Schools and Universities

Funding

Governments in OECD countries must look for new ways of funding university study programmes, including calling on private finance, in the face of growing demand for degrees.

=> Watch this interview with Andreas Schleicher, head of the OECD’s Education Indicators and Analysis Division  => Find out more about the 2008 edition of “Education at a Glance”

Good value for money

In today’s knowledge-driven economy, higher education is a major driver of economic competitiveness. On 8-9 September 2008, the OECD’s Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) organised a conference on the quality, relevance and impact of higher education. There was a panel discussion focusing on value for money in higher education. Other sessions of the conference covered such topics as Assessing Learning and Employment Outcomes and Reputation and Ranking – the impact on institutional strategy and behaviour of international ranking tables.

School safety

Most children aren't given a choice by their families about whether or not they go to school. That makes it all the more important to ensure that the school environment is safe. Schools should be designed to resist earthquakes, for example. But children should also feel safe from bullying and free to learn in a friendly environment.

• In 2005, 30 OECD member countries adopted an OECD Recommendation Concerning Guidelines on Earthquake Safety in Schools. The OECD itself published a book Keeping Schools Safe in Earthquakes.
  
  
• OECD is also part of The International Network Combating School Bullying and Violence

Further reading:

• Universities: A social duty
  Besides providing training, research, documentation, publishing, and the like, do universities have any particular responsibility towards society? And more to the point, do they have a role to play in the development of education systems? The answer is a resounding “yes”.
  OECD Observer article by Richard Descoings, President, Sciences Po, Paris
• Beyond the ivory towers
  Higher education institutions should reach out much more and contribute to the development of their regions.