Much of the world's knowledge is available - either directly or through intermediaries - to the majority of humanity today. Google and Wikipedia are helping to make the phrase "I don't know" obsolete. The Internet is reinforcing curiosity and life-long learning. The ideal of excellent curricula and excellent teachers being available to all is a possibility within sight. Many university courses (MOOCs: massive open online courses) and independent learning systems like TED, Coursera, and the Kahn Academy are freely available on the Internet. A team led by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook is dedicated to getting everyone on the planet connected to the Internet, as is Google's Loon Project to create a network of high-altitude balloons for universal Internet access. The price of laptops and smart phones continues to fall. However, successfully applying all these resources for better learning around the world requires much greater effort to distribute these capabilities and adapt them to cultures.

According to UNESCO, youth literacy rates have improved from 83.4% in 1990 to 89.5% in 2011; while adult (over 15 years old) literacy rates improved from 75.7% in 1990 to 84.1% in 2011. By 2015, UNESCO estimates global adult literacy rate to reach 86% and the youth literacy rate 92%. Pre-primary enrollment grew from 112 million in 1999 to 164 million in 2010. Primary school completion rates grew from 9.3% in 1999 to 90.3% in 2011. The percent of secondary school age children enrollment grew from 53% in 2000 to 62.5% in 2010. Enrollment of tertiary education grew from 19% in 2000 to about 30% in 2010. Nevertheless, about 71 million children of lower secondary school age are not in school. The attempted murder of Malala Yousafzai in Pakistani by the Taliban underscores the struggle to get educational access for 28.5 million primary school age children in the world's conflict zones today, according to UNESCO. Although the percent of children out of school has fallen, the number remains high due to population growth over the past decade and the fact that international aid to basic education was less in 2012 for the first time since 2002.

The EU, US, China, Israel, and Japan have major research projects attempting to understand the

brain. Future results could address brain diseases, improve brain functioning, lead to better computer designs, and create new brain-computer synergies. Advances in cognitive science should be integrated into teacher training and learning systems. Google plans to augment intelligence by developing a personal Artificial Intelligent brain assistant. In addition to knowledge acquisition and socialization, Ministries of Education should declare increasing intelligence as a national goal of education, which could speed up learning applications of advances in cognitive science and brain research. Human IQ test scores have been increasing around the world for over fifty years; the cause or whether humanity is getting more intelligent is not clear, but at least the scores are not going down.

The connection of computers and learning is dramatically changing. As Moore's Law continues to be valid over the next decade or so, portable intelligent devices could have the processing power of the human brain. Individuals would access the world's knowledge that has been integrated for "just-in-time knowledge and learning", using simulations with virtual reality interfaces adapted to individuals' unique needs throughout their lives. Continuous evaluation of individual learning processes designed to prevent people from growing unstable and/or becoming mentally ill, along with programs aimed at eliminating prejudice and hate could bring about a more beautiful, loving world, which will become more necessary as increasingly destructive technologies become more available to individuals.

Brain functioning or intelligence could be increased by combinations of improved nutrition, reasoning exercises, believing that increasing intelligence is possible (placebo effect), responding to feedback, consistency of love coupled with diversity of environment, contact with intelligent people via Internet avatars, brain enhancement pharmaceuticals, software and games, memes (intelligence is sexy), and low stress, stimulating environments, with certain music, colors, and fragrances that improve concentration and performance. Insights from partial mapping of the human brain and other methods could dramatically increase personal intelligence and longevity. In the more remote future, brains may be genetically enhanced and designer bacteria via synthetic biology could repair brain damage and make the brain cells work more efficiently. With the use of public communications to reinforce the pursuit of knowledge and the use of these learning innovations and concepts, individual and collective intelligence of societies could be improved.

