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When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into fruition in the early 1990s, there were high hopes and expectations on what this emerging economic block could achieve. Although the agreement involved extensive conversations that led to regulations that facilitated trade across the region--the main intent of NAFTA--the same was not true for the higher education environment. Critics have argued that NAFTA's heavy focus on trade left little room for similar harmonization on issues like higher education. From this perspective, it is evident that if efforts to improve higher education are to gain traction in the trilateral relationship, they must be linked with regional trade and competitiveness. Yet even though NAFTA was not the vehicle for further cooperation on higher education, colleges and universities across Canada, Mexico, and the United States did embrace the opportunity and enthusiastically engaged in conversations that prompted trilateral collaboration. This article follows the key agreements that influenced and guided the early stages of NAFTA collaboration among higher education institutions, as well as developments that kept engagement across the three countries active. It also provides an initial list of areas in which future collaboration might focus. [The report was published in partnership with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. This working paper will be published as a chapter in the forthcoming book, "North America 2.0: Forging a Continental Future."]

This Policy Paper aims at analysing the most important aspects of Public Responsibility, Financing and Governance of Higher Educations while seeking to formulate a students perspective on the state of play within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). In doing so it touches upon the very foundation of how and in which socio-political environment educational systems and higher education institutions work nowadays. The European Students' Union (ESU) believes that open access to all levels of education is the cornerstone of a socially, culturally and democratically inclusive society, and a prerequisite for individual and societal development and well-being. ESU sees higher education as a human right, which is guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. How education is seen in society, how it is funded and how it is governed are tightly interlinked areas. This policy paper focuses on: (1) Public responsibility of higher education (fundamental values; institutional autonomy and academic freedom; academic integrity; intellectual property; education for sustainable development; human rights and democratic citizenship education; digitalization, artificial intelligence, learning analytics and privacy; commodification; partnerships between higher education institutions and industry; internships; and internationalisation and international trade); (2) Financing of higher education (financing of higher education; the funding gap; optimisation of funding of higher education institutions; performance based funding; and education free of tuition fees); and (3) Governance of higher education (students participation; working conditions of academic staff; committees and ombudsmans and leadership, intersectionality and training). [For the 2016 version, see ED587168.]

This paper aims to provide an overview of evidence of schools' engagement in Fairtrade in the UK through the Fairtrade Foundation's Fairtrade School Awards programme. The paper provides a summary of the comments from schools' engagement with the programme based on data from teachers and pupils' learning with evidence from the different levels of the award. The paper also aims to locate the evidence from the award programme within the broader landscape of global learning in the UK. [This report was produced in partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation.]

This paper discusses routes by which HIV/AIDS money is dispersed and received. It notes that capturing accurate data on actual spending patterns of large donors can be difficult, as there is no uniform tracking or reporting system and much HIV/AIDS money is spent under the broader category of sexual and reproductive health. Most of the information contained in the first two sections is based on main reports that assess the general manner in which HIV/AIDS money as a whole is being distributed. Moving on from who is providing funds for HIV/AIDS initiatives at global level, it tracks sources and flows from governments, through bilateral and multilateral channels. It does not include estimates of household spending on care and treatment, which cannot be realistically quantified. Information follows on top US and European donors, the international business community and pharmaceutical companies. Later sections look into ways HIV/AIDS funding is being spent, with the proviso, as before, that detailed breakdowns of actual spending are rare. The broadest categories are prevention, care and treatment, orphan support and research. Within the field of ECD vis-a-vis HIV/AIDS, funds are being directed through two main areas of concern--prevention of mother-to-child transmission and the care of orphans and vulnerable children. This paper describes major players in these arenas, showing that efforts are being made by a few agencies through the amount of funding directed along these channels is minimal in contrast to other target areas. Fundamental questions are raised about current donor priorities and there follows some discussion touching areas where new or reallocated HIV/AIDS funding could be directed. Obvious gaps in the provision of money for ECD and HIV/AIDS support are then identified along with opportunities to carry out work fill such gaps. The final section examines what it would take to direct more money to support young children living in the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Including very young children in HIV/AIDS response strategies will ultimately depend on individual communities devising their own solutions. A further section highlights the critical importance of sharing knowledge through networks that communicate and disseminate evidence-based research findings and project evaluations. In conclusion, this paper calls for advocacy to urge that more funding should go to ECD-HIV/AIDS needs and that current funding approaches to dealing with the crisis need, in addition, to be tracked and evaluated, with a view to promoting more and better ways of meeting the unfulfilled needs of very young children affected by HIV/AIDS. (Contains 2 figures.)

