Maia Chankseliani is Professor of Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford and 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 recent 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 in various parts of the world.
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 project 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. A number of outputs from the project are already published, with further work forthcoming. These include a policy-focused opinion piece in Nature (2025), a special issue on the Ripple Effect of student mobility (2024), and peer-reviewed articles in World Development and other journals. New publications will continue to appear on the project website.
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.
At Oxford, Maia convenes the Comparative and International Education Research Group. From 2017 to 2024, she led the department’s MSc in Comparative and International Education, during which time the course expanded significantly in both reach and reputation.
She is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Educational Research and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Education and Development Forum (UKFIET). She also serves as a Trustee of the University of Bahrain.
She has worked on a number of externally funded research projects and consultancies involving UK government departments responsible for education and skills, UKRI/ESRC, the British Council, the World Bank, Qatar Foundation, and the European Commission, supporting both academic and policy development. Her background in academia, policy-making, and consultancy—across a range of international contexts—enriches her ability to connect research with practical application. She regularly engages with governments and international audiences, contributes to policy debates, and her work is frequently featured in global media outlets.
Born and raised in Georgia, Maia holds degrees from Tbilisi State University, University of Warwick, Harvard University, and the University of Cambridge.
