Universal Basic and Secondary Education

What would it take to ensure that every child in the world, from age 6 to 16, receives an education of good quality? How important is universal education compared to other development objectives such as health, nutrition, income, and physical security? Would a concerted effort to provide universal education help reduce birth rates in countries where rapid population growth impedes economic development, damages the environment, and depresses living standards?

These are some of the questions that will be addressed in an ambitious project, Universal Basic and Secondary Education (UBASE), led by Joel Cohen (Rockefeller and Columbia Universities) and David Bloom (Harvard School of Public Health).

The first phase of the project, from September 2000 to August 2002, will draw together scholars, government officials, education and population specialists, economists, and business leaders, along with representatives of the World Bank and the United Nations, to study the challenge of achieving universal education and to consider a global implementation plan for UBASE. They will develop a set of thoroughly researched, multidisciplinary, and well-integrated reports that will be published, along with critical commentary, by the Academy. The second phase of the project, from 2002–2004, will devise strategies for implementing universal education on a comprehensive scale.

For more information about the UBASE project, call Martin Malin at (617) 576-5002 or email him at mmalin@amacad.org.

Back to the November 2000 Newsletter
Read a transcript of Joel Cohen's remarks at the 2000 Induction Ceremony