Dr. Bassem Ali Khreisan / Professor at the College of Political Science – University of Baghdad.
The Global Knowledge Index (GKI) launched by the United Nations Development Program and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, represents an important addition to the global repository of knowledge on development, providing diverse and reliable data that can help countries and decision makers to understand and respond to related transformations and challenges more clearly. and then explore future prospects and possible paths.
It assesses seven sub-indices, chosen both for their correlative interactive relationships and their centrality to the process of cognitive and developmental progress. The strong link between the quality of knowledge capital, on the one hand, and the ability to build effective knowledge economies that deliver equitable and sustainable development, on the other, necessitates the assessment of human resource qualification systems and their outputs, which are captured in pre-university education, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and higher education. The investments in, and the outputs of, scientific research, development and innovation are also central to sustainable development, and are assessed within research, development and innovation (RDI). The progress achieved in developing technological infrastructure and applying its outputs is reflected in information and communications technology (ICT), while the economy provides an assessment of economic openness and competitiveness.
Improvements in all these aspects of knowledge-based development require a suitable and supportive environment based on social and political freedoms, as well as sound environmental and health conditions, progress towards which is reflected in the enabling environment.
The average performance on the “global knowledge index 2021” was (48.4), and with regard to the index’s sub-indices, the best performance was in the sub-indicator “pre-university education”, as its average global performance reached (60.8), followed by the sub-indicator “empowerment environment”. Its global performance averaged 3.55, then the sub-indicator “Economics” with an average performance of (9.52), then the sub-indicator “Technical education and vocational training” with an average performance of (51.2), then “Higher education” with an average performance of (46.1), then information and communication technology with an average performance (43.3), and finally the sub-indicator “Research, Development and Innovation” with an average performance of (31.4%).
