Fernando Reimers

Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice in International Education and Director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative and of The International Education Policy Program, Harvard University


Fernando M. Reimers studies and teaches about innovative education policies and programs that help students develop competencies necessary for civic participation, work and life in the 21st century. He also works in the area of global citizenship education and in how to align education policies with the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

Reimers teaches a graduate course that examines the core global education challenges and the role of policy analysis in addressing them, and a course on educational innovation that supports social entrepreneurs in generating and scaling up programs that enhance the relevance of education to the challenges of our times. He chairs an annual Think Tank on Global Education, a Professional Education program that examines state of the art practices and programs to help students gain global competency.

He also directs the Global Education Innovation Initiative, a cross-national effort to support the improvement of public education towards greater relevance in helping students develop the cognitive and socio-emotional competencies essential to thrive in the 21st century.

In 2017 he received the Global Citizen Award from the Committee on Teaching about the United Nations for his work advancing global citizenship education. In 2015 he was appointed the C.J. Koh Visiting Professor of Education at the National Institute of Education in Singapore in recognition of his work in global education. He received an honorary doctorate from Emerson College for his work advancing human rights education. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Education and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.