Saturday, July 18, 2009

The myth of the 8 per cent revisited

On a recent trip to Paris, for the UNESCO´s World Conference on Higher Education 2009, I talked to diverse UNESCO´s higher education experts on the topic of the mythical 8 per cent. To my surprise, I learned that the organization has in fact recommended a fixed percentage of the GDP as educational investment, however, it is not the 8 per cent. During the World Forum on Education that took place in Dakar in 2000, UNESCO recommended developing countries to gradually reach 6% of GDP as investment in education, in order to universalize basic education. Mexico has already universalized basic education, therefore, this recommendation should not apply to our country. Plus, Mexico already invests in education more than 6% of GDP -including private investment. Hence, I insist that our education policy priorities should move away from reaching mythical investment percentages.