A weeklong interdisciplinary seminar/workshop was held September 8-14, 2001 in Victoria, Canada to discuss the relationships between globalization, trade liberalization, and higher education, and to share information about the implications and impact of various multilateral trade agreements on higher education. A major purpose of the workshop was to outline a broad research agenda for this area. Some of the trends identified in higher education in the new global context are the changing objectives of higher education, new labor force demands, the massification of higher education, and increases in the number and diversity of higher education suppliers. New technology and the internationalization of colleges and universities are important elements of the new context for higher education. The workshop can be said to have achieved its main objective of mapping a broad agenda for research on the relationships between, and effects of, globalization and trade liberalization on higher education. Research objectives are identified for: (1) higher education and the knowledge society; (2) the emerging global economy; (3) multilateral trade liberalization; (4) regional free trade agreements; and (5) trade in education services. The following are appended: List of Participants; Schedule of Seminar/Workshop; and List of Related Readings. (Contains 63 references.) (SLD)

This paper analyzes the trends, underlying factors and implications of the trade in higher education services. The term "trade in higher education" refers to the purchase of higher education services from a foreign country using domestic resources. The objectives of this paper are to provide policy makers in developing countries, World Bank staff, and others associated with higher education policy development with information on and analyses of the recent trends in international trade in higher education and to present the policy issues and options that arise from it. Following an Introduction, the second section reviews recent trends in this trade, covering students studying abroad, the growth of new forms of cross-border higher education delivery, and the relative importance of trade and aid in higher education. The third section discusses factors underlying the growth in this trade, in particular demand-side factors and the policies of exporting and importing countries. The fourth section analyzes issues related to trade agreements, including the extent of liberalizing commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and bilateral trade agreements. This is followed by a summary of the main concerns of developing countries and of the academic community related to trade in higher education. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of trade for domestic higher education systems in developing countries as well as policy choices and instruments.

A good framework for investment in innovation can contribute to increasing Chile's growth potential. Spending on R&D is currently low in relation to GDP and heavily reliant on government financing. Innovation activity in the business sector is also limited by insufficient seed and venture capital and human capital constraints. This is despite several favourable framework conditions, including a stable macro-economy, liberal foreign trade and investment regimes, and reasonably pro-competition regulations in product markets. The government intends to increase public spending on R&D, to be financed by revenue from the mining tax introduced in May 2005, and to create a National Innovation Council. The effectiveness of these measures will depend largely on the extent to which they will boost business-financed innovation consistent with Chile's comparative advantages. This Working Paper relates to the 2005 OECD Economic Survey of Chile (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/chile). (A bibliography is included. Contains 30 footnotes, 6 figures, 5 boxes and 2 tables.)

Award-winning teacher-developed projects and courses in economics are described. The projects are designed for use in grades K-12. Descriptions indicate grade level, project background, time allotment, objectives, activities, and evaluation. Chapter 1 suggests ways to teach economic concepts in grades K-3. The projects included a year-long study of two agricultural products of Arkansas--chickens and rice--and the effect these two products have on students' daily lives, teaching economics through an Easter theme, a unit about money, and a third-grade lesson on common property resources. In the projects described in the second chapter, students in grades 4-6 study about productive resources from prehistoric to modern times, international trade, and interdependence, and create their own country. The junior high projects of the third chapter deal with lifestyles, world trade, and a class developed money system. Projects for the senior-high level in chapter 4 focus on capitalism and entrepreneurs and involve students in reading utopian literature. The concluding chapter describes projects that fit into what is called an "open category." Included are strategies for using economics in a media center, an economics curriculum guide, an application of the Program for Effective Teaching (PET) to a system-wide approach to teaching economics, and a description of classroom materials developed to teach about the economics of the American food system. (RM)

