Originally published in 1984, this book investigates the validity of educational qualifications: how they are determined, what justifications exist for them and how they change. It examines the assumption linking education and productivity and explores the belief that the ways in which scholastic qualifications are acquired distort education. In the investigations, the labour market, the school and community are not treated as ‘black boxes’ with no questions asked of their contents. Each is opened and placed under the microscope. Human resource personnel are asked to explain qualifications and selection for jobs. Supervisors are asked to estimate the quality of their workers. Teachers are observed in classrooms. Parents are asked what they hope for when they send their children to school. Simultaneously, research from a wide range of countries and cultures is explored.

Adebayo Adedeji was Nigeria's Federal Commissioner for Economic Development and Reconstruction from 1971 to 1975. In June 1975, he was appointed Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and remained in this position until July 1991. He founded the African Centre for Development and Strategic Studies (ACDESS), a non-governmental independent continental non-profit, think-tank dedicated to multi-disciplinary and strategic studies on and for Africa. Adedeji was elected a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 1991.

Colin Baker was Principal of the Institute of Public Administration, University of Malawi and an acknowledged authority on the government and administration of Malawi. He was Deputy Director of the Insitute of Administration, University of Ife, Nigeria.