Maia Chankseliani is Professor of Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford where she leads the Comparative and International Education Research Group and serves as a Governing Body Fellow of St Edmund Hall.
Her research explores the public role of tertiary education in diverse settings, examining how universities contribute to social, economic, and political development, and how international engagement shapes both institutions and societies.
Her monograph, What Happened to the Soviet University? (OUP, 2022), offers insights that speak beyond the former Soviet context, shedding light on contemporary global debates around academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and the changing nature of state-university relations. The book has attracted attention from academic, policy, and civil society audiences internationally.
Maia recently completed a major international study, International Mobility and World Development, funded by the U.S. Department of State. This was the first global mixed-methods study to examine how international education contributes to societal development. Emerging findings have informed policy dialogue, providing evidence for the developmental value of mobility in areas such as poverty reduction, education and health systems, gender equality, and civic life. Project outputs are available on the designated webpage.
Her earlier work on higher education and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains among the most widely cited in the field. The special issue Higher Education and the Sustainable Development Goals (2021) helped shape global debates on how universities can contribute to development beyond narrow human capital metrics. This work advanced a more expansive and context-sensitive understanding of development, integrating rights-based, capabilities, and critical perspectives.
She engages with governments, public bodies, and multilateral institutions through externally funded research and policy-facing work across the UK, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the USA, East Asia, Europe, and the Gulf, contributing analytical expertise, strategic advice, and evidence-informed input into programme and system design. Her work is recognised for its analytical clarity, empirical depth, and ability to inform decision-making in complex and politically sensitive environments.
She has held editorial leadership roles, helping to shape journal strategies with attention to global representation, intellectual diversity, and the implications of AI-enabled practices for academic publishing. She is regularly invited to contribute expert commentary and public-facing writing on higher education and global development.
Born and raised in Georgia, Maia holds degrees from Tbilisi State University, University of Warwick, Harvard University, and the University of Cambridge.
