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One standardised assessment tool has become the key benchmark for national governments to judge their schools’ successes. But the academic rankings generated by the Program in International Student Assessment (PISA) are eclipsing important questions such as how particular groups of students are doin...

I previously worked at the UN ECLAC in Santiago de Chile, in a division that has partnered with UNU-MERIT on various projects. For two years I worked under Mario Cimoli, who used to be a colleague of UNU-MERIT Director, Bart Verspagen. It was Mario who first told me about the programme. Then Alejand...

Chances are – if you are reading this brief post – that you have never really had to worry about a full bladder (or worse). Of course, you would have needed to find a toilet at some point, possibly urgently, but there would have been at least one or two options. About 900 million people worldwide ha...

After having experienced great excitement working on my Masters’ thesis, I felt a strong drive to work in research afterward, which made me choose to do a PhD. Becoming somewhat of an expert in a topic is certainly challenging, but at the same time very rewarding way to spend your time. I very much ...

There is very little evidence that development aid and interventions affect migration decisions. The evidence we do have is mixed and often shows the opposite of the intended consequence. What does this mean for policymakers?...

Tens of thousands of East and West African migrants face violence, abuse, torture and loss of life as they transit through Libya to reach the Mediterranean. Are the migrants victims of human smuggling, human trafficking or neither? In the absence of a stable government in Libya, what can European co...

Waste management is a massive problem for many of the world’s fastest growing economies, as sacrifices are made on the altar of ever-expanding consumption. Ghana, a country in West Africa, is no different. In 2012, a World Bank report said that as many as 19,000 Ghanaians were dying prematurely and ...

There are many challenges that can arise when collecting data in developing countries: from heavy rain that stops your data collection for a few days, to arriving at a remote school in your sample just to find out that it is closed for the day due to some local festivities, to challenges in recruiti...

“We must build bridges, meet the different actors working in the country by developing different forms of science communication – journalism, dissemination, education – and enrich each other from these differences.” Prof. Daniela Hirschfeld ...

In recent decades women’s political representation has significantly increased in Africa. From 2000 to 2018, the proportion of women parliamentarians almost doubled, and women’s representation in cabinet increased fivefold to 22% between 1980 and 2015. Unfortunately, the numbers do not necessarily i...

In many parts of the world free-will and decision-making are not considered natural rights for women. I was born and raised in one such country, where women have to negotiate or fight against man-made laws on a daily basis. When I use the term “man-made laws” I refer not only to the legal system but...

Recent economic theories posit that entrepreneurs are the missing link between abundant knowledge stocks and economic growth. Knowledge is uncertain; therefore, every entrepreneurial idea tested by a new firm is, in fact, market experiment. Innovative entrants introduce new products, develop new mar...

Narratives are essential. Humans are, after all, “helpless story junkies”. Business and economic success depend much more than is commonly acknowledged on getting the narrative right. And if there is a narrative where getting it right or wrong matters hugely, it is the narrative about Africa’s indus...

It is still unclear what circumstances led to the deaths of 39 people who were found in the refrigerated trailer in a lorry park outside London. It is not known how these 31 men and eight women, some of whom are thought to be Vietnamese nationals, ended up in the trailer, where they thought they wer...

“Good morning class!” “Good morning professor, how are you?” With these words teachers generally open teaching sessions in African classrooms, but today they were also the opening words at the Africa-Europe Conference on Higher Education Collaboration at the European Commission, 25 October 2019. In ...

Little is known about what’s happening in Mozambique’s labour market, except that jobs are scarce for young people. Shutterstock Last week we published some initial reactions to the Nobel Prize in Economics 2019, which was jointly awarded to Abhijit Banerjee (MIT), Esther Duflo (MIT) and Michael Kre...

Earth, air, fire and water – not Afropop from the 1970s but essential elements from the ancient Greeks – which in our modern “comms ecosystem” roughly equate to website, press, events and media. Bear with me a moment and let me explain! Our website is the core, press gives oxygen, events are the cru...

A UN Day 2019 message from UNU Rector and UN Under-Secretary-General David M. Malone ••• United Nations Day (24 October) is a time to reflect on how the UN benefits us all by addressing vital issues that are the common concern of all humankind. The UN Charter was written in the name of “We the peopl...

A new book on ‘Socio-economic inequality and education outcomes’ by Prof. Louis Volante shows that while it is possible to raise disadvantaged children’s academic achievement, socio-economic education gaps are still high and in many countries increasing. Much more needs to be done ...

Capacity building is a term heard frequently in academic and development circles – but what does it actually mean? There are many definitions depending on the background of the user, but one general definition is “the process by which individuals and organizations obtain, improve, and retain the ski...