Biography of Francesc Pedró, director of IESALC

Francesc Pedró is since May 2019 the Director of the UNESCO Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. He joined UNESCO’s education sector in Paris (France) in 2010, where he led the team of education policy, providing technical assistance to UNESCO Member States by reviewing their normative frameworks and education policies upon request to ensure alignment with SDG 4-Education 2030, and contributing to knowledge dissemination through international comparative analyses. From 2005 to 2011 he worked at the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). In his capacity as senior policy analyst, he was responsible for a number of projects including the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and the New Millennium Learners Project. He was also in charge of the reviews of educational R&D in OECD countries and of a project on Systemic Innovation in Education.

Between 1998 and 2005 he was professor of comparative education and public policies at the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) and academic director of its program for educational quality. He also chaired the university entrance examinations system in Catalonia. Prior to this, he was pro-vice chancellor of educational research and innovation, as well as of international relations, at the Open University of Catalonia (Barcelona), the first Internet-based European public university.

Francesc (Barcelona, 1960) got his MEd degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a PhD in Comparative Education from UNED (Madrid). Later he did a postdoc in Comparative Public Policy at the University of London Institute of Education.

His main fields of expertise are comparative education policies and technology use in education.

Among his most recent publications there are: Are the New Millennium Learners Making the Grade? (2010), Inspired by Technology, Driven by Pedagogy (2010), Working Out Change: Systemic Innovation in Education (2010), Connected Minds. Technology and Today’s Learners (2012), Le numérique: une chance pour l’école (2013), Tecnología para la mejora de la educación: experiencias de éxito y expectativas de futuro (2015), Digital Services for Education in Africa/Le numérique au service de l’éducation en Afrique (2015), and Policy Levers for Education 2030. The Untapped Potential of Governance, School Leadership, and Monitoring and Evaluation Policies (2018).

Contact information

UNESCO IESALC: www.iesalc.unesco.org

Mail: f.pedro@unesco.org

Twitter: @francescpedroED

Facebook: /francescpedroED