Born in 1937 in Azuaga, Badajoz (Spain), José Luis García Garrido is Emeritus Professor of Comparative and International Education at the the Department of History of Education and Comparative Education, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), in Madrid (National Open University).
After obtaining a Master Degree (Licenciatura) in Philosophy and Education from 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 continue his studies at doctoral level and obtained in 1968 the PhD (Doctorado) in Philosophy and Education (Universidad de Navarra, Spain).
In 1969 he was appointed by the University of Barcelona (Department of Education), and shortly after, obtained his tenure as Associate Professor (Profesor Adjunto) of History of Education. One year later he was transferred to the newly-created Autonomous University of Barcelona, where in 1971 he obtained, through a national and open competitive examination, the post of Full Professor (Catedrático).Between 1972 and 1974 he occupied different positions in the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, in Madrid: the post of General Deputy Director for Universities and the post of General Secretary.
In 1974 the Director-General of UNESCO appointed him as International Project Director in Buenos Aires (Argentina).
In 1978 he rejoined the Autonomous University of Barcelona, continuing his relationships with UNESCO as a consultant. In 1981 he moved to the National Open Univesity (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia) as Head of the Department of Comparative Education and History of Education. Between 1987 and 1991 he served as Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs in the University. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University (USA) appointed him as Visiting Professor during the academic year 1991-92. Between 1996 and 1998 he was Director of the National Institute for Quality and Evaluation (Instituto Nacional de Calidad y Evaluación, INCE), at the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture. From 2002 to 2003 he served as the President of the School Council of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. From 2005 to 2006 he was Visiting Professor of the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Austin.
During all these years, he collaborated with many international organisations (UNESCO, OECD, Council of Europe, IEA, etc.), as well as with many Spanish organisations devoted to the evaluation of teachers, programmes and school and university institutions (ANECA, ACAP, etc.).
Prof. García Garrido has extensive expertise and research in the field of comparative and international education as well as in the fields of educational reforms and the evaluation of education systems at the international level. More than 20 research programs have been headed by him, and 48 PhD theses have been completed under his supervision so far.
He has visited a great number of countries all over the world to study their educational systems, to elaborate studies, tasks of evaluation and reports for international organisations and research institutions, to advise governments, to participate in international conferences and congresses, and to deliver lectures. Elected Vice President of the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) in 1981, he became its President in the period 1985-1988. He was also President of the "Sociedad Española de Pedagogía Comparada" (now Past-President), and a member 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 director of several major educational journals, and at present he is the Editor of the Revista Española de Educación Comparada (the Spanish Journal of Comparative Education).
He is a member of the Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea (with its headquerters in Salzburg, Austria) and he has received several awards and distinctions, such as the Gran Cruz de Alfonso X el Sabio (Spain) and the Chevalier de l’Ordre de Leopolde II (Belgique).
His written works include twenty three books and about three hundred studies and articles in international and Spanish specialised 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).
Among his books, the following could be pointed up:
- Pedagogía Prospectiva (Prospective Education), Zaragoza, 1979;
- Fundamentos de Educación Comparada (Foundations of Comparative Education), Madrid, 1982, 1986 and 1991, translated into Roumanian and Chinese (an English translation is being prepared at present);
- Problemas mundiales de la educación (World Problems in Education), Madrid, 1982, 1986, 1992;
- Sistemas educativos de hoy (Education Systems of Today), Madrid, 1984, 1987, 1993, 2005;
- Primary Education on the Threshold of the Twenty-first Century (in English, French and Spanish), Paris, Unesco, 1986, 1987 and 1988;
- La Educación en Europa: reformas y perspectivas de futuro (Education in Europe: Reforms and Prospects), Madrid, 1989;
- National Systems of Higher Education (editor with J.J. Brunner), Vol. I, Encyclopedia of Higher Education, Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1992;
- Reformas educativas en Europa (Educational Reforms in Europe), Madrid, 1994;
- Diccionario Europeo de la Educación (European Dictionary of Education), Madrid, 1996;
- Elementos para un diagnóstico del sistema educativo español (also published in English with the tittle of Elements for a Diagnosis of the Spanish Educational System), Madrid, INCE, 1998;
- La Sociedad Educadora (Society as Educator), Madrid, Fundación Independiente, 2000;
- Formar Europeos (Forming up Europeans), Madrid, AECYA, 2004;
- Temas candentes de la educación en el siglo XXI (Live topics of education in the XXIst century), Madrid, EDIASA, 2005;
- La máquina de la educación: Preguntas y respuestas sobre el sistema educativo, Madrid, Ariel, 2006.