FT: Affirmative action in education fails majority

Letter to the FT (July 12, 2023) I was a bottom one-percenter, literally born on the streets of China to peasant parents, grew up in poverty in the west and arrested multiple times as a teenager -- I also attended Princeton University ("The moral bankruptcy of Ivy League America", Opinion, July 6). Although the US Supreme Court ruled to disallow race-based affirmative action, the history of similar policies -- notably proposition 209 in California, which banned race as a factor for college admissions -- and the present climate in higher education suggest that the Ivy League establishment will find other (non-race based) ways to continue to get their desired mix of students, in which Asians still end up being the biggest losers. Luce points to favouritism for white people due to that group receiving 65 per cent of athletic scholarships -- however, this number is roughly in line with their share of the overall US population. That this argument even surfaced shows the skewed view many have, perhaps in part because of the higher proportion of black people in major US sports. Nevertheless, Luce is on point that the affirmative action debate in its present form does nothing for the…

G&M: Namely…

Letter to the Globe & Mail (September 4, 2021) Re What’s In A Name? For ‘Gifted’ Programs, A Problem (Aug. 28): Back in the 1980s in Toronto, I was part of the “gifted” program in elementary school. I had visions of learning (age-relevant) advanced mathematics and science, or reading high literary work. However, the reality was that the program was characterized by talk about shapes, feelings, colours and everything other than advanced academic material. Rather than renaming the “gifted” program, it would serve students better if it actually nurtured academic excellence in a more rigorous way. Either that, or provide the program on a lottery basis (or to the underprivileged) if there is no essence of “gifted” in its delivery. Kai Chan Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Article as it appeared online. © Copyright 2018 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved.

Ces 8 pays affichent de meilleurs résultats scolaires que la France sans dépenser plus

BUSINESS INSIDER FRANCE Chisato Goya 24 Mai 2019, 14:23 NB: Text below changed from article to reflect that spending on education is expressed per capita (par tête), not per student. https://www.businessinsider.fr/classement-pays-meilleurs-resultats-scolaires-que-france Dépenser plus ne garantit pas forcément de meilleurs résultats. Cette affirmation est vraie dans différents domaines, dont l'éducation. Kai L. Chan, professeur émérite de l'INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative, a classé différents pays en fonction du retour sur investissement en matière d'éducation et a partagé les résultats de ses calculs dans un article publié sur un blog de l'école. Il en ressort notamment que les Etats-Unis sont le pays qui dépensent le plus d'argent par étudiant en études supérieures ce qui n'empêche pas, dans l'ensemble, qu'ils ne soient classés qu'en 42e position pour le GMAT, un test standardisé en anglais qui permet de mesurer les compétences jugées importantes pour l'étude du management. Selon des chiffres fournis par Kai L. Chan à Business Insider France, plusieurs pays ont obtenu de meilleurs scores au classement PISA (évaluation visant à tester les compétences des élèves de 15 ans en lecture, sciences et mathématiques) et au test GMAT par rapport à la France alors qu'ils disposaient d'un budget public par étudiant inférieur à…

INSEAD: The countries getting the highest return on education

Kai L. Chan, Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative | December 26, 2018 [caption id="attachment_3750" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The key to fostering a more educated populace is not financial – it’s cultural.[/caption] The key to fostering a more educated populace is not financial – it’s cultural.In measuring performance in education or healthcare, societies often mistakenly focus on inputs rather than outcomes. That is, it is common to erroneously measure success by counting the resources devoted to it. But expenditures do not equal success. Indeed, societies would like to spend – for an equivalent outcome – as little as possible. The United States is the global leader in dollars spent per student in tertiary education, yet its students rank 42nd globally on the GMAT, a standardised test used primarily for admission to post-graduate schooling. There is a similar disconnect between inputs and outputs for the PISA, a test administered by the OECD to a broad sample of 15-year-old students. Luxembourg spends the most in absolute terms per student in the primary and secondary stages of education, yet ranks 32nd on the PISA. If expenditures were calibrated against the size of the economy, the global leader in education would be Botswana. Figure 1 below shows the relationship…

WEF: Quels pays proposent le meilleur enseignement supérieur ?

