Series contains records maintained by the Education Department (EDP, 1968 - 1972, later EDC, 1977 - 1984) and successor units responsible for producing and disseminating research. Research is conducted by the sectors to support operations projects as well as regional, country, or specific sector programs and initiatives, and to improve the level of sector knowledge in particular areas. Records were primarily created between 1968 and 1991 apart from a set of questionnaires dated 2005 and copy of an externalreport dated 1965 used for reference.
Many of the records were created by George Psacharopoulos during his tenure as education research adviser, Education Department (EDC, 1981 - 1983), manager, Education Research Program (EDCRS, 1983 - 1985) followed by Research Division chief (EDTRS, 1985 - 1987). Other records were created by Senior Adviser Wadi D. Haddad, Senior Sociologist Stephen P. Heyneman, Economist Elizabeth (Beth) M. King, Michael Wilson, and others.
Record formats include, but are not limited to: correspondence regarding collaboration, sharing of information, comments on draft papers, or research conducted for the unit by university professors and other third parties; research proposals; initiating briefs; preliminary outlines; Terms of Reference; back-to-office reports for missions relating to research projects; statistical and other data; operational project audit and completion reports; published and unpublished external reports from governments, external organizations and scholars; working and discussion paper drafts and final versions; surveys; handwritten research notes; copies of journal articles and press clippings; and computer floppy disks containing final papers and research results.
A portion of the material specifically relates to country studies regarding living standards in Peru, higher education in Africa, diversified secondary curriculum (DiSCus) in Colombia and Tanzania, and university education in Pakistan. Other topics include, but are not limited to: economic impact of education; women in education; structural adjustment and education; education and public expenditures; vocational training; education strategy and employment policies; assessments of testing capacities; effects of school conditions and atmosphere on students' performances; informal sector education and employment; education and earnings; and education and environment.
Several of these subject files relate to the preparation of Research Project Outputs (RPOs). The RPO numeric code was assigned to projects throughout the Bank by the Development Economics Department. One such set of files relates to RPO 672-45 Diversified Secondary Curriculum Study (1968 - 1985, not inclusive) prepared by George Psacharopoulos and previously by Wadi Haddad. Records consist of back-to-office reports following missions, internal and external correspondence including with the Research Committee, working papers, questionnaires, research notes and data, and various other record types.
There are also records (1984 - 1986) pertaining to the EDTRS publication "Financing education in developing countries: an exploration of policy options" issued in 1986. Records include working drafts and review draft versions, memoranda from EDT Director Aklilu Habte to Operations Policy Staff Vice President S. Shahid Husain including the initiating brief, correspondence concerning press reaction, and other items.
A small portion of records in the series reflect collaboration between the Research Division and the Education Policy Division (EDTEP) led by Division Chief Dean T. Jamison regarding policy on education in Africa (1983 - 1987). Records include memoranda from Jamison and Psacharopoulos to OPSVP sharing a summary of the Bank-organized Research Priorities in Education in Sub-Saharan Africa Conference proceedings held in Bellagio in 1985, final conference report, agenda and list of participants, papers presented at the conference, and a pre-conference report on workshop research priorities (1984).
The sector policy study "Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: policies for adjustment, revitalization, and expansion" soon followed, issued in 1988. There are three volumes of files (1984 - 1987) pertaining to the preparation of the study. Included are memoranda between Haddad, Jamison, task leader and Senior Economist Peter R. Moock (EDTEP), Operations Adviser Ralph W. Harbison, and other staff discussing the development of the paper, comments on preliminary versions, and budget. Included with the memoranda are the initiating brief with follow-up comments, meeting address of Habte, and background data and papers.
Records originally maintained in the NRIC (1981 - 1982) contain internal memoranda between Haddad and Habte, letters exchanged with external agencies, primarily the International Development Research Center regarding the sector's participation in the Research Review and Advisory Group and other collaborative activities. Back-to-office reports, draft outlines and reports, and other items are also filed with the correspondence. Finally, a small portion of questionnaires maintained by Director Ruth Kagia related to the Ngecha Education Study (2005) also belong to the series.
Most of the records are in English, with correspondence and reports occasionally in French and Spanish, and research data and questionnaires in Swahili.
