José Luis García Garrido (1937 - )

Short Biography & Significant Contribution

José Luis García Garrido is Emeritus Professor of Comparative Education at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) in Madrid, Spain. He is also Academician of the Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea (Salzburg, Austria), after having served as its vice-president for several years.

Born in 1937 in Azuaga, Badajoz (Spain), he obtained the Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Philosophy and Education in the Complutense University of Madrid. He worked for some years in a secondary school of Vizcaya, as a teacher and member of the governing board. In 1965 he went to Rome (Italy) to pursue his doctoral studies and in 1968 obtained the Ph.D. in Philosophy and Education in the Universidad de Navarra, Spain.

García Garrido has taught at various Spanish universities - the University of Barcelona, Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Navarra and UNED - as well as at several institutions abroad. He has also held several positions at the Spanish Ministry of Education and provided consultancy services to international organizations such as UNESCO, OECD, Council of Europe and the European Union.

He has been particularly involved in the fields of comparative and international education as well as educational reforms and evaluation of the education systems internationally. Professor García Garrido has headed over 20 research programs and has supervised 48 PhD theses. He has visited many countries worldwide to study their educational systems, to elaborate studies and evaluation reports for international organizations and research institutions, to advise governments, and to participate in numerous international conferences and congresses. Elected Vice-President of the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) in 1981, he later became its President from 1985 to 1988. He also served as President of the Sociedad Española de Educación Comparada (SEEC), and was a member of the Congress Standing Committee of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES). He belongs to several other international and national academic associations, as well as to the editorial advisory board of several international and Spanish journals and reviews. He has also been the Editor of several major educational journals, and is currently the Editor of the Revista Española de Educación Comparada.

His written works include 25 books and about 300 studies and articles in international and Spanish specialist journals, such as Revista Española de Pedagogía and Perspectivas Pedagógicas (Spain), Comparative Education and Compare (UK),Persoon en Gemenenschap and Paedagogica Historica (Belgium), Comparative Education Review and European Education(USA), Ricerca pedagogica and Rinascita della Scuola (Italy), Rocznik Pedagogiczny (Poland), Bildung und Erziehung(Germany), Prospects (UNESCO), and Higher Education Management (OECD).

Professor García Garrido has received several awards and distinctions, including the Gran Cruz de Alfonso X el Sabio (Spain) and the Chevalier de l'Ordre de Leopolde II (Belgium).

Educational Background

Diploma of Musical Theory, Piano and Composition, Seville (1954)

Teacher's Diploma for Primary Education, Granada (1955)

Bachelor's & Master's Degrees (Licenciatura) in Philosophy and Education, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (1960)

Ph.D. in Philosophy and Education, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona (1968)

Professional Background

Associate Professor of History of Education, University of Barcelona (1969-1970)

Professor of Education, Autonomous University of Barcelona (1970-1981)

Spanish Ministry of Education, Madrid: General Deputy Director for Universities and General Secretary (1972-1973); General Secretary (1973-1974)

International Project Director, UNESCO, Buenos Aires (1975-1978)

Professor of Comparative Education, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid (1981-2007); Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs (1987-1991)

Visiting Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, USA (1991-1992)

Director of the Instituto Nacional de Calidad y Evaluación (INCE), Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture (1996-1998)

President of the School Council of the Autonomous Community of Madrid (2002-2004)

Visiting Professor of Comparative Education, University of Texas at Austin and University of Houston, USA (2005-2006).

Affiliations (associations, organizations, institutions)

Sociedad Española de Educación Comparada, Vice-President (1984-1996), President (1996-2000), Member of the Executive Borrad (2000-2007)

Comparative Education Society in Europe, Vice-President (1981-1985), President (1985-1988)

World Council of Comparative Education Societies, Member of the Board and President of the Congress Standing Committee (1988-1992)

Comparative and International Education Society, Member (1996 - )

Sociedad Española de Pedagogía (1970 - )

Sociedad Española de Historia de la Educación (1980 - )

Selected Publications

García Garrido, J.L. (1982, 1986, 1991): Fundamentos de Educación Comparada. Madrid: Dykinson. (also in Rumanian and Chinese; an English translation is underway).

García Garrido, J.L. (1982, 1986, 1992): Problemas Mundiales de la Educación. Madrid: Dykinson.

García Garrido, J.L. (1984, 1987, 1993, 2005): Sistemas Educativos de Hoy. Madrid: Ed. Académicas.

García Garrido, J.L. (1986, 1987 and 1988): Primary Education on the Threshold of the Twenty-first Century. Paris, UNESCO. (also French and Spanish).

García Garrido, J.L. (1987): 'Methodological Approaches in Comparative Education'. Compare, 17(1), 29-38.

García Garrido, J.L, García F. & Velloso, A. (1989): La Educación en Europa: Reformas y Perspectivas de Futuro. Madrid: Cincel. García Garrido, J.L. & Brunner, J.J. (Eds.) (1992): National Systems of Higher Education, vol. I. In B.R. Clark & G.R. Neave (General Eds.), Encyclopedia of Higher Education (4 vols.). Oxford: Pergamon.

García Garrido, J.L. (1996): Diccionario Europeo de la Educación. Madrid: Dykinson.

García Garrido, J.L. (1997): 'La Educación Comparada en una Sociedad Global'. Revista Española de Educación Comparada, 3, 61-81.

García Garrido, J.L. (1998): Elementos para un diagnóstico del sistema educativo español (also in English: Elements for a Diagnosis of the Spanish Educational System. Global Report.). Madrid: INCE.

García Garrido, J.L. (2005): Temas candentes de la educación en el siglo XXI. Madrid: EDIASA.

García Garrido, J.L. (2006): La máquina de la educación: preguntas y respuestas sobre el sistema educativo. Barcelona: Ariel.

Created: 7/31/2009

Updated: 8/2/2009

Contributed By: J.L. García Garrido, University of Barcelona