International

International Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations

• UNESCO: Education
  The United Nations Education, Scientifc and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) sponsors a huge number of programs, publications, networks and databases; vast amounts of information are available at its website and those of affiliated agencies. More information about UNESCO and its resources is available.
• Global Education Database
  This source provides data on more than 200 educational indicators for more that 60 countries. Coverage dates from 1970's to present. Note that not all variables are available for all countries for all years. The data is compiled from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) and from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
• International Bureau of Education (IBE)
  The IBE was founded in Geneva in 1925 as a private institution. In 1929, it extended its membership to governments and thus became the first intergovernmental organization in the field of education. In 1969, the IBE joined UNESCO as an autonomous institution. Its activities have focused on organizing the sessions of the International Conference on Education; collecting, analysing and disseminating educational documentation and information; and undertaking surveys and studies in the field of comparative education. In recent years, IBE's work has emphasized capacity building in the area of management of curriculum change and many activities focus on education in the developing world. Its website includes:
  • INNODATA: Descriptions of educational innovations at the primary and secondary levels of schooling.
  • Country Dossiers: A wide variety of facts, reports, statistics, bibliographies and other resources for each of IBE's member states.
  • World Data on Education: Education profiles for nations including objectives of education, current priorities and concerns, laws and regulations, administration of the education system, structure and organization, financing, the educational process, primary, secondary, higher education, special education, private education, educational research, adult and non-formal education, and a list of sources.
  • Directories of Ministries of Education around the world.
• International Review of Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks Project Archive (INCA)
  The INCA website is produced in England by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). INCA provides descriptions of government policy on education in Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA and Wales. It focuses on curriculum, assessment and initial teacher training frameworks for pre-school, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education in schools (3-19 age range). The information is reviewed, revised and updated on an ongoing basis. The country archives are searchable by theme and subject and comparative tables are also available. The database includes narrative analyses with hypertext links to references that are organized by level of education and topic. For instance, the assessment section for the U.S. offers a brief overview of the role of standardized testing and current and additional in-depth analyses for various levels of education from preschool through secondary.
• OECD Directorate for Education
  The 30 member countries of Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) work collaboratively on topics of common interest and a primary objective for current activities is "making lifelong learning a reality for all." A wide variety of reports, analyses, statistics, and initiatives are available. For instance, a current study is the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that surveys the knowledge and skills of 15-year olds and examines factors that influence the development of these skills at home and school. OECD offers an Education Database that provides internationally comparable data on key aspects of education systems. Statistical tables are published annually in Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators (LB2846.E247 Gen, Last v. RR4) and it is also included in the database SourceOECD which provides the full-text for monographs, periodicals and statistics produced by the agency (access restricted to those with UofC computing accounts).
• World Bank: Education
  The World Bank's education mission is "to help client countries fight poverty by investing effectively in people." The website includes descriptions of projects and initiatives, full-text publications, the Edstats database, and more. Two current priority areas of work are Education for All and Education for the Knowledge Economy.
• World Higher Education Database
  From the International Association of Universities, this provides descriptions of higher education systems in more than 180 countries.

European Agencies and Resources

• Council of Europe | Education for Europe
  The website provides descriptions of initiatives, reports, and various resources such as a directory of European Ministries of Education.
• ENQA (European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education)
  ENQA disseminates information, experiences and good practices in the field of quality assurance (QA) in higher education to European QA agencies, public authorities and higher education institutions.
  
• European Union | Education, Training, Youth
  Links to the various education activities in the European Union, including the Committee on Culture and Education, the Council's Education, Youth, and Culture, the Directorate-General for Education and Culture, and Eurydice: The Information Network on Education in Europe. jor features include a Database of the European glossary on education, statistics from the Key Data on Education in Europe, Eurybase that contains detailed descriptions of the systems of education in 30 European nations, and a wide variety of full-text publications.
• Directgov--UKOnline
  This government site includes a wealth of information about education in the United Kingdom ranging from directories and statistics to policy and full-text documents.