Various stories semi-peripheral to the SIB topic today while over at our sister newsletter Exchange Invest, the benchmark daily read for the world of financial market infrastructure, we’re celebrating the 500th edition of that newsletter.
Higher Education Must Track Its Impact On Society
Jess S. Boronico – Investors
The Brookings Institution just released a major study evaluating thousands of American colleges.
To analyze the value students can expect, researchers looked at post-graduation salaries, rates of student-loan repayment, the quality of career services and the like. Top-ranked schools include high-profile institutions like MIT and under-the-radar ones like Carleton College in Minnesota.
These metrics are commonly studied when people talk about the impact of higher education. But they paint an incomplete picture. Schools must also be measured by their impact on society.
Major corporations routinely track, quantify and publicize their impact on society.
America’s schools largely do not, leaving prospective students in the dark about the quality of programs.
This must change. And management programs are uniquely qualified to take the lead, since schools need to start acting like businesses — and measure their social impact — to prove their value to students and society.
Private-sector companies have monitored and touted their social impact for years. Goldman Sachs, for instance, pioneered “social impact” bonds to help local governments fund education and public works projects. One such bond is helping finance pre-kindergarten programs for 2,600 at-risk children in Chicago’s public schools.
These bonds are an innovative way to stretch government funding. Essentially, better educational outcomes reduce future government spending on remedial education, social services and even criminal justice. Governments then use a portion of these savings to pay back the bonds. Lenders, governments, students and society all benefit.
Harnessing Social Impact Investing
Gabriel Sanchez Zinny – Huffington Post
For many, Latin America is associated with a laundry list of negatives: drugs, corruption, gang violence and transnational crime. However, our new report Harnessing Social Impact Investing in Latin America, helps to dispel some of these myths. In fact, in the realm of social impact investing, it is on the forefront of rapidly-changing global trends.
Rob Wilson Remains In Post Despite Twitter Faux Pas
Ellie Ward – Pioneers Post
Rob Wilson MP has been reappointed Minister for Civil Society by David Cameron following the Conservative Party’s general election victory last week.
The MP for Reading East has been elected by his constituency for a third term, but found himself in hot water less than 24 hours after the votes were counted.
In response to a tweet from photographer and constituency resident Lynda Bowyer that read, “Homelessness is up 700% in #RdgUK during previous coalition. Wonder what the #Conservative cuts will do to address this @RobWilson_RDG?”, Wilson wrote, “don’t be a bad loser.”