03 Aug 2016
The Governance of Education and Training Agenda 2030 and Beyond: Perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa by Peliwe Lolwana
By Peliwe Lolwana, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. As the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) pick up from where the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) left off, it makes sense to start with the comparison of the two. The SDGs seem to have more of a universal appeal than the preceding MDGs. This reflects the extent and... Read More
28 Jul 2016
PISA for Development: Expanding the Global Education Community Esperanto or Developing a Dialect? By Camilla Addey
By Camilla Addey, Humboldt University in Berlin[1] In the 1990s, the International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) phenomenon suddenly exploded and over the following two decades, it saw an impressive increase in the number of countries taking part and the ILSA programmes available – the most widely known being the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Although... Read More
21 Jul 2016
Can the Measurement of Learning Outcomes Lead to Quality Education for All? By Pablo Zoido, Michael Ward, Kelly Makowiecki, Lauren Miller, and Catalina Covacevich
By Pablo Zoido (former OECD), Michael Ward, Kelly Makowiecki, Lauren Miller, Catalina Covacevich (OECD) This is one of the complex questions that kicked off last month’s, NORRAG-Brookings event, “Learning From Learning Assessments: The Politics and Policies of Attaining Quality Education”, which brought together targeted stakeholders with expertise in learning assessments, education policy-making and classroom experience.... Read More
18 Jul 2016
International Geneva, Conflict and Peacebuilding: What Role for Education? By Mario Novelli
By Mario Novelli, University of Sussex & NORRAG[1] When we think of ‘International Geneva’ we may reflect on the unique role that a range of Geneva-based International actors play in managing, resolving and overcoming wars and armed conflict. We think of UNHCR, ICRC; OCHA, OHCHR and a range of smaller NGOs, such as Geneva Call... Read More
04 Jul 2016
ICTs in Technical and Vocational Skills Development: Reaching the Poorest Populations? By Rao Bhavani and Ajay Balakrishnan
By Rao Bhavani and Ajay Balakrishnan, AMMACHI Labs, Amrita University, India During the last Tech4Dev Conference[1] NORRAG and AMMACHI Labs (Amrita University, India),[2] jointly conducted a workshop on “ICTs in TVSD[3] – Promises and Challenges for Inclusive Development Reaching the Poorest Populations”. This session built both on the international policy debate and evidence around the... Read More
27 Jun 2016
“(Mis-)Educating the Ghettoes of our world” – is there a Collective Neglect of the Role of Education for Youth in Violent Cities Around the World? By Mieke Lopes Cardozo, Jovana Carapic, and Joost Monks
By Mieke Lopes Cardozo, University of Amsterdam; Jovana Carapic, Small Arms Survey, Geneva; Joost Monks, NORRAG Violent cities: the ghettoes of our world? The world is less peaceful today than it was in 2008, is indicated by the results of the 2015 Global Peace Index. Regardless of the global, regional and local investments in humanitarian... Read More
23 Jun 2016
Learning From Learning Assessments: The Politics and Policies of Attaining Quality Education
A NORRAG joint event with the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at Brookings, in association with PASEC on 23 June 2016, Geneva: Context In response to both the achievements and disappointments related to the MDGs, and to the new aspirations under the SDGs, there is an increasing emphasis globally on identifying the appropriate indicators for... Read More
20 Jun 2016
Can African Universities Deliver Knowledge for ‘Transforming our World’ Without Decolonizing the Academy? By Hanne Kristine Adriansen
By Hanne Kirstine Adriansen, Aarhus University, Denmark. In the UN document of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, there are some eight mentions of ‘research’ in the text – most of which are clearly linked to higher education research. But the targets of Sustainable Development Goal... Read More
16 Jun 2016
Have Your Say about NORRAG
We are pleased to invite you to complete our biennial online survey. The aim of this survey is to assess how NORRAG has performed from mid-2014 to mid-2016, and to help NORRAG improve its strategy for the years ahead. Please answer as many sections as you are able using the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NORRAG You do... Read More
13 Jun 2016
Towards a Global Landscape of Inequality? The Afghans and the ‘Refugee Crisis’ in Europe By Alessandro Monsutti
By Alessandro Monsutti, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Twenty-five years after the fall of the Soviet Union, economic and social indicators show that we live in an increasingly inequitable world. Beside the series of conflicts ravaging the Middle East, the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe must be situated more broadly within this global landscape of... Read More