Francesc Pedró García

Francesc Pedró García is an innovator in the field of adult and continuing education, with a particular emphasis in policymaking. In academia, his influence is evident in his numerous, widely cited works on policy and on the use of technology in lifelong learning. Outside of scholarship, his expansion of UNESCO education policy reviews to incorporate a lifelong learning perspective has shaped the field in developing countries. But it is Pedró’s pathbreaking pedagogical design for the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, the first European university to operate solely online, that has remained a major inspiration and reference point worldwide for the field of adult education and lifelong learning.

In 1994, when the Barcelona-based Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) was launched as an online-only, distance learning university, the Internet was in its early years. The university’s founders dreamed that the institution would provide access to higher education to adults in their native language, Catalan. The founders’ vision was to provide high-quality higher and continuous education through the Internet that would reach anyone equipped with a modem.

As part of the leading team, Pedró came up with and implemented a highly innovative pedagogical design intended to dramatically decrease dropouts. His plan consisted of three major parts: multimedia educational resources, a virtual campus (the first time this expression was used in Spain), and highly supportive tutoring systems. Pedró’s pedagogical design expanded rapidly to other public universities in Spain and later across Europe, transforming the way distance teaching was approached. UOC has continued to grow since Pedró’s departure and today offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in a variety of fields in Catalan, Spanish, and English. The university remains a prime example of the successful use of technology to provide lifelong learning opportunities to adults.

Pedró joined UNESCO in 2011, working first in education policy and then, since 2019, as director for the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. In these roles, Pedró has continued to advocate for and to further opportunities for lifelong learning for all. In particular, he designed and implemented UNESCO’s lifelong learning policy reviews in select developing countries, including Albania, Honduras, Malaysia, Sudan, and Zambia. At a time when these countries were solely focusing on providing basic education, he promoted a lifelong learning approach. The implementation of policy reviews with a lifelong learning perspective strives to dramatically increase national capacities in public policymaking in education in these countries.

Pedró has published widely on the topics of public policy and lifelong learning, particularly in terms of technology-supported innovations and their influence in access to education throughout life. His publications include dozens of peer-reviewed articles in journals including Comparative Education, Higher Education Policy, and Education Policy Archives. His books include, for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Inspired by Technology, Driven by Pedagogy: A Systematic Approach to Technology-Based School Innovations (2010) and Connected Minds: Technology and Today’s Learners (2012); and for UNESCO, Activating Policy Levers for Education 2030: The Untapped Potential of Governance, School Leadership, and Monitoring and Evaluation Policies (2018).