Education
More than 100 million young people around the world lack access to education.[1] Millions more don’t get the quality education or opportunities that they deserve. Technology can help.
On this page:
Overview, Challenges, and Opportunities
Our approach to supporting education
What We're Doing
Our progress in FY2011
What’s Next
Our priorities for the year ahead
Spotlight on Students
Meet Team Hermes from Ireland, who took home the top prize in Software Design...
Read more
Education, Learning, and Youth
Microsoft programs have a focus on helping youth and young adults around the world obtain the skills that they need, connect them to opportunities, and support them in pursuing their dreams. We have the unique ability through technology and partnerships to make education and learning more accessible and more engaging for them.
Challenges
- The global shortage of well-trained teachers is slowing progress in increasing access to quality education.
- Many teachers don’t have the up-to-date tools that they need to teach effectively.
- Students need the opportunity to gain the critical science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills that are required for so many of today’s jobs.
- There are nearly 77 million unemployed youth around the world, partly because they lack skills.[2]
Opportunities
- Providing information and communications technology tools that teachers can incorporate into their curriculum
- Using the Internet to increase access to quality learning opportunities
- Promoting science, technology, engineering, and math education for all students to improve skills and competitiveness
- Increasing the readiness of workers for the technology economy
Viewpoint
Dr. Qian Tang, Deputy Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO
Information and communication technologies (ICT) are changing the face of education. They have the potential to help expand access, bring more equity, improve quality, and enhance management practices.
What We're Doing
Improving access to high-quality education
- Putting technology to use in classrooms: In FY2011 we got closer to our goal of reaching 250 million students and teachers around the world through our Partners in Learning program by 2013. Partners in Learning aims to help teachers build their skills, share best practices with one another, and innovate in their classrooms. Together with our partners, we reached nearly 16 million students and teachers through Partners in Learning in FY2011, and we have reached nearly 210 million since 2003.
- Furthering digital inclusion through public/private partnerships: By partnering with governments around the world to create inclusive technology solutions, Microsoft connected 6 million citizens in FY2011 with relevant and affordable education technologies through the Shape the Future program.
Impact Story: Through Students to Business, students in South Africa are being trained in key competencies they will need for future jobs.
- Training students for jobs in the 21st century: In FY2011, Microsoft trained more than 360,000 students worldwide in technology and job skills through Microsoft Students to Business, which connects students with Microsoft partner companies. Nearly 2,000 new companies registered for the program in FY2011.
- Helping schools train students and teachers: In FY2011 we partnered to help thousands of schools provide information and communications technology training and technology resources for students and teachers. Our goal is to improve student employability and the professional development of teachers through the Microsoft IT Academy.
- Using gaming as a teaching tool: Video games are the new frontier in interactive learning experiences. In FY2011 we launched Kinect for Xbox 360 and we are just beginning to discover its educational applications. For example, teachers around the globe are beginning to use Kinect to help stimulate students’ language literacy, numeracy development, and even physical fitness. One school principal in South Africa observed that students focus so intensely on the games that they overcome their inhibitions and learn more easily.
Advancing science and math in schools
- Providing problem-solving software: We made it easier for schools to adopt Microsoft Mathematics 4.0, a program that helps students tackle math and science challenges, by providing it at no charge.
- Supporting student innovation: More than 380,000 students from more than 180 countries/regions participated in the 2011 Imagine Cup, the world’s largest student technology competition.
- Supporting STEM policies and programs: Microsoft has joined the STEM Ed Coalition, a U.S. bipartisan group that aims to educate federal policymakers on the critical role that STEM education plays in competitiveness. We also continued our membership in Change the Equation, a joint effort of the Obama administration and corporate CEOs to improve STEM education in the United States.
- Investing in STEM education in Washington State: In FY2011 we helped found Washington STEM, a nonprofit that is dedicated to advancing innovation, equity, and excellence in STEM education in Washington State. Microsoft also pledged $25 million to the Washington Opportunity Scholarship Program to help increase the number of Washington State students who earn bachelor’s degrees, particularly in STEM fields.
[1] http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Progress_for_Children-No.9_EN_081710.pdf
[2] http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/@publ/documents/publication/wcms_150440.pdf
What's Next
Our priorities for FY2012 include:
- Partnering with governments around the world to increase access to quality 21st century education through our Shape the Future program.
- Continuing to advance cloud-based computing, learning analytics, and mobile and game-based learning to help engage and excite students.
- Reaching 250 million students and teachers across 115 countries/regions through Partners in Learning by 2013.
- Beginning work on our commitment through the Clinton Global Initiative to connect 1 million “digitally excluded” students and their families in the United States to personal learning devices, internet services, online education tools, job skills training, and online safety resources by the end of FY2014.
- Continuing to advocate through our public policy agenda and corporate affairs work for policies that advance educational reform.
Dr. Qian Tang, Deputy Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO
ICT for high-quality universal education: opportunities and challenges
Information and communication technologies (ICT) are changing the face of education. They have the potential to help expand access, bring more equity, improve quality, and enhance management practices.
Community radio programs, TV and satellite-broadcasting programs, self-generated video clips, community computers, and mobile phones are among the different delivery solutions literacy specialists are using to reach marginalized groups and young people. Online courses are increasingly enabling broader groups of students to participate in higher education, technical and vocational education and training, and other lifelong learning opportunities. UNESCO works with its partners around the world, including Microsoft, to develop innovative tools for education. In short, ICTs are helping the development community to bridge the knowledge divide.
The main benefits of ICT for education appear to be in developing cross-disciplinary competencies, such as critical thinking, problem solving, and complex communication - skills that are very relevant in today’s fast-changing labor markets. Tapping into this potential requires improving teachers’ ICT competencies and developing innovative pedagogies. It also means rethinking curricula and re-defining learning outcomes in response to the growing importance of new basic skills such as information literacy, digital literacy, and ICT literacy. Governments in many developed countries and some middle-income countries have recognized this, by integrating ICT-related ‘learning outcomes’ into their curriculum structure. UNESCO is helping governments around the world update their curriculum to include these new learning outcomes.
Of course, there are obstacles. Many students still have little or no access to technology. Governments and institutions in the least developed countries lack the capacities to provide well-designed ICT-based learning. Furthermore, the broadband divide is still widening. The public sector and private companies hold the key to bridging this gap. Together, we can ensure that ICT helps build a better, more peaceful, and equitable world.
