tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/quality-education-49255/articlesQuality education – The Conversation2021-01-19T19:12:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1528852021-01-19T19:12:13Z2021-01-19T19:12:13ZHow blockchain could help the world meet the UN’s global goals in higher education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379363/original/file-20210118-15-1kz2tvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C402%2C5472%2C4013&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blockchain can support the dissemination of open educational resources on a global scale.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Improving quality of life for people globally means investing in education. By 2025, <a href="https://www.plaio.org/index.php/home/article/download/16/22">more than 100 million learners</a> are estimated to be capable of higher education but won’t have access to it either because they cannot afford the costs, or because courses aren’t available in their region.
Courses aren’t available because communities or institutions <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/11599/3730">lack the technological infrastructure, lack suitable content or students lack the internet connectivity</a>. There also aren’t <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000246124">enough qualified instructors</a> in broad disciplines <a href="https://observatory.tec.mx/edu-news/teacher-training-challenge">who can teach online</a>.</p>
<p>The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared that free digitalized teaching and learning materials known as open educational resources are essential for increasing access for global learners. These materials are key to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4">of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Rorden Wilkinson, professor of international political economy, discusses the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 - Quality Education.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The technology known as blockchain has also been recognized as <a href="https://mcusercontent.com/2cb23eb7d36cab193aafc6d7f/files/2bc9cbad-5f81-4636-8bbc-08c59cb3403e/AAOUJ_15_3.pdf">an important resource</a> to help achieve strategic development goals. Through the use of blockchain, it could be possible to ensure the availability of more affordable, equitable and quality educational content internationally.</p>
<p>In the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions globally have quickly pivoted to online learning, and are examining their long-term strategies. The UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) and collaborators have been <a href="https://oer4covid.oeru.org">supporting educational institutions transitioning to online learning using open educational resources</a>. </p>
<p>Online learning, probably in different formats blended with classroom learning, is here to stay. This change ensures the continuing importance of blockchain and open educational resources.</p>
<p>However, there are challenges in using blockchain in education. Policy-makers concerned with development in conjunction with educators should explore ways to address challenges in disseminating open educational resources with blockchain while advocating for the internet infrastructure necessary required to support it.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/demystifying-the-blockchain-a-basic-user-guide-60226">Demystifying the blockchain: a basic user guide</a>
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<h2>Public domain, free to adapt</h2>
<p><a href="https://en.unesco.org/themes/building-knowledge-societies/oer">UNESCO defines</a> open educational resources as teaching/learning materials that are in the public domain or openly licensed and allow users to reuse, adapt and redistribute at no cost. </p>
<p>Open educational resources are not limited to textbooks, lessons or curriculum. They can also be educational games, podcasts, videos and applications. They substantially reduce the cost of content to students. They have also been used to <a href="https://theconversation.com/textbooks-could-be-free-if-universities-rewarded-professors-for-writing-them-125470">empower teachers and learners</a> through increased timely access to quality content, which improves learning.</p>
<p>Blockchain can be described as a digital ledger or database that is distributed on a network. This technology isn’t controlled by any central authority and so open educational resources as the “blocks” in the “chain” can be securely and effectively shared in a public network. Blockchain can support the dissemination of open educational resources on a global scale. </p>
<p>Blockchain has become more widely known due to its use in <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-explained-five-year-old">Bitcoin</a> as a ledger for financial transactions that are secured with encryption, verified and recorded by network nodes (also called a digital cryptocurrency). Bitcoin is based on blockchain, but the technology has many other uses. </p>
<h2>Plagiarism concerns</h2>
<p>What’s relevant to understand is that blockchain can be used to securely facilitate collaborations among two or more people. The original records cannot be deleted or changed. All changes can be easily traced as each new block in the chain is time-stamped. This matters because some authors of open educational resources express fear of not being attributed or being plagiarized.</p>
<p>This fear is reduced with the use of blockchain, because the blocks in the chain cannot be altered. The original creator can always be determined, no matter how much a resource is changed. </p>
<p>Adaptations require the creation of a new block that is automatically linked to the original. The block-encapsulated open educational resources are incorruptible. When every block in the iteration of a resource is time-stamped and recorded, <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8985920">plagiarism becomes obsolete</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">TEDxBoulder talk, ‘The Future of Universities in a Block Chain World,’ with information technology and humanities expert Diane Sieber.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The tracing features of blockchain allow authors to see if or when their work is being misused and allows them to challenge any improper usage. Transactions cannot be hidden, and so every adaptation of the original source is traceable. New versions of the source can be uploaded. Trackability is maintained as each block or ledger is distributed on the network.</p>
<p>This means that resources created with blockchain will have permanence online that preserves all content adaptations. All resources preserved as blockchain records are secured and permanent. This can become very important if an institution disappears, or if a creator moves on to work elsewhere or retires. </p>
<p>Another positive dimension of using blockchain is that it helps overcome the fact that many quality open educational resources are hard to find on the web, and are wasted because of this. To date, there has been no efficient means of disseminating open educational resources that allows for maximum accessibility. Blockchain can effectively support accessibility to open educational resources, housed in publicly available, distributed global knowledge databases. </p>
<h2>Passwords, legal questions, storage</h2>
<p>Applying blockchain in education <a href="http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-XDYC201702006.htm">has its own challenges</a>. These include the difficulty of changing established systems, legal questions on the ownership of the data, limitations in storage space and the need for privacy protection.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/technology/bitcoin-passwords-wallets-fortunes.html">Recent news on Bitcoin</a> has focused on the total loss of access to the blockchain if a password cannot be retrieved. This human element of remembering passwords could prove a significant inhibitor of the use of blockchain in education. </p>
