Stephen Downes

This is an interesting set of observations. Development, argues Alex Usher, is getting harder because countries can no longer foster development through export-driven manufacturing. "There aren't going to be any more Taiwans or Koreas." Instead, "In future, if countries are going to get rich, it's going to be through some kind of services and knowledge-intensive products." But this requires higher education, and especially universities. But how do you develop universities before you've created economic development? It's a structural problem. Universities "simply lack entrepreneurial partners with whom to work on knowledge and commercialization projects."