Talking about international education in a disrupted world

In the May 2023 edition of the ITM Podcast, Nalini Cook of and Mansoor Ahmed, two of the most respected observers of the international school scene talk to Andy Homden about the post-pandemic world of international education and the changes already shaping its future.

They agree: although international schools have faced real challenges in the early 2020s, a new paradigm for international education is emerging from a badly disrupted world and it is charged for growth.

Mega-projects, the realignment of geo-politics, the rise of the digital nomad and the increasing mobility of a new and aspirational middle classes in growing economies are all contributing. 

Mansoor Ahmed is the Executive Director (Middle East and Africa) at Colliers International. Based in Dubai, he is the Head of Development Solutions in the areas of Real Estate, Education, Healthcare and PPP. He leads a team of over 30 experienced advisors and has been responsible for the completion of more than a thousand individual projects throughout the region in the last 20 years. After an early career as a research economist he made the move to the business world with Arthur Anderson and then EY. Now as a senior member of the Colliers team, he is a sought after commentator on the links between regional development, education and health.

Nalini Cook is the Head of Global Research at ISC Research, and heads the team analysing and commenting on the growth of the international schools market worldwide. A graduate of Lancaster University where she also took her Masters, her wide-ranging international career and long-term work at ISC Research has given her the kind of global insight and understanding of international education that makes her analysis of developments in the international school sector so highly valued in both the business and education worlds.

Talking about - the ITM Podcast is recorded and produced by sound solution expert Jason Lasky