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Official Development Assistance (ODA) is an increasingly important part of foreign aid budgets. Countries that offer foreign aid to other nations do so for many, often contradictory reasons that range from national security and economic self-interest to humanitarian concerns. Every donor state uses ODA as an instrument of its foreign policy. This paper describes findings of a study that examined the relationship between Japan's and the United States' officially stated foreign-aid objectives and the trainees who participate in the two countries' programs. The study analyzed the links between aid flows and policy positions by determining the correlation between numbers of participating trainees by recipient country and three possible donor policy indicators. The data indicate that neither the Japanese nor the United States' participant-training practices match their official foreign policy objectives. Despite changes in policy to emphasize humanitarian interests, Japan offers trainee opportunities to its trading partners significantly more often than to other developing countries. Neither of the agencies that administer training programs in Japan reflect humanitarian policy objectives. The United States adheres to a humanitarian policy as part of its development-assistance statements; however, the data show that the United States trains more people from countries with large gross national products (GNPs) per capita than from countries with smaller GNPs. Additionally, the participant-trainee programs do not reflect the United States' stated foreign-policy objective of promoting economic interests. Six tables are included. (Contains 11 references.) (LMI)

This summary of proceedings includes papers from and about a workshop on technical education in Nigeria and the lessons Nigeria may gain by examining the vocational and technical education systems of Germany, the United States, Great Britain, and Japan. The following papers are included: "Foreword" (Iyorchia Ayu); "Introduction: A Time for Action in Technical Education"; "Why We Sponsored the Workshop" (Klaus Bauer); "Importance of Technical Education" (Iyorchia Ayu); "Technology for Industrial Advancement" (Daniel O. Akintonde); "Technical Education in Nigeria" (P. E. O. Towe mni); "Contribution by the Representative of the National Association of Technological Engineers" (Abimbola Daniyan); "Excerpts from Paper Submitted to the Workshop by the National Association of Technological Engineers: Alternative Proposal for the Three Existing Parallel Routes"; "German Vocational Training in the Dual System" (Richard von Bardeleben); "Content and Process of the Dual System" (representative of the German company FESTO); "Contribution of Industrial Training Fund (ITF)" (Alhaji Usman Mohammed); "International Spread of the Dual System"; "Vocational and Technical Education in USA, Great Britain, and Japan: Lessons for Nigeria" (S. O. Olaitan); "UNESCO's Contributions to the Development of Technical and Vocational System: The UNEVOC Project (International Project on Technical and Vocational Education)" (Hans Kronner); "Implementation of Manpower Training Programme in Private Industries" (E. O. Ugwu); "Implementation of Manpower Training Programme in Governmental Organizations (An Example of Dornier Training Support to the Nigerian Navy)" (M. O. Bakare); "Implementation of Manpower Training Programme by Governmental Organisations"; and "Technical Education--The Way Forward." Concluding the proceedings are a summary of workshop observations and recommendations and lists of workshop participants and official reporters. (MN)

This document contains the following seven papers, all in both English and Korean, from a conference on human resources development and school-to-work transitions in the knowledge-based society: "The U.S. Experience as a Knowledge-based Economy in Transition and Its Impact on Industrial and Employment Structures" (Eric Im); "Changes in the Industrial Structure and Employment Patterns in a Knowledge-Based Society in Japan" (Shigemi Yahata); "Human Resource Development Strategies for the Knowledge Economy" (Nigel Haworth); "Strategies and Direction of Human Resources Development in Knowledge-based Economic System: Experience in the UK" (Peter Upton); "Methods of Strengthening Effective Transition from School to Labour Market" (Bent Paulsen); and "Methods of Strengthening Effective Transition from School to the Labour Market in Australia" (Chris Robinson). Each of the papers includes an abstract; some contain lists of references. (KC)