; marketization and privatization of higher education; quality assessment; equity of access to higher education; university autonomy and accountability.

Investment in Human Capital: Vocational vs. Academic Education

The dilemma of providing effective education particularly in developing countries with limited resources and ambiguous calculations of rates of return due to unstable economies and labour market fluctuations makes it an absolute necessity to consider costs and benefits associated both with academic and vocational education.Through argumentation and scholarly literature analysis the paper brings together the benefits of academic education and emphasizes its multiple positive implications as opposed to secondary-school level vocational education that has a number of problematic issues to tackle. The argument further develops towards shifting vocational education from secondary-school level to on-the-job short-term technical trainings.The paper also brings arguments from scholarly literature that while rich developed countries can afford certain amount of vocationally oriented subjects incorporated into comprehensive secondary school curricula, the most optimal way for developing countries to find the solution to the problem would be to conduct vocational training courses at job places and adhere to general academic education in secondary schools.human capital; rates of return to education; manpower forecasting; efficiency effects of curricula; equity effects of curricula; hybrid curricula.

How External Misfortunes Shaped Higher Education

The essay makes an attempt to trace the influences that external political and socioeconomic factors like World Wars I, II and Great Depression had on higher education in the U.S. Higher education - autonomous and self – contained system - proved to be one of the center points of main societal developments, at the same time being significantly influenced by external factors. The general impression that one might get from the history of relationship between wider external factors and the development process of higher education is that wars and economic crisis increased public importance of higher education.Public value of higher education; GI Bill; expanded access to higher education; diminishing returns to invetments in higher education; indirect cost recovery; federal research grants; knowledge industry.

A Litmus Test of Academic Quality

The paper discusses the major issues connected with the accreditation procedures in higher education system in the U.S. The questions raised are as follows: what are the reliable and credible indicators of quality instruction that could be measured in the process of accreditation of higher education institutions? How does greater transparency in the accreditation process serve students and the public? What is the role that accreditors on federal and state levels can play in improving institutional accountability or changing institutional behaviour; and hence, what are the standards and implications of federal vs. state involvement in the accreditation process? What is accreditation’s role in addressing problems raised by arbitrary denial of transfer of credit? And what role does accreditation play in assessing distance education? The paper supports the idea that high quality instruction, academic freedom, accountability and transparency should go hand in hand. Agreement should be reached between different parties involved on what to consider as reliable and credible indicators of quality instruction and how to best measure them for the purposes of accreditation. The evaluation data should be made a public knowledge to increase transparency and serve student interests. And finally, preserving the unique balanced relationship and golden medium that exists between peer review and appropriate levels of government involvement in the process of accreditation would be the best option for further development of higher education in the U.S.accreditation; autonomy; accountability; regional and national standards of quality; federal and state funding of higher education; economic development; invetsment in human capital; economic growth; transparency; power struggles.

Higher Education Access Policies and Issues in Georgia before and after the Introduction of Unified National Entrance Examinations in 2005

The paper discusses the implications of Unified National Entrance Examinations (UNEEs) for higher education access in Georgia. Increased participation of ethnic minorities and low-SES students in higher education could be regarded as one of the major achievements of the UNEEs. More transparency and decreased corruption in higher education access procedures might be regarded as additional assets of the new policy. However, due to its early stage of implementation, the entrance policy needs further study and improvement. The income-contingent loan system is one of the major challenges facing the country. It is not well developed and deprives many low-SES families of the possibilities to cover tuition with study loans. Besides, teacher preparation for the new-type of examinations is another problem to be tackled. The paper views higher education access in historical perspective, views policies in sociocultural context and associates different types of corrupt practices with different periods. The paper also discusses the role of entrance examinations in fostering social cohesion through enhanced trust.Higher education access; standardized examinations; corruption; private tutorship; study loans; grants; social cohesion.

Quality education through Child-Friendly Schools: resource allocation for the protection of children’s rights

The paper discusses the idea and purpose of Child-Friendly Schools (CFSs) initiated by the UNICEF. It analyses the implications of CFSs in terms of improving children’s health and nutrition, promoting gender equality, protecting children’s rights, re-defining education quality and creating positive psycho-emotional environment at schools. Experience is now showing that a framework of rights-based, child-friendly schools can be a powerful tool for both helping to fulfill the rights of children and providing them an education of good quality. At the national level, for ministries, development agencies, and civil society organizations, the framework can be used as a normative goal for policies and programmes leading to child-friendly systems and environments, as a focus for collaborative programming leading to greater resource allocations for education, and as a component of staff training. At the community level, for school staff, parents, and other community members, the framework can serve as both a goal and a tool of quality improvement through localized self-assessment, planning, and management and as a means for mobilizing the community around education and child rights.resource allocation; staff retraining; quality enhancement; protection of childre's rights; enrollment numbers; teacher capacity amd morale; gender equality; health education; friendly environment; affordable and accessible education.

Corruption in higher education: causes, consequences, reforms - the case of Georgia

Certain cases from any single country might provide examples for consideration of corruption issues for other countries or regions. Corruption cases and the strategies of fighting them in Georgian flagship universities might be noteworthy and useful for other countries facing similar problems. The paper discusses the features of corruption in higher education system in Georgia and the ways to decrease its prevalence. It emphasizes the importance of the aspirations of the country to join NATO in its effectiveness to conduct higher education reforms and to fight corruption. The paper also analyses the three interventions that have served to combat corruption in Georgian higher education. These interventions are: the initiation of Unified National Entrance Examinations, a new system to accredit higher education institutions, and the restructuring of higher education staff. The paper makes a suggestion that these reforms shattered the complacency and confidence of corrupt individuals, decreased the level of familiarity with corrupt systems and channels, increased the risk of bribe taking, and made the re-channeling of corrupt practices risky and expensive. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, discusses the implications of the reforms, and offers recommendations for further actions

Double – shift schooling and EFA goals: assessing economic, educational and social impacts

The aim of the paper is to discuss the system of double-shift schooling and assess it from economic, social and educational angles referring to different cases from Sub-Saharan African countries. The paper makes an attempt to prove that despite certain challenges that it faces, the system of double-shift schooling is the best solution for poor countries to achieve the millennium goal of Education for All with limited resources, and an optimum strategy for rich countries to use resources more efficiently

Double – shift schooling and EFA goals: assessing economic, educational and social impacts

The aim of the paper is to discuss the system of double-shift schooling and assess it from economic, social and educational angles referring to different cases from Sub-Saharan African countries. The paper makes an attempt to prove that despite certain challenges that it faces, the system of double-shift schooling is the best solution for poor countries to achieve the millennium goal of Education for All with limited resources, and an optimum strategy for rich countries to use resources more efficiently