<p>In addition, like other online databases, blockchain is vulnerable to unexpected failures. The persistence of blockchain can also become a hindrance: If unwanted, fake, unscientific or illegal content is accidentally or maliciously added to a blockchain, it cannot be removed. </p>
<p>There is also a lack of people skilled in implementing blockchain. As well, the speed, and particularly the high energy cost of creating and maintaining blockchain are also concerns.</p>
<p>Using blockchain technology to house open educational resources can be a tremendous asset in fulfilling the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 of improving access to quality, affordable education globally. But more research and political will is needed to overcome barriers in implementing this technology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152885/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rory McGreal is affiliated with UNESCO and the International Council for Open and Distance Education as a Chair in OER. </span></em></p>Open-educational resources are critical for increasing global learners’ access to education during COVID-19 and beyond. Blockchain technology can address concerns about plagiarism in resources.Rory McGreal, Professor and UNESCO/ICDE Chair in Open Educational Resources, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1322802020-03-11T13:25:19Z2020-03-11T13:25:19ZNew evidence supports the belief that South Africa’s education is not all bad<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317068/original/file-20200225-24668-6ae9cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Global education assessments show that South Africa's education system is moving upward.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past few years, there has been uncertainty around whether the learning outcomes of South Africa’s schools are improving from their historically low levels.</p>
<p>There are three testing programmes South Africa can draw from to gauge trends, and all are international: the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), focusing on Grade 9; the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SEACMEQ), focusing on Grade 6; and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), focusing on Grade 4. </p>
<p>In 2012, <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/research-outputs/view/6480">TIMSS results</a> pointed to substantial improvements in lower secondary maths and science since 2002. A few years later, <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Reports/SACMEQ%20IV%20Project%20in%20South%20Africa%20Report.pdf?ver=2017-09-08-152617-090">SEACMEQ revealed</a> improvements in the upper primary level. </p>
<p>Then in late 2017 came the news from PIRLS that reading in lower primary had remained <a href="https://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/164/ZP_Files/pirls-literacy-2016_grade-4_15-dec-2017_low-quality.zp137684.pdf">static between 2011 and 2016</a>. Was the schooling system not starting to pick up after all? The evidence was inconsistent and unclear. </p>
<p>In late 2019, I was asked by South Africa’s Department of Basic Education, the national authority for schools, to examine the raw data from the literacy study, which are <a href="https://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/international-database/index.html">publicly available</a>, to verify the flat no-change trend. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/sza/wpaper/wpapers337.html">findings</a> were surprising. The raw data appeared not to have been properly analysed in arriving at the conclusion that there was no progress. In fact, the progress was remarkably large. </p>
<p>It’s important to note, however, that even after improvements, South Africa still underperforms relative to most other middle income countries. What’s encouraging is that there’s a move in the right direction. </p>
<h2>Inconsistencies</h2>
<p>Testing done by programmes such as these involves selecting a nationally representative sample of around 300 schools in one year, and another such sample in a later year. Students in these schools write tests which repeat identical and highly confidential questions across different years. </p>
<p>This is what makes results comparable in ways that would never be possible in an examination system. It would be impossible to keep past examination papers secret. </p>
<p>If samples of schools are not nationally representative, that could result in national averages which are not comparable over time. </p>
<p>Was this perhaps driving a no-change trend in the Grade 4 literacy results? </p>
<p>Sampling problems had been found to produce <a href="https://johnjerrim.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/final_paper.pdf">inaccurate trends</a> in a few cases outside South Africa.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/sza/wpaper/wpapers337.html">found</a> there was nothing wrong with the sampling in the literacy study. But what was completely unexpected was to find that the 2011 to 2016 trend in classical scores didn’t correspond to the flat trend appearing in the study’s official reports. Classical scores are what teachers would be familiar with: 15 correct out of 30, meaning a 50% score. </p>
<p>These testing programmes use a complex statistical approach which results in another kind of score, called an item response theory score. As seen in the graph below, officially South Africa’s item response theory score in the study moved from 323 to 320. </p>
<p>The classical scores, in contrast, pointed to a large increase over the 2011 to 2016 period, from around 32% correct to 42% correct. Of 43 countries with a 2011 to 2016 trend, South Africa’s trend was the third-steepest increase, after those of Morocco and Oman. If correctly calculated, the item response theory scores should have pointed to a similar gain.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Provided by the author</span></span>
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<p>The inconsistency came about when the 2011 national score was converted from one scale to another by Boston College, the institution responsible for processing the data. This conversion affected only South Africa, as only South Africa took part in an easier test in 2011 and also participated in the study in 2016. </p>
<p>In early 2020, all references to the no-change finding were removed from the <a href="http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/international-results/wp-content/uploads/structure/CompletePDF/P16-PIRLS-International-Results-in-Reading.pdf">international report</a> in response to the findings described here. Unfortunately, given that the erroneous trend was published in 2017, it remains replicated in many places. </p>
<p>The correction has important policy implications for South Africa. It removes the uncertainty. All three programmes now point in the same direction, which is upward. This offers hope in a context where South Africa’s underperformance in the international programmes is widely known and <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/sza/wpaper/wpapers255.html">lamented</a>. </p>
<h2>What changed?</h2>
<p>What lies behind the improvement? It’s a mix of education and non-education factors. Urbanisation has improved the access of young people to resources which facilitate learning, from electricity in the home to public libraries. In the schooling system, there’s <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Reports/20191104_GHS_final.pdf?ver=2019-11-04-111833-313">evidence</a> that access to textbooks has improved. Curriculum <a href="https://evaluations.dpme.gov.za/evaluations/601">reforms</a> have made it clearer what teachers should do. </p>
