Browse by: "2010"

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a highly influential instrument for monitoring the quality of education systems and provides a strong evidence base for informed policy making and education research. PISA also has a proven potential to trigger reforms and stimulate stakeholder involvement in the process.

Notwithstanding the importance of its ranking, the full strength of PISA unfolds when data it delivers is utilised in the national policy domain. Linking PISA outcomes and policy choices, and monitoring the impact on education quality is thereby a demanding task, which requires sound analytical capacity, and also knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the respective education system. The OECD Directorate for Education addresses the demand of non-member economies for policy support in understanding and analysing PISA data in the broader context of education system management and policy formulation. 

This report explains the reasons for the dramatically low performance of Kyrgyz students in the 2006 PISA survey, despite significant resources and efforts invested in education by schools, parents and government. The report reveals that a number of policy areas are in need of urgent attention and recommends ways to close the currently existing gap between aspirations and education reform achievement. 

In recent years, the Government of Egypt has driven major reforms for modernising the country. However, Egypt’s higher education system has remained largely unchanged and without fundamental reform of the sector the country will face difficulties in improving its competitiveness.

This independent review of Egypt’s higher education system focuses on areas in need of attention by policy makers and stakeholders, including system steering and institutional governance; student access to higher education; educational quality and effectiveness; research, development and innovation; and finance. It contains an analysis of the system and valuable recommendations which, taken together, represent a major programme of structural and cultural reform of Egyptian higher education over the decade to 2020.

This publication describes major developments affecting fisheries in OECD countries in 2005, 2006 and some recent events of 2007, including changes in national and international policies, trade, and fisheries and aquaculture production. This edition contains a special chapter on Climate Change, Adaptation and the Fisheries Sector: A Review of the Key Issues. 

COUNTRIES COVERED: Argentina, Chinese Taipei, Thailand (observers); Australia, Belgium Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France Germany, Greece, Icelend, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.

Fragile states lag far behind meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, representing 75% of the MDG deficit. Fragile states already lacked the institutional strength to adequately respond to both financial and environmental shocks. The effects of three consecutive and inter-related shocks – food, fuel and the secondary effects of the financial crisis – risk reversing progress achieved by some post-conflict states, and further entrenching insecurity in others.

Although official development assistance to fragile states is growing in real terms, it is increasingly concentrated, and half of fragile states face the prospects of declining aid. There is a need to maintain aid levels and meet aid pledges, but also to improve the quality of support to fragile states.

This report serves as a tool to better monitor the levels, timing and composition of resource flows to fragile states, and presents salient facts on aid flows to fragile states, the impact on fragile states of the three crises and the need for a whole-of-government response.

Renewables Information provides a comprehensive review of historical and current market trends in OECD countries. This reference document brings together essential statistics on renewable and waste energy sources. It therefore provides a strong foundation for policy and market analysis, which in turn can better inform the policy decision process to select policy instruments best suited to meet domestic and international objectives.

Part II of the publication provides an overview of the development of renewables and waste in the world over the 1990 to 2008 period. A greater focus is given to OECD countries with a review of electricity generation and capacity from renewable and waste energy sources. Part III of the publication provides a corresponding statistical overview of developments in the world and OECD renewable and waste market. Part IV provides, in tabular form, a more detailed and comprehensive picture of developments for renewable and waste energy sources for 30 OECD member countries, including 2009 preliminary data. It encompasses energy indicators, generating capacity, electricity and heat production from renewable and waste sources, as well as production and consumption of renewables and waste.

Regional Policies in OECD Countries Policy makers need both a handy reference guide to the regional policies of their own and other countries and a broader analysis of trends in regional policies, based on sound, comparable information. responds to this need. It is the first systematic, comparative analysis of OECD countries’ regional policies.  

The report addresses fundamental regional policy concerns, such as: problem recognition; the objectives of regional policy; the legal/institutional framework; the urban/rural framework; budget structures; and the governance mechanisms linking national and sub-national governments as well as sectors.  

It begins with an overview of the regional policy today. This is followed by country profiles covering the 31 OECD members. The profiles share a common conceptual framework, allowing countries to see how their experiences measure up. The report also contains several annexes, which cover some of the countries that are candidates for accession to the OECD or with which the OECD has enhanced engagement. The annexes also cover the key topics of cross-border cooperation and trends in urban-rural linkages, especially efforts to control urban sprawl.  

The report will help countries to better understand regional policies and to formulate and diffuse horizontal policy recommendations. The analysis suggests an important role for regional policies in shaping sustainable endogenous development, in particular well-developed governance mechanisms to better respond to the different opportunities and demands of regions and to improve policy efficiency.  

This report is a unique source of regional policy information and of special interest to policy makers, researchers, and others engaging with regional development.

Although learning often takes place within formal settings and designated environments, a great deal of valuable learning also occurs either deliberately or informally in everyday life. Policy makers in OECD countries have become increasingly aware that non-formal and informal learning represents a rich source of human capital.

Policies which recognise this can play a significant role in a coherent lifelong learning framework, and present practices can be improved to make the knowledge and competencies people acquire outside of formal schooling more visible. The challenge for policy makers is to develop processes for recognising such learning, processes that will generate net benefits both to individuals and to society at large.

