Dr. Hans Vossensteyn

Dr. Hans Vossensteyn works as a Senior Research Associate and Research Co-ordinator at CHEPS, the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies at the University of Twente in the Netherlands and as a Professor at the MBA-Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsmanagement at the University of Applied Sciences Fachhochschule Osnabrück in Germany. Educational background: Master’s degree (1991) and PhD (2005) – University of Twente (Public Administration & Public Policy, Perceptions of Students’ Price-responsiveness). Major research interests: funding matters, including national allocation models, tuition fee policies, student financial support and the affordability of higher education. Research, training & consultancy: In 1998-99, was an external advisor at the Directorate of Student Financial Support Policies of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences. He represents the Netherlands in the Eurydice (the European Information Network on Training and Youth) Expert Network, dealing with key issues in European education policy. Since 2000, he is a member of the International Advisory Board of the International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility Project, co-ordinated by Prof. Bruce D. Johnstone. He has been involved in commissioned research projects, training seminars and consultancies in the area of higher education policy and student financial support systems. Writing and editing: Dr. Vossensteyn has published many books and other scientific works on higher education and is a member of editorial boards of a number of scientific journals on higher education.

Topic: Challenges in Student Financing: State Financial Support to Students - A Worldwide Perspective
In his presentation H. Vossensteyn will present an international overview of student financial support mechanisms. To begin, general developments in student financing will be addressed from a cost-sharing perspective: students are increasingly confronted with tuition fees and student loans which increase the private cost of study. Is it fair to require students to contribute to the cost of study? In addition, various student support mechanisms will be examined with regard to the way support is provided to students. Do students get grants, loans, family support and benefits in kind? And what are the preferred mechanisms? Finally H. Vossensteyn will look at the impact of different methods of student support on access and equity in higher education. Which mechanisms work better, and which worse?

Dr. Jamil Salmi

Dr. Jamil Salmi is the World Bank’s tertiary education coordinator and a member of the International Advisory Network of the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education and of the International Rankings Expert Group. He was the Bank’s official representative at the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education in 1998 and in 2003. Educational background: Master's degree in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh (USA); and a Ph. D. in Development Studies from the University of Sussex (UK); also completed an Executive Development program at Harvard Business School. Advising and consultancy: Over the past 13 years he has provided advice (policy and technical) on tertiary education reform to the governments of more than 40 countries, and has guided the strategic planning efforts of several public and private universities in different countries. Teaching: Prior to joining the World Bank in 1986, he was a Professor of Education Economics at the National Institute of Education Planning in Rabat, Morocco. Writing: Dr. Salmi is the principal author of the Bank’s new Tertiary Education Strategy (Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education), responsible for the preparation of the World Bank’s first Policy Paper on Higher Education, published in 1994 (Higher Education: Lessons of Experience), and is the author of five books and numerous articles on education and development issues.

Topic: Innovations in Tertiary Education Financing: A Comparative Evaluation of Allocation Mechanisms
The author will examine the experience of a number of countries around the world that have adopted innovative allocation mechanisms. The main objective here is to provide lessons that can help policy makers in developing and transition countries formulate strategies for increasing the effectiveness of their resource mobilization and allocation mechanisms. For this purpose, the presentation will begin by developing a typology that describes traditional and innovative approaches to resource allocation that are currently in use or under consideration in various countries. This typology includes both approaches that fund institutions as well as those that fund students. The second part of the presentation will assess how well these various allocation mechanisms meet important policy objectives such as expanded access and improved equity, increased internal efficiency and cost containment, and output measures such as quality and relevance.

Dr. Petr Mat?j?
Dr. Petr Mat?j? is Chair of the Department of Social Stratification at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Director of the Department for Analysis and Strategy at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. Education background: studied at Charles University in Prague (M.A. 1972), at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA (1987), and at Masaryk University in Brno (Ph.D., 1996). Teaching: Dr. Mat?j? has taught sociology at universities both at home (e.g. Masaryk University) and abroad (UCLA, Northwestern University, etc.). Ministerial/political experiences: September 2006-January 2007, served as Deputy Minister of Education. In 1998–2003 he was a member of the Czech Parliament, where he chaired the Committee for higher education and science, and a member of the Czech permanent delegation to the Council of Europe. Research interests: social inequality, social and distributive justice, educational and occupational mobility, and comparative research in education, competitiveness and innovation. Scientific work: Dr. Mat?j? has published three books and many scientific papers both in Czech and international journals. In 2002 he established the Institute for Economic and Social Analysis in Prague, designed to address and promote reform processes and policies in the Czech Republic and other Eastern and Central European countries. Currently is a holder of the Fulbright grant for the participation at the New Century Scholars program “"Higher Education in the 21st Century: Access and Equity".

