November 25, 2008

Some Rich Countries Skew Aid Toward Higher Education, Says U.N. Report

Millions of children around the world continue to be denied access to basic education, and wealthy donor countries that channel the bulk of their aid money toward higher education are partly to blame, says a new report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

Unesco’s 2009 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, “Overcoming Inequality: Why Governance Matters,” was released today at a conference in Geneva. The report says that France and Germany are among the countries whose “education aid is skewed toward tertiary education.”

Both countries are major donors, ranking first and third respectively in terms of their donations to the education sector, but “only 12 percent of France’s aid to education supported basic education in low-income countries, while for Germany the share was 7 percent.”

The two countries “allocated a large share of their overall education aid to the imputed cost of students from developing countries studying in their tertiary-education institutions,” the report says. That imputed cost “accounted for 62 percent of France’s aid to education and 50 percent of Germany’s.”

The report calls the overall record of donor countries “one of collective failure” and notes that the current economic crisis will only add to the gloom.

The report also notes the rapid expansion of higher education over the past decade, with the 144 million students enrolled in 2006 representing an increase of 51 million since 1999. —Aisha Labi

Comments

1. The report FAILS to realize the REASONING and Goal of the French and the Germans. Educate the elite in this country to the same level as in Germany, France, the UK and the States, and then they can go back and educate THEIR PEOPLE! This is possible. But are the elite willing to go back when they can make more money as doctors, layers, researchers, engineers in the States, the UK, … Many of these educated elites from Iran, China, … after getting their PhD from German and French universities end up as posdocs and academics at American and British universities, research labs and companies. So who is the guilty one here!! The USA and UK need to STOP taking these highly educated elite from Germany and France and MAKE SURE THEY GO HOME, at least for 5 to 10 years. And I know some of these people personally and they are at Elite American Universities!! And their higher education was paid for by their countries with heavy subsidizes from Germany and France!! Most American universities welcome these non German and non French PhD with welcome arms. Just check out the home pages of American Universities and see where many of the postdocs, staff and even faculty got their PhDs!! So we in the States and the UK and even Australia have some responsibility to make sure that these people return home and do the job of teaching and educating back home. The German and French model is correct. Educate the brightest and best from these countries and send them home (do not let them stay). Only problem is that the UK and the States takes them with open arms. And then who is left to educate the young people back home!! It is called social responsibility, and in my opinion, the Germans and French are very socially responsible with their policies, I unfortunately cannot same the same for the policies of the UK and the USA.

   — KJJ    Nov 25, 03:57 PM    #

2. KJJ- I disturbs me to see you blame the US and UK for all of the worlds woes. It is not the responsibility of the US or the UK to FORCE these educated individuals to return to their home countries to educate others. It is the responsibility of those individuals and those that fund their educations to ensure they do what was intended. If these individuals did not come to the US or UK they would go to another westernized country. The individuals you refer to should take some responsibility and feel a sense of obligation to return to their home countries. I would in fact argue that Germany and France are do a disservice to those nations by paying the elites to come to their countries to be educated knowing that they will not return to their home countries to spread their knowledge and share their talents.

   With that said, it is not the responsibility of France or Germany (or the US or UK for that matter) to subsidize the education for any student from outside their countries. And, it offends me greatly that the UN is criticizing the charity that these countries are providing. I personally do not believe this is a government function. Private charities should fill this need. For those that feel their governments should, I would argue that they simply prefer the government to determine what is charitable so they do not have to dirty their hands with the less fortunate. Individuals should step up themselves and provide funds for primary education if they believe it to be important (and many of us do).

   — GF    Nov 26, 09:25 AM    #

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