<p>Not acknowledging that there are improvements raises the risk of policy change, where perhaps policy stability is necessary. On the other hand, South Africa’s historical levels of performance have been so low that it would have been relatively easy to shift scores in the right direction. For further improvement to be assured, it can’t just be business as usual. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Programmes/EarlyGradeReadingStudy.aspx">indicates</a> that better teaching of reading in the early grades, a prerequisite for virtually everything else in education, is possible and necessary. </p>
<h2>Understanding the limits</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://sdg.uis.unesco.org/2020/01/30/benchmarks-using-data-to-set-evidence-based-targets-to-improve-learning-proficiency/#more-1836">recent report</a> on the attainability of the Sustainable Development Goals in the area of educational quality, I looked at what historical trends across the world suggest are the fastest possible rates of improvement in the international testing systems.</p>
<p>South Africa is in fact making progress not too far from the “speed limit”. An inconvenient truth about schooling systems is that when they progress, they are more like tortoises than hares. This has implications for testing programmes which monitor systemic progress. They need to be sufficiently rigorous and fine-tuned to pick up even relatively small gains. </p>
<p>During the past 20 years, the quality of South African schooling <a href="http://www.myemissions.co.za/facebook.php#timssgraph">progressed</a> from a level well below that of Botswana, to almost the level of Botswana. But Botswana too is an underperformer relative to income per capita. </p>
<p>Both countries need to improve the quality of teaching and learning much further. A proper basic schooling for all citizens is a human right. And the evidence is clear that quality schooling also bodes well for <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/44417824.pdf">socio-economic development</a> in the long run.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Gustafsson works for Stellenbosch University and the South African Government. He has moreover done work for the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. He receives funding from the National Research Foundation, through his work with Research on Socio-Economic Policy (ReSEP), based at the University of Stellenbosch. </span></em></p>New insights show that South Africa’s education system is heading in the right direction.Martin Gustafsson, Education economist, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1257742019-11-06T13:34:38Z2019-11-06T13:34:38ZSouth Africa takes steps to assure the quality of its doctorates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298898/original/file-20191028-113972-1qv0aob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If significant concerns surface after institutional audit, the Council on Higher Education may withdraw accreditation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around the world there has been a massive increase in demand for <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/2011/110420/full/472276a.html">doctoral education</a>. This mostly stems from the idea that the “knowledge economy” requires high-level skills. The claim that there’s a correlation between a country’s economic stability and the proportion of its <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2017042113152878">population who have doctorates</a> has led to national targets being set for doctoral graduation. </p>
<p>In 2010, 1,420 doctoral candidates graduated in South Africa. Since then the number has more than <a href="https://www.che.ac.za/sites/default/files/publications/VitalStats%20-%20Public%20Higher%20Education%202017.pdf">doubled</a>. The high increase in both intake and graduation has led to concerns about quality. </p>
<p>A key question is: how did South Africa find the capacity to double its numbers given that the number of supervisors has grown at a markedly slower rate over this period? </p>
<p>A significant amount of money has been invested in <a href="https://www.nrf.ac.za/sites/default/files/Application%20and%20Funding%20Guide%20for%20FISS%20Postdoctoral%20Fellowships%20FINAL.pdf">doctoral education</a>. The national funding formula gives all universities a strong incentive to increase their doctoral intake. But there are questions to be asked about whether the quality of doctoral education justifies these investments of taxpayer money. The quality of doctoral graduates matters because, as the highest level of education, it sets the tone for quality throughout the university.</p>
<p>To answer some of the concerns, South Africa’s <a href="https://www.che.ac.za/about/overview_and_mandate/mandate">Council on Higher Education</a> is about to conduct a national review of higher education institutions that offer doctoral-level qualifications. This will be the first of its kind for the council, which, among other things, is responsible for developing and implementing systems of quality assurance for higher education. </p>
<h2>The review</h2>
<p>Every institution that offers doctoral qualifications has to develop a self-evaluation report indicating how it ensures it meets the doctoral standard. The report has to specify, with evidence, how the institution assures the quality of every step of the doctoral curriculum. This ranges from selecting students to allocating supervisors, providing institutional support, developing and reviewing proposals, ethical clearance and the examination process. It also needs to demonstrate how the institution ensures that its graduates embody specified doctoral attributes.</p>
<p>A review panel then verifies and interrogates the claims by the institution. This is followed by a report to the institution. Institutions that don’t meet all the requirements are required to submit an improved plan to the council. If there are serious concerns after this, the Council on Higher Education has the authority to withdraw accreditation from the academic institution.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.africanminds.co.za/dd-product/doctoral-education-in-south-africa/">Research</a> shows that funding is a key determinant of the rate at which doctoral candidates complete the degree. It’s also known that some universities are research intensive with numerous seminars, research design courses and research chairs. But in others, the supervisor and doctoral candidate may feel quite isolated. </p>
<p>Many South African universities were <a href="https://www.chet.org.za/download/file/fid/90">dissuaded or even forbidden</a> from offering postgraduate education during apartheid past and so have had to build a research culture over a relatively short space of time. </p>
<p>These institutions may lack research infrastructure and have challenges attracting researchers to their rural campuses. It’s not clear how the review process will strike a balance between such a context and the need to reassure the public that the South African doctorate meets international standards.</p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>We do not know whether the rapid increase in number of doctorates has led to a weakening of quality. Perhaps the <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/journal/10520/EJC-96771d4c6">rise</a> in predatory publications, a problem faced across the continent, suggests there is cause for concern. What is known is that some institutional audits undertaken ten years ago uncovered problems with examination processes at doctoral level. This review is an opportunity to revisit the issue.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-developing-countries-are-particularly-vulnerable-to-predatory-journals-86704">Why developing countries are particularly vulnerable to predatory journals</a>
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<p>The quality of the doctorate has significant implications. Poor doctoral education can set the scene for the nature of knowledge creation and dissemination in the whole university. If quality processes don’t safeguard academic integrity at doctoral level, then they are unlikely to protect quality at lower levels. </p>
