On 14 December 2016, UNU HQ in Tokyo hosted ‘Paradoxes in Higher Education‘, a conversation with Professor Luc Soete, Chairman of the EU Research, Innovation, and Science Policy Experts High Level Group and former Director of UNU-MERIT.
Investments in education are essential for the sustainable growth and development of a country. But are governments making the right decisions regarding their educational investments?
One of the paradoxes of higher education is that in developed countries — where a comparatively high percentage of the population is university educated — additional investments in primary and secondary education are more likely to improve education levels than investments in tertiary education.
By contrast, in developing countries, additional investments in universities are increasingly an absolute condition for further development. These investments raise both the quality and employability of university graduates, enabling emerging economies to reap the benefits of human resource development.
Prof. Luc Soete joined UNU Rector David M. Malone for a conversation exploring the contradictions and trends in higher education. As an expert in the field of innovation studies, Prof. Soete offered a unique perspective on how science, technology, and economics interact to inform sound educational policy.
About the speaker
Luc Soete is the former Rector Magnificus of Maastricht University and Chairman of the EU Research, Innovation, and Science Policy Experts High Level Group. He is also a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and a former member of the Dutch Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation.
Prof. Soete has published widely in the area of theoretical, empirical, and policy analysis of innovation. Previously, he held positions at the Institute of Development Studies and the Science Policy Research Unit, both at the University of Sussex, and in the Department of Economics at Stanford University. In 1986 he became professor at Rijksuniversiteit Limburg (now Maastricht University) in the Netherlands. In 1988 he founded the Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT), which became integrated into UNU-MERIT in 2005.
Prof. Soete holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Sussex in the UK, and has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Ghent and Liège in Belgium.
MEDIA CREDIT
Maastricht University / School of Business and Economics