| Abstract: | This essay review discusses the report of TheTask Force on Higher Education and Society(TFHES), convened in 1998 by the World Bank butindependently financed and staffed incollaboration with UNESCO and severalfoundations. Peril and Promise marks anhistoric turning point in the framework forpostsecondary educational planning. Rate-of-return analysis has been de-emphasized,while promotion of the public interest hasmoved front and center. The report of theTFHES, published in 2000 by the World Bank, hasreceived deserved attention in some parts ofthe world and has even developed an associatedwebsite (http://www.tfhe.net). As we explainbelow, the framework advocated by the TFHES isalready being used in official policy documentsof the World Bank, whose position will surelymultiply the influence of the Task Forcethrough its effect on other development banksas well as on programs of bilateral nationalassistance. And yet, despite its seminalimportance, the TFHES report has yet to befully appreciated by many researchers of highereducation. With this essay review, we hope tobroaden the discussion of the Task Force, and to offer a preliminary assessment of its impactin the 2002 World Bank policy document, and toconnect its arguments to questions that arecentral in the scholarly literature of ourfield. |