<p>Taxpayer money subsidises doctoral programmes, so the qualification should produce the kinds of knowledge and highly skilled graduates who can make a meaningful contribution to society. </p>
<p>Given that South Africa’s funding formula greatly rewards doctoral education, all universities are being pushed to offer it across all faculties, regardless of availability of supervision and resources. There have been some cases where large numbers of doctoral candidates were admitted without the necessary capacity. The only way to change this, in my view, is to have a funding formula that rewards institutions on their own strengths. </p>
<p>But the country’s <a href="https://www.chet.org.za/download/file/fid/90">history</a> makes any real move towards institutional differentiation a no-go area. So steps need to be taken to ensure that all doctoral programmes meet the threshold standard.</p>
<p>Is the review the appropriate tool to achieve this? </p>
<p>Quality assurance generally seems to encourage <a href="https://theconversation.com/uni-sector-regulation-beset-by-red-tape-report-16722">bureaucracy and compliance</a> and be part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/here-are-five-signs-that-universities-are-turning-into-corporations-93100">rising managerialism</a> in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/mar/30/academic-bureaucracy-rise-managers-higher-education">institutions</a>. But it’s a good thing to start a conversation about what a doctorate is really for, and how to tell whether quality is being assured. </p>
<p>Perhaps the review will open the space for a national discussion on some of the conservative aspects of doctoral education in the country. For example, the funding formula suggests that the doctorate takes three years, even though most countries offer the doctorate over four. And those four years are on top of strong schooling and university foundations. </p>
<p>Many countries also offer structured coursework as part of the PhD accreditation process. South Africa’s policy precludes this. And the dominant approach to doctoral education in the humanities and social sciences remains the master-apprentice supervision of individual studies. This is despite the fact that the United Kingdom, from which South Africa inherited the model, is now offering an array of more <a href="https://www.euroeducation.net/prof/ukco.htm">flexible models</a>. Neither is there a strong tradition of vivas (oral exams) for the South African doctorate.</p>
<p>Far more innovative approaches are needed. The review might be the vehicle for the necessary institutional conversations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sioux McKenna receives funding from the National Research Foundation.</span></em></p>All institutions that offer doctoral-level qualifications are about to undergo a national review in response to the concerns about quality.Sioux McKenna, Director of Centre for Postgraduate Studies, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1167232019-05-16T21:01:00Z2019-05-16T21:01:00ZOntario’s child-care cuts will hurt low-income parents working or studying full time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274983/original/file-20190516-69189-1t8a9zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C121%2C997%2C411&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reducing the number of child care subsidies will mean that some parents will not be able to support their families or continue their studies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ontario’s recent provincial budget claimed to help families access quality child care — but in reality, the province’s budget masks what are emerging as <a href="http://www.childcareontario.org/budget_2019_devil_in_the_details">massive cuts to child-care funding</a> that will have far-reaching consequences for families and communities. </p>
<p>The provincial budget promised a $1.7 billion investment in 2019-20 “<a href="http://budget.ontario.ca/pdf/2019/2019-ontario-budget-en.pdf">to help families access child care and early years programs to support them while they earn a living</a>.” It touted a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-an-ontario-tax-credit-for-child-care-is-a-bad-idea-115207">child-care tax credit</a> and policy changes to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ontario-governments-plan-to-loosen-child-care-rules-is-dangerous-108953">loosen child-care regulations</a> that would purportedly help all families access the child care they need. </p>
<p>In fact, the province has <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-child-care-fund-cut-costs-1.5117963">cancelled a $50-million fund that helped care providers absorb labour costs</a> and other child-care funding for a minimum total of an <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/child-care-costs-update-1.5126154">estimated $80-million loss in funds</a>. The figure does not include additional cuts municipalities will be expected to bear due to changes in the province’s cost-sharing model. </p>
<h2>Toronto estimated to lose 6,000 care subsidies</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, Toronto city manager Chris Murray advised the mayor and city council that he’s done the math based on both cuts to direct child-care funds plus the cumulative impact due to cost-sharing changes — leading him to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/child-care-funding-cuts-toronto-budget-1.5121320">estimate nearly $85 million in immediate child-care funding cuts to the City of Toronto</a> alone. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/child-care-funding-cuts-toronto-budget-1.5121320">spokesperson for the Ministry of Education issued a statement</a> arguing: “The City of Toronto should be looking at ways to make their operations more efficient instead of passing on these costs to parents… Any reductions in child care spaces would be the result of the City of Toronto’s own decision making.’”</p>
<p>So how should the city absorb these cuts? Should the city gut its Assessment for Quality Improvement (AQI) program — a child-care support program that sets <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10409289.2016.1186468">service standards and guidelines to child-care service providers in approximately 70 per cent of all licensed care in Toronto</a>? This is an innovative quality-assurance program built on transparency that improves quality and safety for all children served.</p>
<p>The Toronto city manager warned that the city may have to cut <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/child-care-funding-cuts-toronto-budget-1.5121320">more than 6,000 subsidies</a> for low-income families. According to figures obtained from <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/city-administration/staff-directory-divisions-and-customer-service/childrens-services/">Toronto Children’s Services</a>, 64 per cent of families that received a subsidy were led by a single parent whose average taxable income was $22,700 in 2017. The average income for two-parent families receiving a subsidy was $38,300. </p>
<p>Reducing the number of subsidies will mean that these parents, many of whom are already struggling, will not be able to support their families or continue their studies.</p>
<h2>Far-reaching consequences for child care</h2>
<p>Other municipalities are <a href="https://www.ontariofarmer.com/news/local-news/cuts-in-child-care-funding-could-mean-longer-wait-for-spaces/wcm/0301cf40-ee5f-4379-8d81-026641e161b6">similarly calculating the impact of cuts</a> that will have far-reaching <a href="https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9332295-progressive-conservatives-claw-back-3-5-million-in-child-care-funding-in-hamilton/">consequences for parents</a> and all employers of parents who rely on child-care services. </p>
