At regular intervals during the past 20 years, George Psacharopoulos has presented aggregate rates of return (RORs) to investments in education for each major geographical region. He argues forcibly that clear global ROR patterns are discernible. Perhaps the most well known of these is that the...

This article questions the prevailing orthodoxy concerning the social rates of return to general and vocational secondary education in developing countries. A critical examination of all the rates of return studies that have been used to establish this orthodoxy reveals that for the large...

It is widely recognised that the manpower pyramid in many developing countries, in particular in Africa, is 'top-heavy' in the sense that there are relatively too many highly qualified professionals compared with technicians and lower levels of skilled manpower. This paper seeks to explain this...

This is the first of two articles that consider the impact of the AIDS epidemic on the education sector in sub-Saharan Africa. Teachers are regularly singled out as being particularly vulnerable to HIV infection and as such they are considered to be a ' high-risk group'. However, this study...

This is the second of two articles that assess the available evidence concerning the impact of the AIDS epidemic on teachers and the schooling of orphans and other directly affected children in sub-Saharan Africa. The two main conclusions of this article are, firstly, that current and future...

Anecdotal evidence and generalisations abound concerning the employment outcomes of secondary school and university leavers, but there is very little solid, accurate information on what these groups in African countries do after they have completed their education. Using tracer surveys, this...