Browse by: "2010"

The Bío Bío Region has pioneered regional development in Chile. It has a high concentration of higher education and research activity. Its universities and other higher education institutions have made significant progress in widening access to education. But challenges remain: the Bío Bío Region continues to suffer from brain drain as well as higher than average unemployment and poverty rates.

How can the Bío Bío Region promote new business formation and the development of the existing small and medium-sized companies? What incentives are needed to improve higher education institutions’ regional and local orientation? How can higher education institutions move from knowledge generation towards knowledge transfer?

This joint OECD and World Bank review explores a range of helpful policy measures and institutional reforms to mobilise higher education for the development of the Bío Bío Region. It is part of the series of the OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development. These reviews help mobilise higher education institutions for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. They analyse how the higher education system impacts upon regional and local development and bring together universities, other higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and to work towards them.

The Paso del Norte Region is the largest metropolitan area on the US-Mexican border, with Ciudad Juárez as a major manufacturing centre. However, the economic performance on both sides of the border region is below the OECD average. The long-term competitiveness of the region is under threat due to ongoing violence, brain drain and environmental degradation.

This publication explores a range of helpful policy measures and institutional reforms to mobilise higher education for regional development. It is part of the series of the OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development. These reviews help mobilise higher education institutions for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. They analyse how the higher education system impacts upon regional and local development and brings together universities, other higher education institutions, and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and to work towards them.

Outside the Netherlands Rotterdam is best known for its port – once the busiest in the world, and still the busiest in Europe. But the docks have moved steadily downstream and the centre of Rotterdam is very different from what it was even 50 years ago.

A young and dynamic city, Rotterdam is one of the few in Europe where the average age of the population is decreasing. It is ethnically and culturally diverse and has high potential for attracting the “creative class”.

The Rotterdam region is home to two leading research universities and several other innovative higher education institutions. This report looks at how to encourage growth in the Rotterdam region, through the transfer of technology and knowledge, and through realising the potential of its people.

This publication is part of the series of OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development. These reviews help mobilise higher education institutions for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. They analyse how the higher education system impacts upon regional and local development and bring together universities, other higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and to work towards them.

With a population of over 7 million Veracruz is the third most populous state in Mexico. Veracruz features a traditional and resource-based economy, low skilled population and high poverty rates.

How can Veracruz transform itself from a lagging and under-performing region into a centre of knowledge and innovation? How can the universities improve the relevance and quality of their teaching and research? How can the pathways between technological institutes and universities be improved? How can Veracruz capitalise on the ongoing university social service programmes to create a more comprehensive approach to regional development? 

This publication explores a range of helpful policy measures and institutional reforms to mobilise higher education for the development of Veracruz

The State of Victoria is a knowledge-intensive centre for Australia: educational services are Victoria’s strongest export worth more than AUD 5 billion, surpassing tourism and automotive sectors. Victoria is a magnet for immigration, and the international student enrolment represents over 30% of the total for Australia.
 
The higher education system in Australia is moving to a more competitive phase with the decision that the government funding will follow students wherever they choose to enroll. How can Victoria continue to increase participation in higher education and widen access to lower socio-economic groups? How can its higher education institutions help transform Victoria into an innovative state with knowledge-intensive industries and jobs?

This publication explores a range of helpful policy measures and institutional reforms to mobilise higher education for the development of the State of Victoria.

Highlights from Education at a Glance 2010 is a companion publication to the OECD’s flagship compendium of education statistics, Education at a Glance. It provides easily accessible data on key topics in education today, including: education levels and student numbers, economic and social benefits of education, education spending, the school environment (hours of instruction, class size, etc.) and school choice and parent voice.

Each indicator is presented on a two-page spread. The left-hand page explains the significance of the indicator, discusses the main findings, examines key trends and provides readers with a roadmap for finding out more in the OECD education databases and in other OECD education publications. The right-hand page contains clearly presented charts and tables, accompanied by dynamic hyperlinks (StatLinks) that direct readers to the corresponding data in Excel™ format. Highlights from Education at a Glance 2010 is an ideal introduction to the OECD’s unrivalled collection of internationally comparable data on education and learning. 

