The most crucial part of it is to ensure education, and the key principle of leaving no one behind, is kept in focus through the inclusive and equitable principles. Continued lifelong learning opportunities are another part of the goal, going beyond basic education.

Conclusion

The quality dimension of education is very hard to measure, but inclusive and equitable education is generally in place in the developed world, and also mostly in place in China by 2030. Hence, the main challenge towards 2030 is in BRISE and ROW.

China, OECD, and USA score green on all three indicators: basic education, equal access to higher education, and literacy. BRISE scores red, yellow, and green on the three indicators, and gets a yellow score, in total. ROW has two red and one yellow score and gets a red score in total.

Understanding the score

Five regions: USA, OECD (excl. USA), China, BRISE (Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa and 10 other emerging economies), ROW (rest of the world).
Green light: Goal likely to be reached.
Orange light: Goal not likely to be reached, but more than 50% of the gap between today's status and the goal is likely to be closed.
Red light: Goal not likely to be reached, and less than 50% of the gap between today's status and the goal is likely to be closed.

ARM: Smarter learning

As creators of the "architecture for the digital world", ARM is literally everywhere. Its technology is used in 95 % of smart phones, 80 % of digital cameras, and 35 % of all electronic devices.

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education is a key funding area for ARM, in part to secure a future pipeline of talent for itself and its ecosystem of partner companies, but also because, increasingly, technology is fundamentally embedded into innovative solutions for developmental challenges. ARM supports many projects that bring a social focus to a STEM challenge.

“A lot more students get switched on when you make it about improving the world," says Dominic Vergine, ARM's Head of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility. "Bringing in healthcare or environmental issue, for example, makes STEM a lot more appealing to girls, who tend to drop out of STEM subjects much earlier and more frequently than boys. Encouraging new generations of girls across the world to use the power of engineering to tackle social problems - and not just build bridges and roads – is a major opportunity for the whole of humankind."

For the complete forecast on SDG 4: Quality education and the full ARM story, download the report.