<p>In our view, the province’s cuts are an anti-anti-poverty measure. Provincial transfers to municipalities for children’s services, among other things, help share the costs for child-care subsidies, a crucial support for low-income families. </p>
<p>The parameters of eligibility for assistance are set by the province under the <em><a href="https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/CC2017/EYCC17_attach_EN.pdf">Ontario Child Care Service Management and Funding Guideline 2018</a></em>; the amount of parental contribution is stipulated in the regulations under the <em><a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/150137">Child Care and Early Years Act</a></em>. </p>
<p>But municipalities share responsibility for subsidy funding with the province. Through service-planning processes, municipalities have limited discretion to determine priorities for types of care, age groups and geographic location and the mechanism for calculating the subsidy amount paid to service providers. Municipalities are solely responsible for eligibility assessments and allocation of subsidies to individual families. </p>
<h2>Early childhood: A critical developmental time</h2>
<p>There is unequivocal evidence that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK225557/">early childhood is a critical period in terms of children’s developmental trajectories</a> and growing recognition that <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED493785">high-quality early childhood education and care programs can enhance child development</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274668/original/file-20190515-60554-ej0hlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274668/original/file-20190515-60554-ej0hlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274668/original/file-20190515-60554-ej0hlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274668/original/file-20190515-60554-ej0hlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274668/original/file-20190515-60554-ej0hlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274668/original/file-20190515-60554-ej0hlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274668/original/file-20190515-60554-ej0hlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early childhood is a critical period for children’s development trajectories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Evidence shows that the potential effects of high-quality early childhood education and care <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/resource/early-care-and-education-quality-and-child-outcomes">are strongest for children from families with low incomes</a>. </p>
<p>Supporting vulnerable children is especially important now as the latest Ontario provincial <em>Early Years Report</em> (2018) noted that <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/annual-report-2018.html">nearly 30 per cent of children across the province were identified as vulnerable</a>. This means that in kindergarten they were ranked in the lowest 10th percentile in at least one of the following five domains: physical, social, emotional or language development and general knowledge. </p>
<p>A figure of 30 per cent vulnerability is the highest percentage since 2004 when these data on children’s developmental well-being were first collected. The data strongly suggest children and families need more, rather than less, support. Low income has been identified as one of the contributing factors to children’s developmental vulnerability. </p>
<h2>Bad economics, bad child-care policy</h2>
<p>Aside from the direct benefits to parents and children, the child-care sector is a significant source of local economic development. Not only do child-care jobs provide worker income, but <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0927537109000323">subsidized child care also increases maternal labour supply when the labour supply levels are low</a> – in other words, it allows struggling parents the opportunity to work more, or more consistent, hours. </p>
<p>Having those parents work increases tax revenue which ultimately increases GDP. Removal of the subsidy means these parents do not have the opportunity to contribute to the economy, and increases the inequality gap, now and in the future.</p>
<p>The province’s <a href="http://budget.ontario.ca/2019/bg-tax.html">child-care tax credit</a> is not going to help very low-income families. A tax credit does not provide a way to handle the immediate costs of child-care services. Even the maximum $6,000 tax credit does little to offset the actual costs in a city like Toronto where <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/study-reveals-highest-and-lowest-child-care-fees-canadian-cities-2018">child care for an infant can easily cost upwards of $20,000 per year</a>.</p>
<p>The proposed changes will significantly weaken a system that is already struggling to help children and families who face significant challenges. Gutting the already weak support for low-income families is wrongheaded and will cause immediate and long-term harm. </p>
<p>In the absence of measures long recommended by child-care policy advocates (such as operating grants to centres, sliding fee scale rates tied to income and wage enhancements for providers), the subsidy system is the one plank of the system that should be expanded, not cut.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116723/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda A. White currently holds grants from the McCain Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Dhuey will be consulting for the City of Toronto by providing a review of their municipally operated childcare programs in the summer/fall 2019. Elizabeth Dhuey also holds grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michal Perlman receives funding from the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, McCain Foundation, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Municipal and Provincial government and others.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Petr Varmuza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For better childhood developmental outcomes and better economics, and in the absence of other long-recommended child care policies, the child care subsidy system should be expanded, not cut.Linda A. White, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of TorontoElizabeth Dhuey, Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Management, University of TorontoMichal Perlman, Professor of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of TorontoPetr Varmuza, PhD Candidate, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1142402019-04-23T11:41:32Z2019-04-23T11:41:32ZNigerian universities are suffering from neglect. Why this should stop<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269622/original/file-20190416-147508-yot3ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigeria's education system is under funded.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The level of funding of the education sector has been <a href="https://thepointernewsonline.com/?p=40771">recognised</a> as one of the major factors that contribute to quality education. This, in turn, determines growth and development of a country. It’s also been <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/">acknowledged</a> that quality education determines the success in achieving the sustainable development goals. </p>
<p>As Irina Bokova, the former Director General, UNESCO, <a href="http://www.aitonline.tv/post-UNESCO_demands_improvement_on_budgetary_allocation_for_education">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Quality education, inclusive education, has to be among those for the post-2015 agenda because if we don’t put it with all the responsibility that is entrusted upon us we would not live up, in my view, to the expectations of the global community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the last 40 years government funding in the education sector in Nigeria has varied between <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/04/09/funding-of-education-in-Nigeria-below-UNESCO-recommended-benchmark-says-ministry/">6% and 9%</a> of the national budget. This is <a href="https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2018/11/19/budgetary-allocation-to-education-nigeria-ranks-20th-in-the-world/">lower</a> than most other African countries which range between 11% and 30%.</p>
