Universities not providing necessary skills: World Bank
Thailand and other developing countries in East Asia need to make their higher-education systems more responsive to labour-market demands and the economy as a whole to improve people's incomes, the World Bank says.
Low- and middle-income countries in the region can improve their citizens’ financial well-being by raising the quality of higher education and deploying enough of the right types of skills and research, said a report titled “Putting Higher Education to Work: Skills and Research for Growth in East Asia” released by the bank yesterday.
“The report is particularly relevant for Thailand,” said Annette Dixon, World Bank country director for the Kingdom. “Thailand has grown rapidly over the last several decades, but still faces the challenge of sustaining growth and climbing the income ladder, requiring further improvement in productivity.”
The report stated that higher-education institutions could realise their full potential by providing skills and research to spur productivity and innovation, considered critical to achieving growth in a competitive global environment.
Impressive grains have been made in expanding access to higher education over the past few decades in the region, with enrolment rates rising to 20 per cent or more in many countries from very low levels, according the report.
“With ageing populations, developing economies in the region face the challenge of achieving growth led by gains in productivity,” said James Adams, World Bank East Asia and Pacific regional vice president. “The significance of higher education will increase as countries work to escape the middle-income trap.”
The report pointed out that higher-education institutions in developing East Asia did not sufficiently provide their graduates with the skills firms need.
“Employers in both manufacturing and services are looking for problem-solving, communications, management and other skills that will support higher productivity,” said World Bank lead economist Emanuela di Gropello, lead author of the report.
According to the report, higher-education institutions are not contributing the type of research needed to boost technological upgrading in firms. Universities can produce ideas for the business community, contributing to knowledge and technological innovation through basic and applied research and technology transfer. But university involvement is limited in most countries, even in technology adaptation and upgrading.
The report found that higher-education institutions had been managed as “disconnected” individual institutions.
Governments have a fundamental role in making higher education work as a system where individual institutions are well connected among themselves and to firms, research institutions and earlier level of education, the report suggested.
It also suggested that public-policy makers adequately finance and incentivise research. They should prioritise underfunded fields such as science and engineering and provide sufficient scholarship and loans for the poor and disadvantaged.
Government can approve the management of public higher education by encouraging greater autonomy and accountability. Greater decision-making autonomy in areas such as academic curricula, staffing and budgeting should be encouraged.
Accountability can be enhanced by delegating more power and responsibilities to institutions and governing boards and providing students with information to choose and move across institutions, said the report.
The government should put in place adequate incentives for private institutions so that they can further help governments increase enrolment and strengthen skills. Policy-makers should ensure stronger links between industry and universities and take advantage of opportunities provided by international higher-education markets, the report added.
