The European Connection

It was a matter of time. In a rather obvious consequence of the global economic downturn (particularly acute in Britain), the famous Good Schools list of the best educational institutions in the nation witnessed the rise of state entries in the rankings, usually dominated by what the Brits call “independent schools” (private preparatory schools). 

Although several headmasters and analysts interviewed by the FT were surprised, I am surprised at their amazement. The credit crunch that has been afflicting markets for now over a year, with severe consequences for governments’ fiscal balance around the world, not to mention the high-earning financial sector, has hit the demographic that has always been most likely to send their offspring to elite schools.

As Britain’s top (fee-free) state schools receive more and more applications, it will be interesting to see how this trend impact education enrollment rates in the rest of Europe and in the US, not only in terms of private elementary and high schools, but also when it comes to higher education. 

Fewer and fewer, it seems, can avoid the consequences of the economic malaise, which – if nothing else – reinforces the strength of the phenomenon.

Welcome back for a second semester at TEC!

In the last months, and despite Obama’s hopeful inauguration parties last week, the news in Europe and around the world are anything but hopeful. Just yesterday, UK economic performance data marked the end of a particularly dismal week in financial markets. The message seems clear enough: there will be no swift recovery in Europe and in the UK devaluation is painfully correcting past excesses – it’s like the bitter British 70s are back. There are some, however, who do not complain. And perhaps that is precisely what Britain needs right now to revive its struggling economy.

And yet, the return to growth seems farther and farther away with each day the stock markets are open. But is the increased monetary flexibility in Britain, when compared to the ECB’s corset on the eurozone, a good or a bad thing? The present crisis will become a case study, one way or another.