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This report provides an overview of educational progress in Türkiye in the last two decades and reviews education policies which were developed and implemented during the same period. It considers a selection of policies operating from the levels of learners and institutions to system-level policies that are analysed through the lenses of comparative international data and OECD analysis of policies, programmes, and interventions that aim to support better outcomes and greater equity across national education systems. Conducted as a desk-based analysis, this report draws from the knowledge base of the OECD on education policy in Türkiye, national and international sources, and responses from the Ministry of National Education to a survey conducted for this report.
In this paper, the authors discuss the rationale behind making talent development at the PhD, post-doctoral and early career levels an equal fourth pillar of the university’s mission, alongside the more traditional pillars of the triple helix. Using Denmark and Aarhus University as a case study, the paper describes how increased institutional autonomy, and the critical mass that resulted from mergers, permitted organisational restructuring that supports the development of this talent strategy and its implementation.
The “quadruple helix” model at Aarhus University is intended to support strategies that involve multiple disciplines and cut across the four key missions of the university: research, education, knowledge exchange and talent development. Most importantly, the organisational model increases the university’s ability to address the challenges and opportunities of the global knowledge society while maintaining quality and expanding supply.
The frequency and severity of extreme wildfires are on the rise in Portugal, causing unprecedented disruption and increasingly challenging the country’s capacity to contain losses and damages. These challenges are set to keep growing in the context of climate change, highlighting the need to scale up wildfire prevention and climate change adaptation. This paper provides an overview of Portugal’s wildfire policies and practices and assesses the extent to which wildfire management in the country is evolving to adapt to growing wildfire risk under climate change.
The frequency and severity of extreme wildfires are on the rise in the United States, causing unprecedented disruption and increasingly challenging the country’s capacity to contain losses and damages. These challenges are set to keep growing in the context of climate change, highlighting the need to scale up wildfire prevention and climate change adaptation. This paper provides an overview of the United States’ wildfire policies and practices and assesses the extent to which wildfire management in the country is evolving to adapt to growing wildfire risk under climate change.
Tanzania could be a major food-exporting country but its dependence on rainfall, poor transport and marketing infrastructures, as well as low access to technology, lead to persistent food security problems. The Tanzanian government has decided to focus its Agricultural Sector Development Programme (ASDP) on irrigation. However, even though the importance of irrigation to reduce Tanzania’s dependency on rainfall is undisputed, it would have been better to have a two-fold programme with one part focusing on production-related investments such as irrigation and the other fostering commercial agriculture and the private sector. While donor commitments to agriculture show a mixed trend, Tanzania is one of the few African countries with a basket fund in agriculture. The Tanzanian government aims to establish the ASDP as the sector programme to which all donor interventions should be aligned. First reviews of the ASDP reveal that capacity to implement the programme is lacking at all levels. A lot of capacity building and a change of mindset in Local Government Authorities (LGAs) are needed to make farmer empowerment and private sector involvement a reality. Furthermore, rural and agricultural development efforts should be better co-ordinated as both draw on the same limited capacities at the local level.
Setting R&D spending targets based on R&D intensities (GERD as a share of GDP) has been a part of science and technology policy in many OECD countries for at least 35 years. What is new is that the targeting of R&D has become more widespread and a more visible goal commanding considerable attention in high-level white papers, summits and policy proclamations. This paper examines the factors that have contributed to the growing popularity of these targets and analyses in more detail the economic and structural consequences of achieving the increased levels of R&D spending by looking at the profile of individual countries with a high R&D intensity and those countries who have achieved a recent significant gain in their intensity. It then traces some of the implications of a higher R&D intensity for the European Union: the R&D spending levels that would be required to meet the target announced by Ministers at the 2002 summit in Barcelona, the human resources needed to conduct this R&D ...
Finland has been setting research and development (R&D) intensity targets for almost 50 years. This paper explores the Finnish national policy experience in fostering public and private investments in R&D. Three key insights are the following: a) a systemic and integrated policy approach needs an impactful co-ordination and governance mechanism; b) a balanced innovation system with well-working joint public-private partnership efforts and mechanisms will do better in absorbing shocks; c) a key strategy to absorb shocks to the economy and society is to invest in long-term capabilities. This study also provides an overview of the factors influencing the level of R&D intensity. The current 4% target to be reached by 2030 was set in 2019 but thus far relatively few policy actions have been introduced to operationalise it. With these dynamics and uncertainty, it remains to be seen if the target will be reached by 2030.
This paper argues that countries will need to better assess potential savings in the provision of universal benefits and providing services free to all at the point of delivery. Instead, programmes will need to be targeted at those truly in need, and services only free to those with limited ability to pay. It draws an analogy to the progressivity of the tax system where those with greater means pay higher taxes. A similar philosophy should be the basis of government spending. It highlights examples of the application of means-testing and user charging for key areas including retirement benefits, health care and education. The paper is meant to stimulate discussion among Senior Budget Officials.
Prior quantitative assessments of the effects of agricultural trade liberalisation have assumed that negotiated reductions in bound tariffs translate into corresponding cuts in applied tariff rates. This approach, however, overestimates the actual reduction in applied tariffs and, hence, the benefits of trade liberalisation, since applied rates are often much lower than the tariffs bound in Uruguay Round schedules. This paper uses data on applied and bound tariffs and the GTAP-CGE model to quantify the magnitude of the resulting bias. The findings suggest that the distortion of estimates is particularly pronounced for modest tariff cuts, as well as for countries where the differences between bound and applied rates are substantial. Hence, quantitative policy analysts who aim to inform decision makers on the likely impacts of negotiated tariff cuts should consider the relationship between bound and applied tariff rates in their assessments in order to avoid mistaken advice...
During the COVID-19 crisis, many tax administrations had to close offices and move to almost full or partial remote working. For many, this has also coincided with the peak filing season and an increase for some in the administration of benefits affected by COVID-19. This had impacts on normal operations, as some administrations have not been able to carry out business as usual in all areas, including difficulties in dealing with paper communications and forms, physical audits, taxpayer contacts and some aspects of systems maintenance. In addition, many administrations have been asked to undertake new roles providing assistance, including financial assistance, to taxpayers on behalf of the wider government.
This note is intended to provide a status/pulse check on the impact of digitalisation of tax administration in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, with a particular focus on taxpayer services, compliance risk management, remote working, IT systems and providing support for wider government. It has been produced by the OECD Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) Secretariat in collaboration with the FTA Enterprise Risk Management Community of Interest and takes account of input provided by more than thirty tax administrations that completed a digital resilience survey. The results are presented on an anonymised basis.