Future Proofing Training Programs & the Economics of Education

From the October 6th, 2017 Workforce & Learning Pathways In A Period Of Dynamic Change Conference; Martin Carnoy, Vida Jacks Professor of Education, Stanford Graduate School of Education examines...
1. Investment in training is an integral part of any capital investment program—these are “complementary” investment goods required to choose, implement, and operate the infrastructure of the future.
2. The kinds of investments required to modernize developing countries’ (and even the U.S.’s) infrastructure will be highly sophisticated, high technology driven. Designing the systems, choosing the new technology, implementing it, installing, operating, and maintaining it—all these will require high levels of human capital and therefore the training to produce it.
3. The first level of training required is of decision makers, who will design the most effective long-term solutions for nations’ inadequate and complex transportation systems and how to choose the most appropriate, most cost-effective physical capital to modernize the systems.
4. The second level of training required is for the highly-trained engineers needed to work with the decision makers to implement optimally the technologically advanced physical capital.
5. The third level of training required is for the technicians who will install, operate, and maintain the technologically advanced physical capital.