The Department of International & Transcultural Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University congratulates Dr. Tomás Esper (Ph.D. ’24, Comparative & International Education) on his appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Theories of Education and Social Pedagogy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) this September.
Dr. Esper is also a Junior Researcher with the GEPS (Globalisation, Education and Social Policies) group, where his work lies at the intersection of policy studies, the politics of education, and comparative and international education. His research focuses on policy transfer and education governance reform in Latin America, with particular attention to education privatisation, the role of international organisations, and the influence of non-state actors as agents of policy change.
During his doctoral studies at Teachers College, Dr. Esper examined the diffusion of the global reform of School Autonomy with Accountability across Latin America. Combining institutional theory and policy transfer research with historical analysis, he analysed the origins and spread of the SAWA in the region while focusing on the cases of Argentina and Colombia. In his first article, Dr. Esper showed how Colombia’s adoption of SAWA policies was closely intertwined with educational decentralization processes vis-a-vis a fierce dispute upon educational control in the country. Then, his second publication featured the complex dynamics of knowledge use and lesson-drawing in education policy. His recent publication, Not everything learned is transferred: Unravelling knowledge use and lesson-drawing behind school autonomy with accountability reforms in Colombia (Globalisation, Societies and Education, 2025), builds on this work. He is also co-author of New philanthropy and education policy in Argentina and Brazil: States, elites and education reform (Brill, 2025), which explores the role of elite actors and philanthropy in shaping education reform.
Currently, Dr. Esper contributes to the EDUTRACE project at UAB, led by Antoni Verger and Mauro Moschetti, which investigates the evolution of education policy within the quality assurance reform cycle (2000–2025). The project focuses on curriculum, teacher policies, and assessment, and examines how these reforms interact with broader social demands for equity, innovation, and inclusion.
In recognition of his scholarly contributions, Dr. Esper was awarded the Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Fellowship in May 2025, one of Spain’s most prestigious fellowships, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Sponsored by Professor Antoni Verger, the fellowship supports the integration of promising researchers into Spanish universities.
Through his teaching in comparative education and education policy at UAB’s School of Education, and his continued research collaborations with international organizations such as UNESCO, ECLAC, and NORRAG, Dr. Esper plans to continue advancing scholarship on the politics of education reform in Latin America while contributing to international debates on equity, governance, and innovation in education.
Learn more about Dr. Esper’s work on his ResearchGate profile and GEPS page!