Speakers
24th IB Asia Pacific Annual Regional Conference
25 – 28 March 2010, Singapore
An internationally known scholar, James Tooley is Professor of Education Policy at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. He was the founding President of The Education Fund, Orient Global from 2007 to 2009, and the founder of the E. G. West Centre at the University. For his ground-breaking research on private education for the poor in India, China and Africa, Professor Tooley was awarded gold prize in the first International Finance Corporation/Financial Times Private Sector Development Competition in September 2006.
Prior to joining Newcastle University, Professor Tooley previously taught and researched at the Universities of Oxford and Manchester, England; Simon Fraser University, Canada; and University of the Western Cape, South Africa. His PhD is from the Institute of Education, University of London. His first job was a mathematics high school teacher in Zimbabwe.
He has been described in Philanthropy as “a 21st century Indiana Jones” travelling to “the remotest regions on Earth researching something that many regard as mythical: private, parent-funded schools serving the Third World poor.” His work has been widely covered in publications including Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly to London’s Financial Times, Spectator, and Independent. His work has been featured in a PBS documentary, alongside the work of Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus, and a documentary for the BBC.
