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This paper discusses the developments in the renewable energy sector and their impact on jobs and training. It compiles and makes an analysis of how the available technologies in the market will further develop corresponding with global trends in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors, and the corresponding capacities that are needed to make the transition from fossil fuel-based consumption into another supported by renewable energy. The role of Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in developing skills and qualified professionals for jobs in the renewable energy sector is a key vector of analysis. [ADENE - Agência para a Energia, Renewables Academy AG (RENAC), and Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency (C2E2) were contributors to this report.]

This paper examines evidence from the HESA DLHE six-month Censuses and 3½ year ('longitudinal') surveys relating to three aspects of the flows of those who have left university with Higher Education Engineering qualifications, to test the robustness of the conclusions of SKOPE Research Paper No. 122 (Dixon, 2015), which showed strong evidence that most Engineering graduates do not go on to work in the sectors of the economy that might be expected, in particular in the 'natural' Manufacturing sub-sector. Specifically, the paper examines three questions: (1) whether evidence of starting salary levels for those from particular disciplines going into particular sectors could explain the relative flows (on the assumption that higher salaries for graduate vacancies in a particular sector would attract more applications); (2) whether evidence of sector destinations three years on from the (six-month after graduation) Census data analysed in Dixon (2015) would show up significantly different levels of 'leakage'; and (3) whether those entering employment having completed Taught Masters (as opposed to First Degree) courses in particular Engineering disciplines would tend (in the light of their apparent greater interest and deeper understanding in the specific discipline) to enter the "expected" sectors more than their Bachelors colleagues. The "bottom line" answers to these questions is that -- with rather minor exceptions -- none of the relevant broader evidence from HESA DLHE data over a ten-year period significantly questions the very considerable 'leakage', away from the 'natural' Manufacturing sub-sector, that was found and presented in Dixon (2015). (1) There is "some" correlation between the "average salaries offered" (by employers in each 'destination' sector to cohorts from each Engineering discipline examined) and the "size of the flows" from each discipline into each sector, but it is limited and rarely strong. While there might be reasons why average salary differences might not be large enough to provide a sufficient incentive for Engineering graduates to choose one sector over another, evidence of considerably greater correlation would have been helpful to justify the traditional response of classical economics to employers' concerns about shortages: "offer more money"! (2) While there are sample size issues constraining the statistical precision of comparisons between the two DLHE surveys, these have been addressed, and comparisons of the "linear flows" of graduates from each discipline into the natural Manufacturing sub-sector show (a) comparatively very small differences, and (b) on balance, slightly "greater" 'leakage' three years on; and (3) More MSc's in "Automotive" and "Aerospace Engineering" have, over the ten years examined, then gone into the "Manufacture of Motor Vehicles"... and "Air and Space craft manufacture" (respectively) than BEng's from these disciplines. However, for the other disciplines compared, there is little difference, and -- in terms of entry into Manufacturing as a whole, for the most recent year in the period - the fraction of the disciplinary cohorts entering "any type of Manufacturing" is slightly "higher" for MSc's than First Degree (FD) graduates in "three" Engineering disciplines, though "lower" for MSc's than FD's in "four"! This new evidence, therefore, only serves to "strengthen" the great importance of NOT assuming linear flows of Engineering graduates into the "natural" Manufacturing sub-sectors corresponding to their discipline, in particular in policy responses to reports of shortages from such sub-sectors.

We combine satellite-based pollution data and test scores from over 10,000 U.S. school districts to estimate the relationship between air pollution and test scores. To deal with potential endogeneity we instrument for air quality using: (1) year-to-year coal production variation; and (2) a shift-share instrument that interacts fuel shares used for nearby power production with national growth rates. We find that each one-unit increase in particulate pollution reduces test scores by 0.02 standard deviations. Our findings indicate that declines in particulate pollution exposure raised test scores and reduced the black-white test score gap by 0.06 and 0.01 standard deviations, respectively.

Assessments of U.S. students typically reveal stronger performance in science than mathematics yet their science performance remains uninspiring at best. Whether the metric considered is an international benchmark from TIMSS or PISA or the nation's NAEP report card, the mediocre portrait of U.S. science achievement has remained virtually unchanged over the past 20 years. The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago (MSI) is a readily accessible resource not only to the people of Chicago but also to a much larger multistate area. MSI has taken the initiative to establish an active and ongoing multifaceted working relationship with the Chicago Public Schools and other local schools, particularly those serving high-needs student populations. The issues of lackluster student achievement in science and science teachers' access to quality professional capacity-building experiences led MSI to form the Institute for Quality Science Teaching (IQST). This study's main focus was to evaluate the first of IQST's course goals, improving teachers' content knowledge, in one IQST course. The module selected for this evaluation project was the Get Re-Energized (GRE) module that focuses on energy topics, a part of the physical sciences and an area of particularly weak performance for U.S. students.

California has achieved considerable economic success through technological innovation and the formation of businesses based upon those technologies. This paper addresses some of the roles of universities in that success story. It starts with some measures of the contributions of innovation and a robust university structure to the California economy, drawn from the biotechnology and wine industries. This is followed by an exploration of some recent partnership structures involving universities with industry and/or the state government. Emphasis is on the University of California, since that is where the experience of the author lies. This is followed by considerations of how such partnerships can be most successful and at the same time meet concerns about potential undesirable consequences stemming from them. (Contains 38 notes.) [Paper prepared for Salzburg Seminar No. 441, "From Lab to Market: Accelerating Innovation through University, Business, and Government Partnership" (Salzburg, Austria, April 28-May 3, 2007).]

This publication is intended for three primary audiences: international development professionals who want to define "workforce" for program design purposes, those who seek information about field activities, and those who want to reflect on the implementation of successful, high impact programs--whether they were broad-based or sector-specific projects or local activities. The goal is to provide readers with options and strategies for connecting diverse sets of development objectives through international workforce initiatives. Following a brief introduction, the first chapter briefly reviews international workforce initiatives' historical roles in United States economic and political diplomacy and how they became part of the practice of development assistance. The chapters that follow provide definitions and design principles. The annexes contain more than 80 profiles of projects the Academy for Educational Development (AED) is currently or has recently implemented that have had workforce components. Most of the examples used come from projects implemented in partnership with the U.S. government, projects funded by the United Nations (UN), the Group of Eight (G-8), private foundations, and national governments are also included. Annexes contain: (1) AED Workforce Initiatives--Project Profiles ; (2) AED-Managed Global Technical Assistance Programs; and (3) Profiles of AED Projects with Workforce Components by Category.(Contains 23 endnotes.) [Primary support for this publication has come from AED's Leadership and Institutional Development Group and the AED Center for Enterprise and Capacity Development (CECD).]