Dr George Papadopoulos

George Papadopoulos is the person most senior within the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with specialised responsibility for education and training matters. On his retirement this year he was Deputy Director of the Education Directorate which included responsibility for several specialised educational programmes including Institutional Management in Higher Education and Educational Building Programmes. He was also the most senior officer responsible for the QECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). Dr Papadopoulos' role in educational development throughout the OECD countries cannot be easily captured by mere reference to his official position. He began his professional life as a teacher in one-teacher school in Cyprus before coming to England to gain a first class honours degree in History at Exeter University (then University College). He took a doctorate from there in co-operation with the Institute for Historical Research in two years and this was later published. It was on the British presence in the near-east at the end of the nineteenth century. After various teaching and educational administration jobs he moved to the OECD.

It was he who helped to organise the first OECD meeting of science ministers in the 1960s. In 1968 he was instrumental in securing Ford Foundation and Dutch Shell money for the creation of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. He did so in the belief that, in the wake of the Paris events in May of that year and the turmoil throughout education systems at the time, the credibility of the OECD depended on responding to the mood of innovation and change that then prevailed.

The promotion and support of high level policy analysis have set the OECD apart from other international bodies in the educational field. The OECD is marked for its emphasis on reflection and analysis rather than rhetoric but is so framed as to be relevant to policy makers. The OECD has a distinctive focus which brings in economic, social and other broader considerations while avoiding a stance in which education is subservient to these other domains. The OECD has created several distinctive modes of action, under Papadopoulos' leadership, including the country review system, the international classification of educational systems and various major specialised continuing projects.

Dr Papadopoulos played a key role in a series of high level meetings, three of them of the OECD Ministers of Education that mirrored educational developments. These included the 1961 Conference on Education and Economic Growth in which the OECD played a significant role in developing the "education as investment" concept. OECD's work on educational growth, and its work on more recent changes in policy and practice, including the drive towards evaluation and towards high quality education were largely the result of his work.

He proved to be the most influential person in the OECD for ensuring the continuation of its independent role in the educational field. He is extremely wary of passing fads to everybody's benefit.

For 20 years he has therefore played a key role in leading policy makers from some 22 countries in thinking about education and its relation to social and economic policy. He is highly respected by senior officials and politicians in those countries and among the academics who work in these fields.

July 1991

	Brunel Home > ... > Honorary Graduates > 1991 > George Papadopoulos Dr George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos is the person most senior within the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with specialised responsibility for education and training matters. On his retirement this year he was Deputy Director of the Education Directorate which included responsibility for several specialised educational programmes including Institutional Management in Higher Education and Educational Building Programmes. He was also the most senior officer responsible for the QECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). Dr Papadopoulos' role in educational development throughout the OECD countries cannot be easily captured by mere reference to his official position. He began his professional life as a teacher in one-teacher school in Cyprus before coming to England to gain a first class honours degree in History at Exeter University (then University College). He took a doctorate from there in co-operation with the Institute for Historical Research in two years and this was later published. It was on the British presence in the near-east at the end of the nineteenth century. After various teaching and educational administration jobs he moved to the OECD. It was he who helped to organise the first OECD meeting of science ministers in the 1960s. In 1968 he was instrumental in securing Ford Foundation and Dutch Shell money for the creation of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. He did so in the belief that, in the wake of the Paris events in May of that year and the turmoil throughout education systems at the time, the credibility of the OECD depended on responding to the mood of innovation and change that then prevailed. The promotion and support of high level policy analysis have set the OECD apart from other international bodies in the educational field. The OECD is marked for its emphasis on reflection and analysis rather than rhetoric but is so framed as to be relevant to policy makers. The OECD has a distinctive focus which brings in economic, social and other broader considerations while avoiding a stance in which education is subservient to these other domains. The OECD has created several distinctive modes of action, under Papadopoulos' leadership, including the country review system, the international classification of educational systems and various major specialised continuing projects. Dr Papadopoulos played a key role in a series of high level meetings, three of them of the OECD Ministers of Education that mirrored educational developments. These included the 1961 Conference on Education and Economic Growth in which the OECD played a significant role in developing the "education as investment" concept. OECD's work on educational growth, and its work on more recent changes in policy and practice, including the drive towards evaluation and towards high quality education were largely the result of his work. He proved to be the most influential person in the OECD for ensuring the continuation of its independent role in the educational field. He is extremely wary of passing fads to everybody's benefit. For 20 years he has therefore played a key role in leading policy makers from some 22 countries in thinking about education and its relation to social and economic policy. He is highly respected by senior officials and politicians in those countries and among the academics who work in these fields. July 1991
1991 Terence Beckett Brooke Benjamin Maurice Kogan George Papadopoulos James Redmond Anton Stier Helen Suzman