<p>This meagre allocation is also expected to fund the country’s higher education system. </p>
<p>At independence about 60 years ago Nigeria had only two tertiary institutions. These were Yaba Higher College (founded in 1934), now Yaba College of Technology and the University of Ibadan,Ibadan was initially a College of the University of London, founded in 1948. </p>
<p>After independence in 1960, all Nigeria’s states were determined to make education accessible at all levels. This, plus <a href="http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/nigeria-population/">population growth</a> led to a significant increase in the number of tertiary institutions. </p>
<p>By 2018, Nigeria had 160 <a href="https://campusbiz.com.ng/list-of-universities-in-nigeria/">approved universities</a>. These included 43 federal universities, 48 state universities and 79 private universities. In addition, there were 113 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_polytechnics_in_Nigeria">polytechnics</a> and 47 <a href="http://www.nbte.gov.ng/monotechnics.html">monotechnics</a> ,<a href="https://nigerianfinder.com/schools-of-health-in-Nigeria/">71</a> colleges of health technology, 153 <a href="https://net.nbte.gov.ng/IEIs">innovation enterprise institutions</a>, most of which are privately owned and 132 <a href="https://www.theinfostride.com/forum/index.php?topic=38258.0">technical colleges</a>. There were 82 <a href="https://wikivisually.com/wiki/List_of_colleges_of_education_in_Nigeria">colleges of education</a>,consisting of 22 federal, 46 under the state’s care and 14 privately owned.</p>
<p>It’s clear that the budget allocation can’t do justice to the needs of these institutions. If Nigeria is going to join the league of industrialised countries it needs to fund its education sector adequately. Most importantly, it needs to invest in solid infrastructure for teaching, research and national development. </p>
<h2>Funding</h2>
<p>The main source of funding for Nigerian tertiary institutions has been annual budgetary allocations from the state and federal governments. To complement these allocations, the federal government established an education trust fund in 1993. This agency has been supporting government tertiary institutions under the <a href="http://www.tetfund.gov.ng/index.php/2-uncategorised/2-tetfund-act">Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act</a>. This imposes a 2% education tax on the profits of Nigeria’s registered companies.</p>
<p>The fund has played a significant role in promoting quality and education standards in Nigerian tertiary institutions. These funds have been used for:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>construction and rehabilitation of buildings and laboratories, </p></li>
<li><p>procurement of teaching and research equipment, academic staff training and research development, </p></li>
<li><p>Capacity building and teacher training,</p></li>
<li><p>information and communication technology, and</p></li>
<li><p>infrastructure, including boreholes and electric power generators. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Fees and levies are another source of income. For government-owned institutions, the <a href="http://www.pulse.ng/communities/student/free-education-if-you're-a-federal-university-student-tuition-fee-is%20now-illegal-in/1y15gsz.amp#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s">directive</a> is not to charge tuition fees but to impose levies. The levies are approved by each governing council. This means that they vary from institution. </p>
<p>Private institutions <a href="https://nigerianprice.com/school-fees-of-private-universities-in-Nigeria/">rely substantially</a> on tuition fees and other levies. These also vary from institution to institution. They are also substantially higher than those charged in public institutions.</p>
<p>Another source of revenue is internally generated income. Institutions are expected to generate additional income from grants, donations and other fund raising initiatives. But this has proved to be an <a href="http://www.abuad.edu.ng/funding-of-universities-in-nigeria-attitude-of-nigerians-to-giving">uphill battle</a>. Nigeria has a poor culture of donations because of the belief that the government is responsible for providing free education at all levels.</p>
<h2>Fixing the problem</h2>
<p>The first major step to fixing Nigeria’s tertiary education problems would be to <a href="https://www.legit.ng/1218432-asuu-insists-15-allocation-education-sector-strike.html">increase</a> budgetary allocations to between 11% and 15%. </p>
<p>I don’t believe that raising fees is a sensible road to take. Instead, the government should reintroduce scholarships, bursaries, grants and loan schemes, as was the case before the oil boom. </p>
<p>Another shortfall in Nigeria’s higher education sector is a lack of research grants. The public and private sectors have to create an enabling environment and work together with the higher education sector to achieve the country’s development goals. This is the path taken by developed countries. </p>
<p>Another major hurdle that will need to be cleared is relations with labour unions, in particular the Academic Staff Union of Universities.</p>
<h2>The role of private institutions</h2>
<p>I also believe that private higher education institutions have a significant role to play in the delivery of quality education and national economic development. They have to be supported. While I was the chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of Private Universities in Nigeria between 2014 to 2016, the committee proposed that private universities should also benefit from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund. </p>
<p>This money would be used for staff development and research. Loans, at single digit interest rates, could be provided for infrastructural development. </p>
<p>These recommendations were based on the believe that these institutions have the capacity to increase enrolment and cater for an increasing number of people seeking admission. This would also mean that thousands of students would no longer have to leave the country to pursue their studies elsewhere.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the law that lead to the establishment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund doesn’t accommodate private institutions. This needs to be amended. </p>
<h2>In conclusion</h2>
<p>It is apparent that Nigeria has failed to deliver quality education due to poor funding of the education sector and rising costs of education, among other factors. </p>
<p>There must be a methodical approach to improving education funding for Nigeria to achieve the sustainable development goals. The funds must be used appropriately and there must be accountability across the board.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Government funding in Nigeria’s education sector has been chronically low and needs to be changed.Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi, Professor, Nigerian Academy of ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/956582018-05-10T06:12:19Z2018-05-10T06:12:19ZDoes it pay to graduate from an ‘elite’ university? Not as much as you’d think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217902/original/file-20180507-166897-1wo7aby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Attending an elite university appears to play a comparatively small role in determining a graduate’s starting salary.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the deadline for <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au">applications for mid-year admission</a> to university approaches, prospective students face two important choices: what to study, and at which university. </p>