Topic: College expectations in cross-national comparative perspective - Research-based evidence on the formation of educational aspirations in different educational systems
Renowned international experts in higher education financing have argued that, due to large government deficits, it will not be possible to open up tertiary education to growing demand without introducing cost-sharing principles and efficient student financial aid programs. Opponents of cost-sharing in higher education object that introducing tuition fees will raise inequality in access to higher education. Drawing on OECD data, the author will argue that inequality in access to higher education is generated primarily by fundamental characteristics of educational systems, such as the degree of stratification and vocational specificity of secondary education, on the one hand, and the diversification, openness and demand sensitivity of tertiary education, on the other. The aim of the presentation will be to demonstrate that cost-sharing in itself does not affect the formation of college aspirations by ability, gender and socio-economic background as do other fundamental characteristics of educational systems, such as the degree of their closeness and demand insensitivity.

Dr. Adrian Ziderman
Dr. Adrian Ziderman is Professor Emeritus at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, where he held the Sir Isaac Wolfson Chair in Economics. He is also chair of the Schnitzer Foundation for Research on the Israel Economy and Society, Research Fellow at IZA (Institute of Labour Studies) Bonn, and Guest Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. Education background: He was born in the UK, educated at Cambridge and Stanford universities and received the doctorate at the London School of Economics. His main fields of specialty are: funding of higher education, including student loans and cost-sharing; the economics, evaluation and finance of vocational education and training; and the economics of labour markets. Research and consultancy: A former senior economist for human resources at the World Bank, Washington, he has served as a consultant to many international organizations: UNESCO, the World Bank, the British Council, DANIDA, German Development Cooperation (GTZ), Turkish Higher Education Council, and the Asian Development Bank, as well as to government ministries in Israel, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, the Philippines, South Africa, the Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, the UK and Zambia. Research, writing and editing: He has authored seven books and published over 70 papers in leading international academic journals. A Vietnamese edition of his most recent book, Policy Options for Student Loan Schemes: Lessons from Five Asian Case Studies (Paris: IIEP, UNESCO, 2004), has recently appeared. He is currently Editor of the International Journal of Manpower.

Topic: Student Loans Repayment and Recovery - International Comparisons (presentation on the basis of joint paper with dr. Hua Shen)
Student loans schemes are in operation in over seventy countries. Most schemes benefit from sizeable built-in government subsidies and, in addition, are subject to repayment default and administrative costs that are not passed on to student borrowers. We probe two issues, for 44 loans schemes in 39 countries: how much of the original loan is an individual student required to repay (the "repayment ratio") and what percentage of the total costs of loans schemes can the lending body expect to receive back in repayments (the "recovery ratio")? The analysis shows considerable variation across schemes. Moreover, many loans schemes exhibit sizeable built-in subsidies accruing to borrowers – in over 40 percent of the schemes examined, the repayment ratio is 40 percent or less. Overall loans recovery is considerably lower. Policy implications of these findings will be discussed together with a consideration of how the financial outcome of loans schemes may be improved.

Dr. George Psacharopoulos
Dr. George Psacharopoulos is a Ph.D. in economics, University of Chicago, and has taught at the London School of Economics, the University of Illinois, University of Kobe, University of Hawaii and the University of Athens. In 2000-2004 he served as independent Country MP in the Greek Parliament. Between 1981 and 1998 he served at the World Bank managing education research and policy. His research focuses on the role of education in economic and social development. He has published extensively on the economics of education, labor markets and poverty alleviation (Web page: http://users.rcn.com/gpsach).

Dr. Maureen Woodhall

Dr. Maureen Woodhall is Emeritus Reader in Education Finance, Institute of Education, University of London. During a career of over 40 years she taught and conducted research on the economics of education at the University of London and the University of Wales Aberystwyth. She has been a consultant on higher education finance for many international agencies, including the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), OECD, UNESCO and the World Bank, and worked on higher education projects in China, Kenya, Mozambique and Vietnam, as well as many other education projects in Africa and Asia. She was an advisor for various governments, including the UK government, the National Assembly for Wales and the Ministry of Higher Education in Mozambique, and was a member of an International Advisory Panel on Higher Education Reform, Ministry of Education, Hungary, 1998-2000, and the International Advisory Board, International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility Project, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA, 2000-2006. She has published widely on the economics of education and higher education finance, particularly on tuition fees, scholarships and student loans; in 2000 she was awarded a PhD (by published works) by the University of Wales for her publications on higher education finance. Recent presentations include International Conferences in Prague, Czech Republic (2003), Douro, Portugal, (2004), Barcelona, Spain (2005) and a conference on student loans in Russia (2006).

Topic: Financing Higher Education: the contribution of economic thinking to debate and policy development on reform of higher education funding
The author examines the influence of economic thinking on debate and policy on higher education (HE) finance in various countries, including Australia, Sweden, the UK and USA, Hungary, Ethiopia and South Africa. The presentation looks at three economic concepts in detail: (i) education as a social and private investment (ii) cost sharing and (iii) income-contingent student loans. Economic reasoning has had a significant impact on debate and policy on HE finance, but politics and administrative issues have been equally important in determining outcomes. UK experience, particularly in the recently devolved governments of Scotland and Wales, shows that political pressures have been as influential as economic thinking in shaping new policies on funding HE. Economics has made a significant contribution to formulation and implementation of policy on HE finance, but politics, administrative, legal and social policy issues must be taken into account, if reform of HE policy is to succeed.