Advances throughout history have created gaps between early adapters who can afford the initially higher costs and those who are less able to afford the advances. Serious efforts will have to be made to prevent dangerous knowledge/intelligence gaps leading to unstable conditions. Policymakers should develop ways to encourage broad democratic usage of these new powers without letting their abuse by the few disadvantage the many. Future prejudices could emerge between those who are more technologically augmented and those less so. Over the last several years, the digital gap has begun to narrow, giving hope that greater decentralization, access, transparency, and proliferation of feedback mechanisms can address these concerns. As the learning market expands, the unit cost of technologies and learning designs should fall, reducing the time from wealthy early adopters to more universal access.

Regional Considerations (research in progress now)

Africa African school attendance has increased 33% since 1999, but 43% of all primary school-aged children out of school in the world are in Africa. The region has the lowest literacy rates, with youth literacy rate at 70%, and average adult rate at 59% in 2011, but varying from 25% in Guinea to 94% in Equatorial Guinea. Some 10 million drop out of school per year in sub-Saharan Africa. Female drop-out rates are reduced when separate school sanitary facilities are put in for girls. New applications of cognitive science and mobile technologies are needed to "catch up" with the OECD countries; Open Educational Resources for Africa is making content freely available without paying license fees and that can be adapted as needed and used on mobile phones. Save the Children has proved that building permanent classrooms with sanitary facilities increases school attendance in South Sudan. Iron-rich and protein foods have to be taken together to help young brains to develop; a key reason children get protein malnutrition is because the protein and iron-rich foods are often not mixed well with corn, millet, or cassava paste by young children whose hands are not developed enough to pick up both; hence, pre-mixing these foods for children could help brain development.

Asia and Oceana The adult literacy rate in South and West Asia is 63%, East Asia and Pacific is 95%, and Central Asia is 100%. Youth literacy rates were highest in Central Asia (100%) and East Asia and the Pacific (99%). Youth literacy in South and West Asia is 81%. Samsung Economic Research Institute says 70% of South Korean household spending in Seoul pays for private education of their children. Mintel Group research found that 90% of children in middle class families in China go to after-school fee-charging education programs and that 87% of Chinese parents are willing to pay for additional overseas education.

Europe Although the youth and adult literacy rates across Europe are about 99%, 14 million European young people are not in school or employed. The EU's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies is leading the Open Educational Resources project in Europe (OEREU) on how to use Open Educational Resources and envision educational scenarios to 2030.

Latin America UNESCO is losing its influence in the region due to shrinking budgets. Educational systems in more socialist countries prefer not to have international standards and testing, while those more market-oriented are seeking them. Free inquiry and pursuit of new insights and truth may be reduced by this ideological tug-of-war over the education of the next generation. Capital flight and shrinking state budgets are reducing education budgets per student. Training is needed to better use the new Internet-based learning systems. Uruguay is working to give all children Internet access. Adult literacy has improved from 86% in 1990 to 92% in 2011, while youth literacy (aged 15-24 years) has grown from 93% in 1990 to 97% in 2011.

North America A recent National Research Council report recommends more focus on testing students' scientific reasoning and ability to design scientific experiments. U.S. high school reading and math scores as well as graduation rates have increased from 2000 to 2010, reversing a falling trend from 1970 to 2000; however, international rankings of the U.S. remain low. Although increasing numbers of people are accessing MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses), a University of Pennsylvania study found only an average of 4% complete the courses; however, those who do complete learn with little additional infrastructure or capital expenses. Canada is the only country that has no national ministry of education, since education is within provincial jurisdiction. There is a lack of statistical data and national coordination between the number and qualifications of university graduates and the labor market needs. Meantime, university tuition fees increase, graduates ending up with high debts and disappointing job perspectives.

The table below shows the likelihood of education and learning possibilities by 2030 as judged by an International Panel of The Millennium Project.

A rating of 50 on the likelihood scale above would mean that there is a 50% chance the possibility will occur by 2030 in other words, it is just as likely to occur as not to occur. An assessment of how each possibility could turn out positively and negatively as well as who will help it to occur and who might hinder its occurrence is available available in the Global Futures Intelligence System.