The International Transport Forum 2010, entitled “Transport and Innovation: Unleashing the Potential”, took a close look at the role of innovation in shaping transport systems of the future. It highlighted the crucial importance of innovation in the transport sector for our common future in a globalised world.

Through continual innovation, the mobility sector has met the increasing volume demands of a transport-intensive globalised economy while achieving better quality of service. But the sector and those who rely on it face extraordinary challenges. Transport needs to be versatile to respond to the evolving economic and societal context. Demographic changes, notably ageing and fast growth in emerging economies, are shaping future demand for mobility solutions.

The structure of global economic development is changing rapidly, and this is having a major impact on transport needs. The environmental impact must be reduced. Congestion needs to be managed better. And safety cannot be compromised.

These challenges are often global in scope, and the responses must be as well. Close collaboration across borders and among all stakeholders is required. The International Transport Forum 2010 provided the platform to take this global dialogue forward.

This publication condenses the main findings of expert panels and round tables bringing together leading figures from politics, industry, research and civil society.

Information communication technologies (ICTs) are crucial to reducing poverty, improving access to health and education services and creating new sources of income and employment for the poor. Being able to access and use ICTs has become a major factor in driving competitiveness, economic growth and social development. In the last decade, ICTs, particularly mobile phones, have also opened up new channels for the free flow of ideas and opinions, thereby promoting democracy and human rights.

The OECD and infoDev joined forces at a workshop on 10-11 September 2009 to examine some of the main challenges in reducing the discrepancies in access to ICTs and use of ICTs between developing countries. The workshop discussed best practices for more coherent and collaborative approaches in support of poverty reduction and meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

There is much work to be done on improving policy coherence and there is a need to engage more actively with partner countries. Making the most of ICTs requires that they are seen as part of innovation for development, rather than just another development tool.

This publication examines access to ICTs, as a precondition to their use; broadband Internet access and governments' role in making it available; developments in mobile payments; ICT security issues; ICTs for improving environmental performance; and the relative priority of ICTs in education.

For more information

infoDev: www.infoDev.org

The Glossary for Transport Statistics was published for the first time in 1994 with the purpose of assisting member countries during the collection of data on transport using the Common Questionnaire developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the International Transport Forum and Eurostat.

The Glossary is the result of continuing valuable co-operation between these three organisations that – through the action of the Intersecretariat Working Group (IWG.Trans) – have put a sustained effort into meeting the need to harmonise transport statistics at the international level. By following the guidance contained within these definitions, a considerable contribution will be given to the improvement in both the quality and comparability of the data

The present fourth edition of the Glossary is an illustrated version, it includes 7 transport themes (rail, road, inland waterway, pipelines, maritime, aviation and intermodal transport) and comprises 735 definitions. It represents a point of reference for all those involved in transport statistics.

Recent advances in the scientific understanding of urban traffic congestion have only strengthened the already solid case for congestion charges as an element of a successful urban transport policy. But examples of real-world congestion charging systems remain few and far between. What can be done to improve the chances of their more widespread adoption in practice? This report draws lessons from attempts to introduce congestion charges. 

Technology is not an obstacle, and technologies should serve policy purposes instead of define them. Charging systems are not cheap and thus should only be used where congestion is severe. Public acceptance is seen to be the key to successful implementation. Although environmental benefits and careful deployment of toll revenues may improve acceptance, a charging system should never lose sight of its principal aim, which is to reduce congestion.

Despite the promise they hold out, implementing information and communication technologies (ICTs) in clinical care has proven to be a very difficult undertaking. More than a decade of efforts provide a picture of significant public investments, resulting in both notable successes and some highly publicised costly delays and failures. This has been accompanied by a failure to achieve widespread understanding among the general public and the medical profession of the benefits of electronic record keeping and information exchange.  

With consistent cross-country information on these issues largely absent, the OECD has used lessons learned from case studies in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States to identify the opportunities offered by ICTs and to analyse under what conditions these technologies are most likely to result in efficiency and quality-of-care improvements. The findings highlight a number of practices or approaches that could usefully be employed in efforts to improve and accelerate the adoption and use of these technologies.

