APRIL 1, 2025 
Tuesday, 509 O’Brian Hall
4:30 to 6:00pm

In the presentation, Mundy will first provide an overview of different paradigms for thinking about global governance; and consider the forces driving educational change in today’s world. She will take a look at the busy world of global governance in education, reflecting on how the major actors, such as the World Bank, UNESCO, civil society, NGOs, foundations and businesses shape educational change. She will also reflect on the Sustainable Development Goals, and their role in shaping the futures of education. The lecture will conclude with some reflections on changing needs for international leadership and research in the context of major challenges to education and its futures. 

Biography: Karen Mundy is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Professor Mundy’s award-winning research is focused on the politics of international cooperation in education, the work of international organizations and transnational actors, and on educational reform and educational leadership in sub-Saharan Africa. She served as President of the Comparative Education Society (2014-2015) and as Chief Technical Officer of the Global Partnership for Education (2014-2018).  She is a member of the UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education, and co-author of the commission’s report “Re-imagining our futures together: Towards a new social contract for education”. Her early career was spent as a teacher, researcher and consultant in East and Southern Africa.