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.
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
Higher Education Database
From the International Association of Universities, this provides
descriptions of higher education systems in more than 180
countries.
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.
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.
