Global Education Series
Global Education Series
Conferences • Online Events
Our Global Education & Skills Forum brings together world leaders from the public, private and social sectors. Find news of the latest events here.
EducationEquityEmployment
Past partners
Past partners
GESF Impact: 24 August 2021
World leaders commit to action on girls' education, following GESF event

Highlights

Highlights
Building The Bandwidth
Highlights
Global Student Summit
Highlights
Global Education & Skills Forum
2019
Highlights
Global Education & Skills Forum
2018
Highlights
Global Education & Skills Forum
2017
Highlights
Global Education & Skills Forum
2016

Featured Sessions

GESF Logo
GESF Changemaker

Steven Pinker

Thought leader
ScienceLanguage
GESF Logo
GESF Coffee House

Priyanka Chopra-Jonas

Award-winning actress
Inspirational StoriesThe Arts
GESF Logo
GESF Changemaker

Andreas Schleicher

Global education expert
Big dataEducation reform
GESF Logo
GESF Changemaker

Julius Maada Bio

President of Sierra Leone
Education reformDevelopment

Latest Events

GESF Logo
Building The Bandwidth
July 2021
Girls' EducationDigital Skills
GESF Logo
Global Student Summit
May 2021
Higher EdReform

Education, equity & employment

The Global Education & Skills Forum (GESF) brings together world leaders from the public, private and social sectors to seek solutions to achieve education, equity and employment for all. GESF is an initiative of the Varkey Foundation, a global education charity.

Known as the "Davos of education," GESF provides the international community with a platform for collaboration and problem solving on key education issues. From 2016-2019, the Varkey Foundation convened GESF as a series of conferences in Dubai, UAE. Participants included presidents, prime ministers, education ministers, senior government officials, leading tech companies, celebrities, teachers and students. Today, GESF continues online as a series of remote events that continue to connect world leaders on education. 


GESF In numbers*
Delegates
Delegates

1,500+

Programming
Programming

125 hours

Ministers
Ministers

40+

* Figures for 2019 (last physical conference)

Past Partners

Past partners

Key Speakers

Julius Maada Bio

President of Sierra Leone

Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Actress

Taron Egerton

Actor

Mo Farah

Athlete

Thomas Friedman

Political commentator and author

Stefania Giannini

Assistant Director-General, UNESCO

Julia Gillard

Chair, Global Partnership for Education

Al Gore

Former Vice President, USA

Tariq Al Gurg

CEO, Dubai Cares

Lewis Hamilton

F1 Champion

Wladimir Klitschko

Former boxer and philanthropist

Steven Pinker

Researcher, psychology and cognitive science

Jaime Saavedra

Head of Education Global Practice, The World Bank

Simon Schama

Historian, Columbia University

Andreas Schleicher

Director for Education and Skills, OECD

Charlize Theron

Actress