A New Effort to Promote STEM Across the Globe
With a goal of reaching 1,000,000 students in over 100 countries, an unprecedented public-private partnership just launched a multi-million-dollar investment in STEM education.
Published September 24, 2014
By Diana Friedman
On September 22, 2014 at the United Nations, heads of state, leaders of UN agencies, senior executives of major multinational corporations, and major philanthropists announced the launch of the Global STEM Alliance, a collaboration of governments, companies, schools and NGOs devoted to increasing access to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education for students worldwide.
The Alliance is an initiative of The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy), in partnership with over 70 governments, companies, NGOs, universities and schools and with participants and organizations in over 50 countries. The Alliance also announced that it is investing millions of dollars in order to inspire over 1,000,000 children worldwide to become STEM leaders in more than 100 countries by 2020.
The Global STEM Alliance launches with several Founding Partners: ARM, Cisco, the Global Sustainable Development Foundation, and the PepsiCo Foundation, as well as a group of Founding Nations and Regions, including Barcelona, Benin, Bhutan, Croatia, Malaysia, New York State, Rwanda, and the United States.
The “Global STEM Paradox”
The launch event, co-hosted by UNESCO and its Director General Irina Bokova and the International Telecommunications Union and its Secretary General, Hamadoun Touré, featured Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, United States Under-Secretary of State Catherine Novelli, and representatives from UNESCO and ITU. Speakers outlined what the Alliance refers to as the “Global STEM Paradox”: while there are more STEM graduates than ever before, they aren’t in the right places, aren’t work ready and don’t represent the diversity necessary for global innovation. Meanwhile, there are too few work-ready STEM graduates in emerging nations, where innovation is needed the most.
Members of the Alliance proposed a solution to the STEM paradox: an ecosystem of enlightened government policies, strategic business incentives, and innovative Web-based and one-to-one and one-to-many mentoring approaches that, together, create the necessary incentives for students to seek, acquire, and employ STEM skills.
Mentoring, Skill Development, and Networking
The failure to engage students with talent leads to the loss of millions of high skill STEM workers in places that desperately need them. To combat that, the Alliance will focus on three strategies: intergenerational mentoring, building foundational skills and building a global network of STEM innovators.
The fulcrum on which the Global STEM Alliance rests is a remarkably successful program taking place in 8 cities around the world (soon expanding to many other countries) that trains postgraduates and young corporate scientists and engineers to act as volunteer mentors and role models. Those mentors provide hands-on science experiences and inspiration to primary school students in underserved neighborhoods.
The first major new initiative of the Global STEM Alliance will be the development and launch of the Junior Academy, a virtual learning and research platform to inspire and prepare gifted STEM students around the world. The platform will include novel talent identification mechanisms, course work and authentic virtual research experiences, access to mentors, and an online writing center-tools that are especially valuable in developing, rural or impoverished urban areas, where qualified STEM instructors can be scarce.
Advancing Gender Diversity in STEM
The Alliance also announced 1000 Girls – 1000 Futures, a new commitment with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action, representing an investment of $2 million over three years. The effort will increase the number of women in STEM fields through a coordinated, comprehensive program that will lead to new skills, greater engagement and ultimately, the desire to enter the STEM fields.
In an effort to increase work-ready STEM graduates, especially in underrepresented populations like women and rural communities, both the heads of states and corporate executives affirmed their commitment to STEM education as a means to foster economic growth and promote scientific innovation in Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and the world’s developing nations.
“It gives me great pleasure to join in launching of the Global STEM Alliance,” said Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia. “As we all know, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are at the heart of modern life and provide the foundations for economic prosperity. The purpose of driving STEM education is not only to create economic opportunity for individuals; it’s to provide the fuel needed to power a science and technology driven economy. STEM and therefore STEM education – are vital to our future – the future of our country and the future of our children.”
