What is IBM's vision today for modern education in a globalised world? And how long will this vision need to be a basis for action to achieve a noticeable broad effect?

Mick Slivecko: Leaders need to consider and establish new policies to transform their organizations in order to deliver better student performance, greater workforce flexibility, and an enhanced value to society. This transformation will occur across traditional boundaries - between academic segments, education and training providers, and economic development groups. This continuum recognizes five emerging "signposts" that directly impact the rate and direction of change in education. These signposts are technology immersion, personalized learning paths, knowledge skills, global integration, and economic alignment.

But that is not all that needs to be considered to create a noticeable effect. Part of the vision needs to recognize that emerging technologies are enabling, but that they also challenge the transformation of the educational continuum. Open technologies, cloud technology, and consumer technology all participate in the educational continuum. We recommend that several critical policies be evaluated to enable education system transformation. For example, student-centric (as opposed to institution-centric) processes need to be established in order to support a vision of delivering personalized learning that will improve quality and provide learning customization and migration.

Open standards and open platforms in technology should be promoted, along with consolidation of services and cloud delivery systems to increase flexibility and to lower costs. Last but not least, transformation of educational systems will only happen with the collaboration and support of key stakeholders: employers, families, agencies, and non-governmental organizations must actively engage in this dialogue. Collaboration for transformation is key, and now is the time to act to develop an ongoing vision and related policies that build new processes and services for better education systems in a globalized world.

Can you indirectly compare the future of schools with the future of companies with the same parameters of effectiveness?

Mick Slivecko: There is an important linkage between the future of our schools and universities and the future of companies, along with the related economic conditions they influence globally. Government leaders worldwide increasingly view education as an integral component of a sustainable foundation for economic recovery and long-term health. Not all of the specific parameters associated with effectiveness are the same with schools and companies, but there are foundational elements that can be recognized and leveraged. Again, the educational continuum would apply here.

To develop new economic initiatives, communities and nations must plan to develop a broad spectrum of skills to nurture new businesses and industries. To help with improving effectiveness, educational and governmental leaders will require tools and resources to make informed investment decisions in programs and initiatives. Student data must be aggregated and integrated to provide a "single" view of an individual in order to allow for improvements to an educational system. This recognizes that the student as an individual obtains learning, achieves development, and gathers skills through many different sources over the course of life. This will have an important impact on companies and economic growth.

Where do you notice the biggest challenge of school development? Is it a lack of technology, a lack of further education for teachers, a lack of interests of the pupils, or a lack of a general insight into the need for change?

Mick Slivecko: There is certainly no lack of technology that we potentially have access to; however the use of this technology needs to be optimized. Technology immersion and an increasingly demanding audience of students require the development of an engaging learning experience along with constant adaptation to the device of choice to maintain interest. Also, teachers and faculty need to be provided with professional development as well as training tools to enhance the delivery of education to new forms of learning communities to develop knowledge skills.

New pedagogical tools, along with curriculum and courseware, need to be designed to build 21st-century skills. Systems also need to be in place to track and support ongoing student performance improvement. Consider also the new global economic dynamics and the pressure on educational systems to do more with less. Government and educational leaders increasingly recognize that this will demand change. These challenges all need to be considered as they are interrelated, and together represent significant challenge.

On an IBM website, we can read that the cost of education rose 42 percent in a decade (1995-2004) and that better management could save by 22 percent. Where do these figures come from, and how do you define "better management"?

Mick Slivecko: The source is the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and their review of indicators on education systems. The view is that learning outcomes can be increased while maintaining the current level of expenditures. Building smarter educational systems will focus on better management and improving the process of lifelong learning. A key element of this begins with providing better intelligence and information gathering. This will help us understand the current state of not only student performance but also the costs to deliver.

Smarter administration systems help provide this understanding and introduce data- driven efficiencies as part of an overall approach. Common data and services will help improve quality through better insight, interventions, and opportunities. At the same time, better management, including consideration of innovative practices along with shared services utilizing principles of cloud technology, allows us to do more with available resources.