Fernando Reimers

Fernando Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education and director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative at Harvard University. He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Education, of the International Academy of Education, and of the Council of Foreign Relations.

An expert in the field of global education, his research and teaching focus on understanding how to educate children and youth so they can thrive in the 21st century. He was a member of UNESCOs Commission on the Futures of Education which wrote the report Reimagining Our Futures Together. A New Social Contract for Education. He has developed curriculum aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which is in use in many schools throughout the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic he led numerous comparative studies examining the educational consequences of the pandemic and identifying options to sustain educational opportunity and to build back better. 

At HGSE, Reimers serves as co-director of the new International Education and Policy Management Pathway, an online master’s degree program designed specifically to focus on international education. The program launched this fall with an enrollment of 72 students from 33 countries. 

He directs the Global Education Innovation Initiative, a cross-country research and practice collaborative focusing on education for the 21st century. He has written or edited 56 books and over 100 articles and chapters, including Artificial Intelligence and Education in the Global South: A Systems Perspective; Educating Students to Improve the World, Schools, and Society During the COVID-19 Pandemic; Education to Build Back Better; Primary and Secondary Education During COVID-19; and University and School Collaborations During a Pandemic. He recently edited a special issue focused on education and the new challenges of democracy. He has also authored several children’s books focused on inclusive values.

As part of his commitment to advancing educational opportunity and international education, he serves on multiple advisory boards and committees at Harvard, particularly focused in advancing the global mission of the university and enhancing the effectiveness of the university’s programs to address climate change and to advance the internationalization of Harvard. He serves on Harvard’s University Committee of International Projects and Sites, on the executive board of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and of the Center for African Studies, is a faculty associate of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and of the Center for International Development. He also serves on the boards of a range of education organizations focused on the improvement of education and the promotion of peace, inclusion and sustainability, including the Fulbright Scholar Advisory Board.

He has served on the Harvard faculty since 1998. Previous to that he worked at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, the Harvard Institute for International Development and the World Bank.