<p>If past experience is any guide, places at the <a href="https://go8.edu.au/">Group of Eight</a> (Go8) universities will be in high demand. In 2017, the Go8 universities attracted <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/undergraduate_applications_offers_and_acceptances_2017.pdf">the largest share of undergraduate applications</a> and rejected more applications than any other type of university. </p>
<p>But our research shows attending one of these elite universities doesn’t in itself significantly increase the average starting salary for graduates. </p>
<h2>What makes the Go8 so popular?</h2>
<p>The Go8 universities have more favourable <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/45231">student-to-staff ratios</a>, <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/46151">better qualified staff</a>, superior <a href="http://www.universityrankings.com.au/research-excellence-rankings.html">research outcomes</a>, and better placement <a href="http://www.universityrankings.com.au/go8-rankings-group-of-eight.html">in university rankings</a> compared to non-Go8 universities. </p>
<p>That said, institutions of the <a href="https://www.atn.edu.au/">Australian Technology Network</a> (ATN) are broadly comparable in terms of class sizes and staff qualifications.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218215/original/file-20180509-34018-qtkw5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218215/original/file-20180509-34018-qtkw5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218215/original/file-20180509-34018-qtkw5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218215/original/file-20180509-34018-qtkw5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218215/original/file-20180509-34018-qtkw5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218215/original/file-20180509-34018-qtkw5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218215/original/file-20180509-34018-qtkw5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Universities of the ATN, like RMIT University, are broadly comparable to Go8 universities in terms of class sizes and staff qualifications.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">free range jace/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This leads to another question: do these superior institutional characteristics have a material impact on the earnings of their graduates? Conventional wisdom and <a href="http://papers.nber.org/books/beck75-1">economic theory</a> support a link between institutional characteristics and students’ employment outcomes. But the measurement of this effect is not straightforward. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-price-matter-when-picking-a-university-33008">Does price matter when picking a university?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Prospective students compete for university places on the basis of their past academic performance. So, any apparent earnings bonus enjoyed by the graduates of supposedly better-quality universities may, to an unknown extent, be the result of those universities recruiting more able students. </p>
<p>The characteristics of these students (including better academic performance) should make them more likely to be higher paid wherever they studied. That is to say, it may be the students who are “better quality”, rather than the university.</p>
<h2>Do graduates from Go8 unis earn more?</h2>
<p>In a recent <a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp11477.pdf">discussion paper</a>, we investigated whether young undergraduates from the Go8 universities earn more, on average, than graduates from other universities in their first full-time job after graduation. We also looked at whether any such higher earnings are due to Go8 universities recruiting “better” students.</p>
<p>We used data from the <a href="http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/research/surveys/australiangraduatesurvey/">Graduate Destination Survey</a> and data on average <a href="http://www.vtac.edu.au/results-offers/atar-explained.html">Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks</a> (ATARs). </p>
<p>We found statistically significant evidence of variation in average starting salaries across university groupings. But the magnitude of the variation is only a few percentage points. The extra salary amounts enjoyed by Go8 graduates are even smaller when we control for: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>differences in the mix of fields studied </p></li>
<li><p>the geographical regions in which graduates work</p></li>
<li><p>the quality of students recruited. </p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-myths-about-australian-university-graduate-outcomes-87074">Five myths about Australian university graduate outcomes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We found between 13% and 46% of the apparent Go8 salary bonus over other university groups are due to their recruitment of students with higher ATARs. So, attending an elite university appears to play a comparatively small role in determining one’s starting salary, at least relative to other factors.</p>
<p>This leaves us with the big question: why, given their superior characteristics, are the salary benefits associated with attending an elite university so small? We highlight three plausible explanations. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>The quality of undergraduate teaching is more similar across Australian universities than is implied by their characteristics</p></li>
<li><p>university characteristics, such as faculty qualifications and student-to-staff ratios, are not as important to the development of knowledge and skills in undergraduates than is normally assumed. For example, having a large share of academic staff with a PhD may contribute to an institution’s research output. But it may not contribute to the formation of productive knowledge in young undergraduates.</p></li>
<li><p>employers don’t use the institution you attended as a signal when making employment decisions, at least for young undergraduates just out of university.</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218218/original/file-20180509-4803-1r8fkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218218/original/file-20180509-4803-1r8fkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218218/original/file-20180509-4803-1r8fkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218218/original/file-20180509-4803-1r8fkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218218/original/file-20180509-4803-1r8fkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218218/original/file-20180509-4803-1r8fkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218218/original/file-20180509-4803-1r8fkvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ATAR is more important in predicting later salary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">interestedbystandr/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Better quality measures</h2>
<p>Our results suggest prospective undergraduates looking to maximise the financial return on their educational investment are not well-served by standard measures of university quality. Student-to-staff ratios, the proportion of staff with a PhD, and research productivity measures are important for graduate students and researchers. But they don’t appear to have much relevance for the post-university salaries of undergraduates. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/prospective-higher-education-students-need-better-information-about-admissions-process-shergold-report-68856">Prospective higher education students need better information about admissions process: Shergold report</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>The choice of a university is a key decision for many young Australians. It’s important they’re provided with relevant information to help them make this choice.</p>