Intended to provide background for study and discussion, this publication gives updated information on development in sub-Saharan Africa and provides a basis for understanding U.S. policy toward this vital region. The strengths, problems, politics, natural resources, and language and ethnolinguistic groups of this area of the world and the international and regional organizations active here are discussed in detail. Extensive data tables include information on the population, culture, education, labor force, imports, exports, estimated U.S. economic assistance, date of independence, type of government, and chief of state and/or head of government for each of the 46 independent countries south of the Sahara. The 55-item bibliography is divided into three sections: reference and introductory material, historical and cultural background, and contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. (AA)

The current United States industrial policy is not working in the new international economy. As jobs are increasingly exported overseas, the United States faces a major problem in revitalization of its economy. Occupational education has a major role in the revitalization of the country's economy through the upgrading of the training and retraining of a more productive work force. Two areas where occupational education curriculum can directly contribute to build a new competitive economy are through increasing achievement in basic skills and through instruction of students in understanding and use of human systems innovation in work environments. Development of human capital is the critical factor in rebuilding a competitive economy. (Author/YLB)

This publication discusses world problems related to poverty and possible ways to escape those problems. Sections include: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "And the Poor Get Poorer" (reporting data on income distribution in many countries); (3) "The Global Poverty Trap" (describing various hindrances to improving conditions at the local, national, and global levels); (4) "Poverty and the Environment" (including cases of ecological deterioration in many poor countries); (5) "Reversing the Downward Spiral" (providing a success story for each of the poverty traps). Lists 128 references. (YP)

This report presents the responses of three experts from Canada, Mexico, and the United States to 18 questions concerning issues in business-higher education alliances in the context of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). They address such issues as the need for alliances; the characteristics of successful (and unsuccessful) alliances; the progress in each country toward establishing alliances; the function of government agencies, professional associations, and community organizations in the formation of alliances; the role of technology in furthering alliances; the advantages of alliances; and the prospects for alliances in the future. The questions are grouped into three sections. In the first, responses to the seven questions about smart alliances produce several definitions of alliances, note various types of alliances, and define the characteristics of "smart" alliances. Responses to the five questions in the second section address what is needed for higher education institutions and business to develop successful alliances, and cover issues such as relationship management and the necessary people skills for alliance building. The six questions of the third section address the required framework for these partnerships to prosper, such as mechanisms for measuring the impact of alliances and prospects for binational and trinational collaboration in the context of NAFTA and the global economy. Appendices present reprints of two brief related articles. (DB)

This background paper reviews copyright, patent, and trade secret protections as these issues are related to computer software. Topics discussed include current issues regarding legal protection for computer software including the necessity for defining intellectual property, determining what should or should not be protected, commerical piracy, and shared access to state-of-the-art knowledge and diffusion of information so that programmers can build on each others' work. Questions for Congressional consideration focus on definition and distinction of computer software terminology, the structure of the software industry, the nature of innovation, and the protection and enforcement of software. (DB)

The proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will result in lower wages, fewer jobs, and generally reduced living standards for the majority of U.S. workers. Substantial costs to the U.S. economy will occur in job and income loss and few off-setting benefits for most workers. Proponents argue that NAFTA will create upward mobility for U.S. workers as low-wage jobs move to Mexico. Available data and past experience show that U.S. workers displaced by trade end up moving down the job ladder to lower-paying jobs or off the ladder to permanent unemployment, not up to better jobs. Most of the conventional studies that have attempted to quantify NAFTA's impact on the U.S. economy have either ignored the shift of investment from the United States to Mexico or have examined only the Mexican side of the equation. The extent to which investment in Mexico replaces investment in U.S. plants clearly will determine NAFTA's overall impact on U.S. jobs. Perhaps the greatest danger to the U.S. economy from adopting NAFTA is that it will encourage U.S. firms to seek a low-wage solution to the challenge of global competition. NAFTA would undercut chances of a "high wage" strategy of investing in the labor force of Mexico or the United States. U.S. interest in a NAFTA should not lie in expanding free trade but in improving living standards for the Nation. (Appendixes include 29 endnotes and 37 references.) (YLB)