*EPF408 12/05/2002
Text: Poor Countries Urged to Invest in Higher Education
(World Bank says countries' growth depends on more education) (540)

Developing countries must invest in higher education to achieve economic growth and poverty reduction, the World Bank says.

"More than ever, tertiary education drives a country's future, and in today's world, it can make the difference between a dynamic economy and a marginalized one," according to Jamil Salmi, lead author of a new Bank report, "Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education." Tertiary education is higher level or university education.

In a December 4 release announcing the report, the Bank said concentrating solely on basic, or elementary education would "doom" a country's efforts to effectively enter the global economy "which has little need for learning by rote or simply recycling facts."

There is a widening education gap between rich and poor countries, according to the report. It said developing countries need help from donors to develop "seamless" learning systems to move people from primary and secondary schools to higher learning institutions and workplace training.

The report was released at a regional meeting of education ministers in Tanzania.

Following is the text of the World Bank press release:

(begin text)

Investing in Tertiary Education
Key to economic growth and cutting poverty, says World Bank

December 4, 2002 -- A new World Bank report, released at a regional meeting of African education ministers in Tanzania today, warns that developing countries will have little success boosting economic growth and reducing poverty unless they can close a growing 'knowledge' or education divide between themselves and richer countries.

Investing in quality tertiary education (or higher-level/university education), the reports says, can help to close this gap.

According to the new report -- Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education -- tertiary education promotes economic vitality, reduces poverty, and encourages open and cohesive societies.

In a global economy which, like its semi-conductors, becomes faster and more powerful every year, education can transform the development prospects of poor countries around the world, reducing poverty and boosting economic growth.

A process of continuous education creates a country's intellectual and economic foundation, and its ability to acquire and use the new hi-tech knowledge and skills increasingly demanded by the global economy.

"More than ever, tertiary education drives a country's future, and in today's world, it can make the difference between a dynamic economy and a marginalized one," said Jamil Salmi, the lead author and a Higher Education Specialist at the World Bank.

"As a result, tertiary education must play a key role within a country's general education agenda, even where a country may be struggling to provide its children and teenagers with a primary or secondary schooling."

"To focus exclusively on basic education would effectively doom a country's efforts to secure an eventually prosperous toehold in a global economy which has little need for learning by rote or simply recycling facts."

Salmi further said that a widening education gap between wealthy and poor countries explained why 4.8 billion [4,800 million] people who live in developing and transition economies received only 20 percent of global GDP. Helping these countries join the global knowledge economy was therefore essential to closing the gap between themselves and OECD countries.

The key to bridging the knowledge divide was a seamless learning system that moved people from primary and secondary school, through university and other higher learning institutions, as well as workplace training, which is important for updating job skills

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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