Today’s global policy climate underlines the importance of better addressing non-economic dimensions of well-being and social progress such as health, social engagement, political interest and crime. Education plays an important role in shaping indicators of progress. However, we understand little about the causal effects, the causal pathways, the role of contexts and the relative impacts that different educational interventions have on social outcomes.

This report addresses challenges in assessing the social outcomes of learning by providing a synthesis of the existing evidence, original data analyses and policy discussions. The report finds that education has the potential to promote health as well as civic and social engagement. Education may reduce inequalities by fostering cognitive, social and emotional skills and promoting healthy lifestyles, participatory practices and norms. These efforts are most likely to be successful when family and community environments are aligned with the efforts made in educational institutions. This calls for ensuring policy coherence across sectors and stages of education.

Passengers and freight shippers alike want reliable transport services.  Surprisingly, little research has been undertaken in incorporating reliability into the assessment of transport projects despite the increasing importance of scheduling in economic activities.

This report provides policy makers with a framework to understand reliability issues, to incorporate reliability into project assessment and to design reliability management policies. It also explores a range of reliability performance measures. Case studies across OECD and ITF countries provide examples of several core policy tools that can be used to deliver more reliable networks in a cost-effective manner.

The report makes significant progress in identifying appropriate methodology for incorporating reliability into policy and project evaluation, as well as exploring the pitfalls that need to be avoided.

This report develops comparative knowledge for reforms in teacher and school management policies in the context of an OECD member country: Mexico. Mexico’s education outcomes can be improved by enhancing the effectiveness of its schools. The standards gap between the performance of students in Mexico and other OECD countries can only be reduced if schools become good at what they do. This report looks at key issues and challenges faced by the Mexican education system and provides policy recommendations on school management, leadership and teacher policies. These recommendations have been developed by considering the outcomes, quality and standards of education and schools in Mexico in terms of what is known internationally about effective schools, and by adapting this knowledge to the Mexican context.

The report has two audiences: It aims to support the Mexican government and key actors in the education system to develop long-term vision and policy in the areas of school management, school leadership, social participation, selection and recruitment of teachers, teacher education, professional development, and evaluation policies in Mexico. At the same time, it provides valuable knowledge in education policy development and implementation useful for other OECD member and partner countries that are in the process of reforming their education systems.

Are breast cancer survival rates higher in the United States than in the United Kingdom and France? Are a patient's chances of dying within 30 days after admission to a hospital with a heart attack lower in Canada than in Korea? Are surgeons in some countries more likely to leave “foreign bodies” behind after operations or make accidental punctures or lacerations rates when performing surgery? The need for answers to these kinds of questions and the value of measuring the quality of health care are among the issues addressed in this publication. 

Many health policies depend on our ability to measure the quality of care accurately. Governments want to increase “patient-centeredness”, improve co-ordination of care, and pay providers of high-quality care more than those who underperform. However, measuring the quality of health care is challenging. The OECD’s Health Care Quality Indicator project has overcome some of the problems, though many remain. If policy makers are serious about improving the body of evidence on the quality of care, they need to improve their health information systems.  This publication describes what  international comparable quality measures  are currently available and how  to link these measures to quality policies such as accreditation, practice  guidelines, pay-for-performance, national safety programmes and quality reporting.

Innovation drives long-term economic growth. It has a crucial role to play as global economies recover from the current financial crisis. This book examines the role of innovation in developing countries, with a focus on Africa. It investigates innovation systems and their application; the key role of knowledge in innovation for development; and the importance of comparable country studies and official statistics on innovation. It stresses the need for innovation to become part of a comprehensive development agenda, and makes recommendations for promoting activities in both the formal and informal sectors, with the aim of transforming agriculture into a knowledge-based industry capable of stimulating economic growth.

Innovation and the Development Agenda is an important component of the overall OECD Innovation Strategy, which seeks to create stronger and more sustainable growth, while addressing the key global challenges of the 21st century. It is also part of the Innovation, Technology, and Society programme of IDRC. For more information on IDRC programmes see www.idrc.ca.