Prof. MMANTSETSA MAROPE Executive Director World Heritage Group Honorary President Indian Ocean Comparative and International Education Societies Professor Mmantsetsa Marope is the Executive Director of the World Heritage Group and Honorary President of the Indian Ocean Comparative and International Education Societies. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Chicago, a Masters degree in Education from Pennsylvania State University, and a BA from the University of Botswana and Swaziland. Her professional career includes: 11 years university professorship; 10 years at the World Bank; and 10 years in the United Nations. Her extensive experience includes: advisory and consultancy services to governments, regional economic communities, regional research networks, ministries of education, bilateral and multilateral agencies; management of international research capacity development networks and global inter-agency groups on diverse themes on global education and on early childhood care and development; membership in boards of diverse intellectual and technical groups; editor in chief of one of the worlds most prestigious journal of education: PROSPECTS; as well as founder and editor in chief of one of the most prestigious education and learning magazines: IBE INFOCUS. In recent years, she gained eminence as a global thought leader on futures education and learning; the future of education and work; and future competences all global citizens require to thrive in rapidly changing 21st century work and life contexts. She is an avid Advocate for advancing the engagement of the public and private sectors, especially in technology and the sciences, in shaping the future of education and learning, and in shaping the future through education and learning. She continues to lead global intellectual dialogue on ensuring that education and learning systems attain and sustain: credible scientific underpinnings; future development-relevance; agility to adapt; equitable quality; resource efficiency; technology-savvy; and sustainability. She strongly holds that these parameters of education and learning systems are an inescapable foundation for broad-based and future-forward human resources development, and for the long-term human capital accumulation required to assure every global citizen holistic development, equity of opportunities, and ultimately, fulfillment. Professor Marope calls for stronger private sector and foundation engagement in the transformation of education and learning systems into life-long-learning systems in their own right before they can be counted on to develop effective life-long-learners with agility to adapt and the resultant resilience for unpredictable futures. She holds that such transformation demands: 21st century education and learning systems to have capacity for better use of science, emerging technologies to address persisting challenges, and of big data to guide and even predict their futures; rigorous systemic diagnostics; research; foresight; and constant self-renewal. The transformation also demands normative and operational tools; financial, technical and political capital; as well as enabling institutional landscapes that currently do not exist. Professor Marope works relentlessly to develop normative and operational tools as well to garner the political, financial and technical capital required to attain and sustain future-forward education and learning systems. In future, she seeks to intensify engagement with the private sector, and foundations in convening and mobilizing global talent and intellectual pool; as well as the political, technical, technological, moral, ethical, and financial capital required to create institutions that can enable future transformation of education and learning systems, as well as the world of work that can genuinely serve all. Throughout her career, Professor Marope has built extensive experience at all levels and types of education, learning, and training systems. She is also highly experienced in the knowledge creation, brokerage and management required to underpin system transformation. Her publications cover a wide range of areas including: global norms and standard setting tools; system diagnostic tools; system prototypes; all sub-sectors of education, learning, and training systems; future global competences; education and development; capacity development; and award winning Setswana novels.