About the Authors

Bong Gun Chung is a research fellow at the Institute of Education Research and also an instructor at the Global Education Cooperation Program of College of Education, Seoul National University. Since 2011 he has been involved in Korea’s education projects in Uganda, Rwanda, Haiti, Kenya, Botswana, and Lao PDR. Recently, he worked for the preparation of the World Education Forum 2015 at Incheon, Korea. He is originally from the Ministry of Education where he served for 30 years in policy areas such as education reform, HRD, and international cooperation. Mr. Chung also worked at the Permanent Delegation of Korea to the OECD, the World Bank Institute, and the KEDI. He graduated from Seoul Nation University with a BA in international relations, MA in political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and his doctoral degree at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in social foundation of education.

Jing Liu, currently, is Assistant Professor in Graduate School of International Development at Nagoya University, Japan. He graduated with a PhD in International Development in 2013 from Nagoya University. His research interests include sociology of education, ethnography of education, comparative education, policy analysis and development studies. Recently, he is conducting research on emerging donors’ philosophy and modalities in educational aid to developing countries, particularly on China as case study. He is also paying his efforts in study about dynamic practices in China’s rebalancing public education reform at compulsory education level.

Changsong Niu is an associate research fellow at Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University. She got her PhD in Comparative Education from Zhejiang University. Dr. Niu has expertise in African higher education, Educational aid and China-Africa educational cooperation. She has been a foreign visiting research fellow at the Nagoya University and a visiting scholar at the University of Zimbabwe and the University of Stellenbosch. She has traveled to several African countries including Kenya, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa to do the field work. Dr. Niu has undertaken some funded projects about China’s educational engagement with Africa, including “20 + 20 Cooperation Plan for Chinese and African Universities-China and Cameroon Cooperation in Economy, Education, Culture and Technology,” “China’s educational aid to Africa,” “The cultural influence of Confucius Institutes in Africa.” Her current research interests include African students in China, African Confucius Institutes and international education assistance to Africa.

Leon Tikly is Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol. He is visiting Professor at the Centre for Education Rights and Transformations, University of Johannesburg and at the Centre for International Teacher Education, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. Leon started his career as a science teacher in London schools and at a school for South African refugees in Tanzania. He worked as a policy researcher in South Africa during the transition from apartheid to democracy before moving first to the University of Birmingham and then to the University of Bristol. Leon’s main research interests include the development of global education policy, the quality of education in Africa and the achievement of disadvantaged groups in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Jandhyala B. G. Tilak is presently Professor and Vice-Chancellor at the National University of Educational Planning and Administration. Dr. Tilak was on the research and teaching faculty at University of Delhi, Indian Institute of Education, University of Virginia and the Hiroshima University (Japan), and is a Visiting Professor in Economics, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. He was also on the research staff of the World Bank. Prof. Tilak has authored/edited dozen books and about 300 research papers in the area of economics of education and development studies, published in reputed journals. Recipient of Swami Pranavananda Saraswati National Award of the UGC for his outstanding scholarly research in Education (1999), Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for distinguished research contributions to development studies (2003), Inspirational Teacher of the Year Global Education Award 2012 and Devang Menta award for excellence in education (2015). Dr. Tilak had a privilege of delivering a keynote address to a meeting of the Noble laureates in Barcelona in 2005. Prof. Tilak is the Editor of Journal of Educational Planning and Administration and is on the editorial board of several professional journals. Prof. Tilak served as Vice-President, and as President of the Comparative Education Society of India (2010–2012), and is on the Board of Directors of the Comparative Education Society of Asia.

James H. Williams, Ed.D. is Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in International Education and Development and Associate Professor of International Education and International Affairs at The George Washington University. Dr. Williams received his doctorate from Harvard University in international educational planning, administration, and policy. He has done extensive educational development work in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. He has worked at USAID in the Africa Bureau, taught at J.F. Oberlin University, Tokyo, and Ohio University, and currently serves as Director of GW’s International Education Program. He teaches classes in education and development. His research interests include education and conflict; education for marginalized and conflict-affected populations; decentralization and administrative reform; education and health, equity, and achievement in large cross-national data sets; and the internationalization of higher education. His recent research includes work in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia as well as Japan, and, several years ago, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

Shoko Yamada is Professor of comparative education and educational policy studies at the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan. She has conducted various researches on educational policy-making and implementation in Africa and Asia. One of her consistent research focuses is the discourse around global policies and agendas and the ways they are adapted at the national levels, from the colonial period to the present. Her publications include “Educational Borrowing as Negotiation: Reexamining the influence of American black industrial education model on British colonial education in Africa,” published in Comparative Education (Vol. 44, No. 1, 2008); Multiple Conceptions of Education for All and EFA Development Goals: The Processes of Adopting a Global Agenda in the Policies of Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia (VDM Publisher, 2010); and “Making Sense of the EFA from a National Context: Its Implementation, and Impact on Households in Ethiopia,” in Education for All: Global Promises, National Challenges, edited by Baker and Wiseman (Elsevier Science Ltd., 2007).

Kazuhiro Yoshida is Professor at Center for the Study of International Cooperation in Education, and Graduate School of International Development & Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Japan. He specializes in the research of education policy and reform in developing countries, education aid effectiveness, and skills development. He has recently served as co-vice chair, a regional representative of Asia and Pacific region, of Education for All Steering Committee which has led the process of formulating the post 2015 education agenda. He advises the government of Japan and JICA, an aid implementing agency, on the country’s aid policy and strategy in the education sector. He has an extensive experience in aid practices at the World Bank and JICA (former JBIC) with professional field experiences at more than 30 Asian, African and Latin American countries. He holds MPhil. in development studies, University of Sussex.