Education equips people with the capacity to overcome the frictions of globalization, open to new ideas and be tolerant of cultural differences.
Education is the most powerful level for peace, prosperity and human development. Education is humanity’s most advanced technology for conscious social evolution. Education plays a key role in every attempt to address the urgent challenges confronting humanity today. Education stimulates innovation and entrepreneurship, creates jobs and raises the productivity of the workforce.
It is the first vaccine against disease. Life expectancy is strongly associated with level of education. It is an essential foundation for peace, social stability and democracy and a safeguard against extremism. It equips people with the capacity to overcome the frictions of globalization, open to new ideas and be tolerant of cultural differences. Those with higher levels of education are more likely to report strong civic engagement and take action to address ecological and social issues.
WUC aims to promote measures that increase access to quality, relevant, affordable higher education that is trans-disciplinary and person-centered and emphasizes self-guided learning, critical and original thinking, and development of creativity and individuality.
- Globally, the higher the level of education, the lower the rate of unemployment. Across OECD countries, 84% of the population with tertiary education is employed. This falls to 74% for people with upper secondary education, and to 56% for those without upper secondary education.
- Higher educational attainment results in higher earnings. National income strongly correlates with university enrollment. In OECD countries, on average, the relative earnings of those with a tertiary education is over 1.5 times that of those with lower levels of education. In Brazil, Chile and Hungary, it is more than twice the earnings of adults with lower levels of education.
- International research reveals that one extra year of schooling increases an individual’s earnings by up to 10% and raises average annual GDP growth by 0.37%.
- An extra year of female schooling reduces fertility rates by 10%.
- Each extra year of a mother’s schooling reduces the probability of infant mortality by 5% to 10%. In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 1.8 million children’s lives could have been saved in 2008 if their mothers had at least a secondary education.
- In Indonesia, child vaccination rates are 19% when mothers have no education, and 68% when mothers have at least a secondary school education.
- A child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past age 5.
- A 10% increase in secondary school enrollment reduces the risk of war by about 3%.
- Among 15 OECD countries, a man with tertiary education lives 8 years longer than one without a degree or diploma.
- If all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty.
- Investing in girls education could boost sub-Saharan Africa agricultural output by 25%.