Fernando Reimers
Fernando M. Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is also the Director of the International Education Policy Program and of the Global Education Innovation Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He studies educational policies and programs which prepare youth to thrive in the 21st century and advises a number of education organizations and governments on educational innovation. In the forthcoming book 'Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century. Educational Goals, Policies and Curricula from Six Nations' (Reimers and Chung, Eds. Harvard Education Press. 2016) * he and his colleagues in Harvard's Global Education Innovation Initiative examine how educational policies and national education standards in Chile, China, India, Mexico, Singapore and the United States, drive education systems to prepare students for life and work in a rapidly changing world in the 21st century.
Reimers is a fellow of the International Academy of Education and member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a member of the United States National Commission for UNESCO. He serves on the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education where he chairs the Strategic Planning Committee, a task force working with all public colleges and universities in the States to align institutional strategies with the Vision Project, an effort to build an integrated system of higher education.
As co-chair of Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, he leads an Education Think Tank which convenes global education leaders to discuss solutions to aligning education systems with the development of 21st century skills, he also leads an annual Think Tank on Global Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education which brings together leaders of thought and practice interested in supporting the development of global competency.
Reimers is best known for his writings on Global Education, which have conceptualized Global Competency and approaches to develop it, as well as for his theory of 'Informed Dialogue', an approach to bridge scientific research and education policy through the mapping and mobilization of social networks. He has conducted extensive research and provided policy advice on education in many countries including Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Singapore and most other countries in Latin America.
He is the Founding Director of the International Education Policy Masters Program at Harvard. Prior to joining the faculty at Harvard Reimers worked for the World Bank, the Harvard Institute for International Development and the Universidad Central de Venezuela.