<p>A set of indicators that measure the effect of university choice on employment outcomes, regardless of the background and characteristics of the students, might help them make better decisions. Indicators of this type are already produced for US colleges by the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/beyond-college-rankings-a-value-added-approach-to-assessing-two-and-four-year-schools/">Brookings Institution</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95658/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Attending an elite university plays a small role in an undergraduate’s starting salary compared to other factors, such as high ATAR, the field of study they chose and the region in which they work.Massimiliano Tani, Professor of Finance and Economics, UNSW SydneyChris Heaton, Senior lecturer, Macquarie UniversityDavid Carroll, Academic Programs Analyst, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/910842018-02-05T14:18:50Z2018-02-05T14:18:50ZWhy poor parents in Nairobi choose private over free primary schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204402/original/file-20180201-123852-ev50c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cheap private schools in low and middle income countries have increased dramatically.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Birute Vijeikiene</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The numbers of low cost private schools in low and middle income countries have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059313000059">exploded</a> in recent years. These schools charge fees that are affordable to the poorest segment of the population, and often target these populations specifically. </p>
<p>But, in many countries, these schools have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/08/17/saying-kids-were-endangered-uganda-is-closing-schools-backed-by-u-s-world-bank-bill-gates-and-mark-zuckerberg/?utm_term=.ef0ed55f8f22">criticised</a> for failing to meet minimum standards set by the government for facilities, infrastructure, and learning materials. There are also claims that they exacerbate inequality because they are <a href="https://www.innovations.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/2608043.pdf">not accessible to the poorest children</a> and <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.201.8198&rep=rep1&type=pdf">tend to be located in urban areas</a>, and allow national governments to abandon their efforts to serve poor students.</p>
<p>Kenya is no exception. Evidence <a href="http://aphrc.org/post/publications/quality-and-access-to-education-in-urban-informal-settlements-in-kenya">suggests</a> that more than half of primary school students in Nairobi attend private schools. This is despite the fact that 15 years ago the government implemented a free primary education programme. So why do poor parents, struggling to support their families, elect to pay school fees when they could send their children to school without paying fees? </p>
<p>One hypothesis is that there are simply not enough public school seats to accommodate children, particularly in <a href="http://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/NCSS2-FINAL-Report.pdf">densely populated</a> informal settlement areas like Kibera or Mathare. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03054985.2017.1391084?needAccess=true">research</a> conducted by myself and my colleagues supports another theory: we found that parents make great sacrifices to avoid public schools and place their children in private schools at significant financial cost. The main reason is that parents believe private schools offer better quality education than public schools. Other contributory reasons included perceptions of superiority and that younger parents were more likely to have children in the private schools than older parents.</p>
<h2>Private perceptions</h2>
<p>We interviewed more than 1,000 parents and head teachers at 93 public and private schools in Nairobi. We asked them about their schooling decisions and what words they would use to describe low cost private schools and public schools. </p>
<p>Low cost private schools were described as being high quality, with harder-working teachers who were consistently present in the classroom. Homework was assigned regularly and teachers were observed by supervisors. </p>
<p>Public schools were described as corrupt, with lazy teachers who were often absent. Survey participants were more likely to describe public school teachers as well-trained, however, and said that the school had many learning materials available. In interviews, some parents also discussed their concerns about social class issues – such as wanting to keep their children away from the “dirty” children in public schools.</p>
<p>Overall, low cost private schools were seen as the better quality choice, when they were available for parents. For eight in ten parents whose children were in them, quality was a strong motivator. For public school parents, quality was a factor for 56%, with affordability of fees and proximity being the next greatest concerns. </p>
<h2>Financial sacrifices</h2>
<p>On average, having one child in one low-cost private school cost 12% of the income of the household’s main earner. Given that families in the study had on average three children, this is a significant portion of household spending. </p>
<p>Parents in the survey said that, on average, low-cost private school were twice as expensive. </p>
<p>Our study found that low-cost private school were seen by most parents in Nairobi as superior to the local public schools. We also found evidence of a generational change – younger parents were more likely to have children in the private schools than older parents. This could be because younger parents are more likely to be educated themselves, and are therefore more sensitive to school quality. </p>
<p>Some parents indicated the “flexibility” of head teachers in the low-cost private school, since parents were sometimes allowed to pay fees over a period of time as the children continued learning. </p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>Given that the number of educated parents is expected to grow it’s important for the government to engage with low cost private schools as critical components of the education system, rather than as competitors to the public system. The ministry of education has guidelines in place to govern how low cost private schools are registered, which is a welcome step. For example, to register, private schools must meet basic minimum requirements for teacher training and facilities.</p>
<p>Finally, parents need consistent, verifiable information on the available schools in their area including accurate pupil-teacher ratios, literacy and numeracy outcomes data, and pass rates on the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations. Parents should be making decisions about school quality based on accurate learning data rather than on gut feelings and popular perceptions. When a very poor family makes the choice to pay school fees, it is not able to pay for something else, so it’s important to ensure that families making this choice are actually getting a return for their investment.</p>
<p>_Benjamin Piper, Senior Director in Africa Education for <a href="https://www.rti.org/expert/benjamin-piper">RTI International</a>, contributed to the writing of this article. _</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Simmons Zuilkowski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research explores why parents in Nairobi actively choose to send their children to private schools, despite the financial constraints.Stephanie Simmons Zuilkowski, Assistant Professor, Florida State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.