OECD World Forum on Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies - Istanbul 27-30 June 2007

Day 3: Friday 29 June 2007 [Afternoon] Parallel sessions Human Capital: the Largest Share of a Nation's Wealth Topkapi A

A Variety of Flavors of Human Capital:

Incorporating Humanities and International Exposure into Education by

Ali DOGRAMACI Bilkent University

OECD World Forum on Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies Istanbul 27-30 June 07
Focus: How can societies better measure their progress or setbacks? The question lies at the heart of a long-term OECD project to explore how the effective use of information can benefit democracy, empower individual citizens and stimulate a global debate on what progress means. The Istanbul 2007 Forum will aim to improve the development and dissemination of social, economic and environmental indicators..

Title of our session: Human Capital: the Largest Share of a Nation's Wealth
To explore what evidence societies need in order to optimise their investment in - and the return from - their human capital

Human Capital1: The knowledge , skills,

competencies and attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic well-being.
1T.

Healy, S. Cote, et al. The Well-Being of Nations: The role of human and social capital, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, OECD (2001), p. 18. Brian Keeley, Human Capital, OECD (2007), p.29.

Whether in the Balkans, or Caucasus or in the Middle East, or elsewhere; Educational platforms designed to improve mutual understanding, may also enhance the constructive potential of human capital.

We may train engineers with excellent technical expertise. We may train school teachers who know how to motivate their students and teach them well in math, science & composition. These are some of the necessary components of the Human Capital. On the other hand, a sufficient bundle ought to also have certain humane components providing a potential for fostering tolerance and understanding across cultures.

Broad-brush indicators of education such as number high school or university graduates in the country, number of attendees in professional training programs, or number graduates of specific disciplines etc. are necessary.

But it also helps to complement such aggregate data with focused data such as PISA and IALS results. My talk here is even more limited: Using a single institution, raw data will be presented in the hope of instigating efforts to develop some new measures.

In education,how can we attempt to measure the quantity and quality of inputs, for the development of a more humane human capital?

Example #1 : Characteristics of required humanity courses for engineers:

Some measures to consider: Topics covered? Who teaches them? Class size, contact hours/week?.. Relevance: Each year in Turkey, more than 1.5 million students take the state entrance test for universities. Among them, consider the highest scoring top 100 students. Each year at least 25 of them choose Bilkents Electrical Engineering department. After they graduate many members of this crme de la crme group will be leaders in the society, whether in academia, industry, or government. They will be involved in matters far more than just engineering.

Electrical and Electronics Engineering Dept. SECOND YEAR Curriculum Autumn Semester MATH 225 Linear Algebra and Differential Equations EEE 211 Analog Electronics HUM 111 Cultures Civilizations and Ideas I TURK 101 Turkish I Technical Electives (2)

Spring Semester MATH 206 Complex Calculus and Transform Techniques

EEE 202 Circuit Theory EEE 212 Microprocessors HUM 112 Cultures Civilizations and Ideas II TURK 102 Turkish II Technical Elective (1) Class sizes in HUM 111 &HUM 112: 15 to 22 students.

HUM 111 & HUM 112 Main textbooks:

Gilgamesh: A New English Edition , Mitchell(tr.), Free Press, 2006 Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, Strachey (tr.), Norton, 1961 Homer, the Iliad, Fagles (tr.), Penguin, 1990 Sophocles: Theban Plays, Watling (tr.), Penguin, 1974 Plato, Republic, Grube (tr.), Hackett, 1992 Machiavelli The Prince (Penguin); Shakespeare, Tempest (Pelican) or Macbeth ( Oxford) or Hamlet (Oxford); Descartes, Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy (Everyman); Woolf, A Room Of Ones Own (Harcourt); Nietzsche, On The Genealogy of Morals. (Vintage).

Faculty Members Teaching HUM 111 and HUM 112

David de Kanter Arndt. B.A. Yale Univ.; Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, U California.
Louise Barry. BA (hons) Trinity College Dublin; DEA, Univ. of Lille III, France; PhD, French Literature, Emory Univ Gabriel Noah Brahm Jr. BA in English from UCLA; Teaching Certificate in Rhetoric from San Francisco State Univ.; MA in American Literature; PhD in Literature and Cultural Studies, U California Duncan Chesney. B.A. Columbia Univ; M.Phil. Cambridge Univ; Ph.D., Yale. Julie Chung In Park. B.A.; Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the U California. Costantino Costantini. Ph.D. Emory Univ. Undergrad degree from Univ. Bari.

Daren Ivan Hodson. Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Univ of Utah.
Thomas Kelso. B.A in Italian and Anthropology Univ Virgina. M.A.; Univ. Texas; Ph.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, in Comparative Literature. Martina Kolb. Ph.D. & M.Phil. in Comparative Literature Yale Univ; M.A. Univ. of Oregon, also a graduate degree in Philology and an undergraduate degree, Tbingen Univ. Dr. Mustafa S. Nakeeb, B.A. Northwestern Univ, Ph.D. in Philosophy, State Univ of New York Andrea Rehberg BA (Hons) in Humanities from the Univ of North London; MA in Continental Philosophy Univ. of Essex; PhD in Philosophy from the Univ of Warwick.

