Fernando Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education and Director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative at Harvard University. 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 was a member of the advisory committee of the UN Education Summit. 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.
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 45 books and over 100 articles and chapters, including Education to Build Back Better, Primary and Secondary Education during COVID-19, and University and School collaborations during a pandemic. He has also authored several children’s books focused on inclusive values.
As part of his commitment to advancing educational opportunity, 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. 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. 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.
Fernando has been a friend for several decades. I respect Fernando as my own mentor given the quality and scope of his activity regarding global education, particularly in the creation of Global Education Innovation Initiative. We both spoke at each other's conferences over the years, and we have also interacted on a variety of projects; the most noteworthy one led to the creation of a significant gap year beginning in 2007, Thinking Beyond Borders (TBB). This occurred when Fernando introduced me to Robin Pendoley and several of his peace corps volunteers, his students who had returned to pursue their master’s at The Harvard Graduate School of Education.
They were seeking a way to create a vital experience for graduating high school students and I became their first advisor. The program took students to destinations around the globe with service projects dedicated to addressing themes that ranged from environmental degradation to poverty, health, and malnutrition.
From their mission statement -The global community faces complex challenges that require more than simple responses.
Thinking Beyond Borders provided the skills and experience needed to help gap year students find sustainable solutions, living alongside local families and learning from local leaders, students joined communities where young people found their voices and prepared for lives of informed social action.
They chose the name of their initiative, Thinking Beyond Borders, from the mantra that I had chosen for my Tufts Institute – Thinking Beyond Boundaries: Acting Across Borders.
TBB closed down after the impact of several Covid years and I remained in contact with Robin, who is a member of Convisero mentors.
I was pleased to see a number of my Tuft’s graduating seniors join his programs to secure their Masters.