[caption id="attachment_3437" align="aligncenter" width="1008"] Image: REUTERS/Cris Toala Olivares[/caption] 11 Oct 2017 Kai Chan Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative Les universités sont vitales si l’on veut mettre en valeur le capital humain. Ce sont des rouages essentiels dans l’économie mondiale du savoir. Si, autrefois, les études supérieures étaient réservées à une minorité, elles constituent aujourd’hui un pré requis pour entrer dans les classes moyennes, et plus encore pour appartenir à l’élite. La compétition entre les universités a donné lieu à la création de classements visant à déterminer les plus compétitives sur le plan international. Ces listes se fondent en général sur des indicateurs comme le nombre de publications de recherches, le prestige et la réussite des anciens étudiants. Bien que les diverses mesures produisent des classements différents, les meilleurs établissements universitaires sur le plan international sont souvent les mêmes d’un classement à l’autre. Le nombre d’établissements classés au niveau mondial d’un pays est donc invariablement utilisé pour évaluer la qualité de son enseignement supérieur. Cependant, cela ne prend pas en compte l’inégalité croissante au sein de l’enseignement supérieur. L’enjeu actuel : l'inégalité L’inégalité est l’un des plus grands enjeux de notre société. Mais le débat se focalise sur l’inégalité…

WEF: ¿Qué países ofrecen a sus ciudadanos la mejor educación superior?

25 May 2017 Kai Chan Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation and Policy Initiative Los responsables políticos tendrán que asegurar que la educación terciaria de alta calidad sea accesible para todos, no solo para la élite. La educación superior inclusiva podría cerrar las divisiones sociales que separan a la sociedad Las universidades son vitales para el desarrollo del capital humano. Son piezas fundamentales de la economía mundial del conocimiento. Si bien alguna vez solo estuvo disponible para unos pocos, la educación superior ahora es casi un requisito para el ingreso a la clase media, y más aún a las filas de la élite. La competencia entre universidades ha dado origen a clasificaciones que intentan determinar cuáles son las más competitivas a nivel mundial. En general, estas listas se basan en métricas como la producción de investigación, el prestigio y los logros de los exalumnos. Aunque las distintas medidas producen clasificaciones diferentes, las principales universidades del mundo son muy similares en todas las evaluaciones. La cantidad de universidades reconocidas a nivel mundial de un país se utiliza siempre para medir la calidad de su educación superior. Sin embargo, esta perspectiva pasa por alto la creciente desigualdad de la educación superior. El desafío de…

WEF: Which countries provide their citizens with the best higher education?

04 May 2017 Kai Chan Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative Universities are vital for developing human capital. They are essential cogs in the global knowledge economy. Where once only available to few, higher education is now almost a requirement for entry to the middle class, and even more so to the ranks of the elite. Competition among universities has given rise to rankings that try to ascertain which are the globally most competitive. These lists are typically based on metrics such as research output, prestige and accomplishments of alumni. Although the various measures produce different orderings, the global top schools are highly similar across the assessments. The number of globally-ranked schools in a country is then invariably used to measure the quality of higher education there. However, this perspective overlooks the growing inequality of higher education. The challenge of our time: inequality Inequality is one of society’s biggest challenges. But much of that debate has centred on inequality of income and wealth; much less attention has been paid to inequality of opportunity for high-quality tertiary education. Yet, inequality of education is a driver of income inequality and a force behind assortative mating – privileged people tend to go…

G&M: Learning poor

Letter to the Globe & Mail (November 19, 2013) Reading this essay (What I learned in law school:  The poor need not apply (Nov 17, 2013)) made me think of my own story of escaping poverty and the challenges that are common for those of lesser means to overcome institutional hurdles. Poverty meant I worked long hours in part-time jobs at restaurants and supermarkets as a student, while peers could devote themselves to studying or socializing. The part-time income disqualified me from student financial aid, even as less honest and affluent peers found ways to milk the academic loan system. Coming from a family where my parents had just primary education and scraped by on minimum wage, I was clueless about the workplace for university grads, while my peers could rely on their family social connections to help them secure good employment. Nevertheless, my story had a happy ending – I graduated with a doctorate and found gainful work that took me to Singapore, New York and now Dubai – though I know many capable people who were not as fortunate. As reader Dianne Cooper (Talking Point, Nov. 16) notes, it should come as no surprise that fairness is not embedded…

The Natioanl: UAE nationals urged to get overseas research experience

UAE nationals urged to get overseas research experience Colin Simpson June 18, 2012 [caption id="attachment_3164" align="aligncenter" width="462"] The Firmenich laboratory which makes perfumes for big branded company’s in Dubiotech, Dubai Biotechnology and Science Park In Al Barsha.[/caption] DUBAI // Young Emiratis who want careers in research and development should go overseas to gain experience before returning to help the UAE become a centre for innovation, according to an expert. "There's a life cycle of talent," said Dr Kai Chan, senior adviser to the Emirates Competitiveness Council, a federal government body. "I'd encourage young Emiratis to go abroad to learn and then come back with their knowledge. "We want to ensure that young Emiratis are going into the workforce equipped, we want to encourage this as we want to be a knowledge-based economy. We do want to become a hub for R&D, we do want to be among the world's leaders." However, Dr Khaled Amiri, head of the biology department at UAE University, said he did not favour the term hub, as this implied that expatriate researchers would move to the country and then leave after two or three years without passing on their knowledge. "The nationals are going to complement…