What is the optimal role for business in improving global education?
We've danced around this question for years. It's touchy, fraught with politics and real concerns about doing well by kids. To date, the frequent calls for business to do more for education have led to a handful of laudatory programs and a moderate uptick in global awareness, but hardly the groundswell of corporate engagement needed to meaningfully impact the life trajectories of millions of students worldwide.
Yet as someone who has followed closely both the global needs of education and the evolution of corporations in society, I think we've reached an inflection point for redefining what the role of business in education could be.
So why does this time feel different?
For one, the enormity of the problem is finally sinking in. We've always known that good schools lead to good jobs and a prosperous economy, but new data have drawn attention to just how broken these links of the chain have become. Roughly 60% of CEOs (pdf), for instance, are worried that a lack of skilled labor holds back their company's growth, while more than 200 million people worldwide can't find a job (pdf). Even at the primary school level, where 250 million students remain illiterate (pdf), the private sector likewise faces significant future risk from gaps in education and key workforce skills.
But accompanying the recognition of this crisis is a newfound sense of opportunity. The global education market, buoyed by a rising middle class, will expand by nearly 50% – to $6.3tn – by 2017 (pdf). Ubiquitous technology has opened up access to education alongside new business models to serve this sector. Companies such as IBM are applying big data to predict how individual students best learn, while others such Discovery Education are using media to better engage students in school. These efforts are distinct from valuable-but-limited corporate philanthropy; rather, they are poised to be much larger and more scalable given their connection to the core business.
In workforce development, companies have likewise found opportunities. Take the Godrej Group in India. Instead of waiting for the government to prepare enough workers for its growing businesses, Godrej has set out to train one million youth (pdf) in employable skills by 2020. In the United States, CVS Caremark has realized a 179% return on a program that recruits welfare recipients into entry-level jobs at pharmacies (pdf). By engaging more deeply in education and workforce preparation, CVS and Godrej have not just strengthened their own competitiveness, but have invested in the long-term human potential of their employees.
As awareness of the global education crisis grows and examples from leading corporations come to light, more and more companies have sought out deeper modes of engagement. Alliances such as the Global Business Coalition for Education have promoted an exchange of ideas among companies. Multilateral efforts such as the Global Partnership for Education are engaging business in elevating education on the post-MDG agenda. I saw this momentum firsthand last month at Davos, where multiple conversations brought together corporate CEOs with government and civil society leaders to discuss how companies can align profit with purpose in solving education challenges.
Yet we have only just begun to define a more productive role for business in education. Going forward, several factors must converge to realize this potential. First and foremost is a relentless focus on quality. Consumers of educational products and services are demanding stronger links to learning outcomes, and market leaders like Pearson have begun to measure the efficacy of their products. Still, more work is needed to shift the basis of competition in the sector towards gains in student learning.
We must also foster stronger partnerships that rest on mutual opportunity – for companies, an opportunity to strengthen profitability and competitiveness, and for civil society, an opportunity to employ the unique abilities of business in service of education's needs. When companies do address the challenges of education while generating economic benefits, they create shared value, and define a stronger and more sustainable way for business to engage in education in the future. With new thinking, opportunities, and partnerships, there's reason to believe that this time can be different.
Matt Wilka is a senior consultant at FSG and is a co-author of the recent report, The New Role of Business in Global Education