Example #2: History Departments with wider horizons Diversity of faculty backgrounds; Recognition from scholars of neighboring countries; Publications in internationally leading publishing houses & scholarly journals. Faculty members of Bilkents History Department include: Turkey Bulgaria Greece Britain USA M. Kalpakli E. Radushev E. Kermeli C. Leighton T. Roberts O. Ozel A. Thornton E.P. Cohn O. Ergenc D. Thornton A. Simin P. Latimer G. Buken Iran K. Emiroglu A. Miandji H. Inalcik (Prof Inalcik is recipient of honorary doctorates from U. Bucharest, U. Sofia, Athens Univ., Hebrew Univ of Jerusalem, Ankara University, and more

Sample Publications: Inalcik, Halil and D. Quatert. An Economic And Social History of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. 1994 M. Kalpakli and W.G. Andrews, The Age of Beloveds: Love and The Beloved in Early Modern Ottoman Turkish and European Literature, Culture, and Society, Duke University Press, 2005. E. Kermeli, The Confiscation and Repossession of Monastic Properties in Mount Athos and Patmos Monasteries, 1568-1570, Bulgarian Historical Review vol. 3, p. 39-53 (2000). P. Latimer, "Estate Management and Inflation: The Honour of Gloucester, 11831263," Albion, 34:2 (2002), 187-212. E. P. Kohn, This Kindred People: Canadian-American Relations and the Anglo-Saxon Idea, 1895-1903, McGill-Queens University Press, 2004.

Example #3: Training School teachers Need general measures on: Qualifications of faculty: Their teaching experience, diversity of faculty member backgrounds; How does the program incorporate student interface with other cultures, countries, or international programs?
Teacher training programs of Bilkent University Purpose: To train a new generation of teachers with wide perspectives Steps: 1) Established a model PreK-12 school accredited by ECIS & NEACS; IGCSE & International Baccalaureate 2) Established a novel two year Masters Program for teacher training. Used intl faculty with teaching expr in good schools 3) Establishing IGCSE & IB Schools in disadvantaged regions

Faculty Members for Step 2 H. NECM AKT, Ph.D., Educational Sciences, Middle East Technical University, 1998. Teaching English as a foreign language, curriculum development, instructional design, assessment and evaluation. ARMAAN ATEKAN, M.A., Biology Teacher Education, Bilkent University, 2002. Science and biology education, environmental issues, curriculum development. CYNTHIA CRIPPIN, B.A., Math and Education, California State University, 1976. Computer s and calculations in mathematic education, teacher training, mentoring and partnership GARY CRIPPIN, B.A. Dartmouth, Ph.D.,History, UCLA 1975, Experience includes Directorship of Intl Schools in Europe, Asia & South America (14 years), Teacher/Director of Studies- The Buckley School, Sherman Oaks, CA, USA: (6 years) LIVINGSTON T. MERCHANT, Ph.D., International Relations, Harvard University, 1969. Ph.D., Asian History, Brown University, 1983. Curriculum studies, social studies education, teacher education, professional development, school partnerships, technology in the curriculum, special education. RASM ZYREK, Ph.D., Turkish Language Teaching, Baku State University, 1998. Turkish language teaching methods. MARGARET SANDS, Ph.D., Science Education, Nottingham University, 1983. Science education, teacher training, school partnerships, examination and assessment, curriculum development and evaluation, project management, quality assurance and standards. ENGN SEZER, Ph.D., Linguistics, Harvard University, 1991. Turkish and Turkic linguistics, old Turkish literature. ERIC WILLIAMS, Senior Lecturer. Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1996. Curriculum and assessment, quality assurance and evaluation, e-learning.

Instructional method of Step 2 includes: Students spend one or more days a week in partner schools (including the model school), gaining practical experience of upto-date approaches to teaching

International approach to teacher education: All students spend two months in US schools, working alongside American teachers in their classrooms. The US visit is made possible by the generous support of the Fulbright Program of USA. ===================== Step 3 Establishing IGCSE-IB schools in Eastern Anatolia: More than 75% of students on full Bilkent Scholarship. Teachers in these schools encouraged to enroll in Bilkents parttime Doctoral Program in Education. In 6 years when they get their Ph.D.s some will join faculties of education and serve as a new breed of professors with good teaching experience

Student Exchange programs: Especially Erasmus of EU Need to focus on pre-university: Erzurum; later pre-school Intl accreditation: AACSB, ABET, ECIS, NEACS Intl Curricula, standards: IB; IGCSE, syllabi & External exams Need both ways. If one country does it, while the other does not: Not so good!

Until now: Input based measures; Also need Output Based measures

Conclusion In usual aggregate national statistics, existence of couple of pioneering education programs will be hard to observe. But, it would help to know their presence. Why not also keep statistics to track different flavors of human capital formation? Number of universities providing a specified level of humanities for engineering students; Number of History Departments with specified levels of internationalization; Number of universities offering teacher training programs with specific attributes;
.. etc.