“Creating Education Systems that Deliver: Education’s Role in Catalyzing Economic Development and Growth” lecture by Dr. Eduardo Bustillo

As one of the “World Bank and the Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) series, on December 27th 2021, Dr. Eduardo Bustillo, the current World Bank sector manager, gave a lecture on the theme “Creating Education Systems that Deliver”. Dr. Eduardo discussed how education has evolved internationally, from the conferences of Addis Ababa in the 1960s, Jomtien in 1990, to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2000 to 2015, and the Sustainable Development Goals from 2015 to 2030.

He pointed out that the MDG was a policy framework that came out of the gradual improvement of developing countries, and that SDG 4 is a wonderful goal, but it is too ambitious to achieve. Based on Dr. Eduardo’s actual experience, “when the client is in the driver’s seat, it is the best time for UN agencies and NGOs to support countries. Because we can’t go further than where the clients want to go”. He also shared his working experiences in Uganda, Mexico, and China, and demonstrated why projects and meetings in those countries are successful and relevant to the role of the client countries.

In the 21st century, “learning outcome” will become an essential element of international education policy, and that it will become important to build a system of national and international learning assessment. Finally, he stated that we should increase investment in the most profitable levels of education and change the slogan from “Education for All” to “Education for Some”, those that need the most. Dr. Eduardo’s lecture and the subsequent discussion with students provided a meaningful opportunity to learn more about the importance of investing in education and how the World Bank staff work in developing countries.

Authored by: Kohei Uno (Master Student)