This report, based on an OECD review in 22 countries, explores the advantages of recognising non-formal and informal learning outcomes, takes stock of existing policies and practices, and recommends how to organise recognition of these learning systems.

Public administration has entered a new age. In the 1980s, “less” government was the prevailing idea; in the 1990s and early 21^st century, “New Public Management” was the dominant theme. Today, public administration is moving in new directions. Reforms are focusing on the quality of services for citizens and businesses and on the efficiency of administration (the “back office” of government). The OECD is studying these new trends in a multi-annual, cross-country project called “Value for Money in Government”.

This is the first report in a new OECD series on the topic. The book examines four themes in nine OECD countries: the development of shared service centres, the steering and control of agencies, automatic productivity cuts, and spending review procedures. In addition, it contains a quantitative analysis of the size of employment in central government. The countries studied are Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The book pays particular attention to the case of the Netherlands, the country that first proposed an OECD study on value for money in government.

The MENA-OECD Governance Programme supports public sector reform in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. Since its inception in 2003, the programme has helped the region to improve institutions for good governance through continuous policy review and reform.

The need to accelerate economic growth has been the primary impetus, but MENA governments are increasingly implementing reform to improve public sector performance and to meet citizens’ needs for higher quality education and health care, a safer and cleaner environment, and transparent and responsive government. Going forward, reforms will also be driven by equity and sustainability concerns.

This report offers a perspective on the progress made in public management in the MENA region since 2005. It reviews achievements in implementing public governance reform in nine areas: human resource management, public finance, integrity, regulation and law drafting, administrative simplification, e-government, public-private partnerships, gender, and water resource management. The report presents case studies on key policy reforms and outlines common characteristics across the region as well as the specific conditions and circumstances in MENA countries and economies.

Pricing water-related services is an essential part of the answer. This report compiles reliable and comparable data on pricing water and on water supply and sanitation services across OECD countries. It sheds additional light on such policy issues as the choice of tariff structures for water services, cost recovery for water services and affordability.

The movement of personnel between employment in the public and private sectors, referred to as the “revolving door” phenomenon, raises particular attention in the context of the response of governments to the financial and economic crisis. 

This OECD survey of 30 member countries shows that the vast majority of countries have established basic standards for preventing post-public employment conflict of interest. But few have tailored these standards to address risk areas and professions such as regulators or public procurement officials. Enforcing standards and imposing suitable sanctions remains a challenge for many countries.

The principles presented in this volume serve as a point of reference for policy makers and managers to review and modernise post-public employment policies. It is part of the pathfinding efforts of the OECD to promote public sector integrity for cleaner, fairer and stronger economies.

Shifting Wealth is the first edition of Perspectives on Global Development, a new publication from the OECD Development Centre.

Shifting Wealth examines the changing dynamics of the global economy over the last 20 years, and in particular the impact of the economic rise of large developing countries, such as China and India, on the poor. It details new patterns in assets and flows within the global economy and highlights the strengthening of “South-South” links – the increasing interactions between developing countries through trade, aid and foreign direct investment.

What do these changes imply for development and development policy? The report explores potential policy responses at both national and international levels. Nationally, developing countries' need to re-position their development strategies to capitalise on the increasing potential of South-South co-operation and to fully benefit from new macroeconomic drivers. Internationally, the global governance architecture needs to adjust to better reflect current economic weights.

“OECD Perspectives on Global Development is a very welcome new publication that contributes to investigating the permanent structural breaks with the past now occurring in the global economy. It documents the need to address new challenges in development finance and social development.” -- Justin Yifu Lin, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, The World Bank

"Perspectives on Global Development is a landmark report about the biggest economic story of our era. It describes and analyses the new economic world we live in, where countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America provide the dynamism for future growth. It shows how this shift in the economic centre of gravity is cause for optimism, rather than consternation."  --Alan Hirsch, Deputy Director General: Policy, South African Presidency

"Based on the irrefutable fact that some developing economies have grown very rapidly in recent decades, some of this study’s analytical and policy conclusions will undoubtedly contribute to important debates as the world strives to draw appropriate lessons from the varied experiences of the last two decades, and especially the last two years." --Jomo Kwame Sundaram, UN Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development

"In this volume, the OECD Development Centre lays bare a new era of economic development. But in doing so, it poses the big questions of sustainability – namely, what development means for the social, political, and economic fabric of an increasingly globalised world." --Stephen S. Roach, Chairman‪, Morgan Stanley Asia

Governments are seeking to channel research funds into universities and other institutions in ways that support high-quality research in strategically important areas and bolster effective knowledge diffusion. These issues of steering and funding have even more relevance in light of the current  financial crisis and economic downturn which have seen severe fiscal pressures fall on many countries.

This publication presents a collection of papers presented at an OECD workshop on performance-based funding of public research in tertiary education institutions. It takes stock of current thinking and practice around performance-based funding of public research in tertiary education institutions, as a tool to help governments meet their research goals. These funding models are essentially systems of ex-post evaluation of research outputs and outcomes from universities and other tertiary institutions, and are generally based on peer review, bibliometric or other quantitative indicators. Their results are used to inform government decisions about how much and which institutions to fund.