HSE University Researchers Analyse Education Policy in Fifty Countries
By 2030, the global education system will need 44 million new teachers. Schools have already started rehiring retired teachers and issuing licenses for accelerated programmes. Experts from the HSE University Institute of Education have analysed the educational policies of almost 50 countries and published the report ‘World Education Policy—2025.’
Today, schools are expected to provide much more than lessons. In different countries, the institution provides meals, career guidance, supports children's mental health, and fights absenteeism, which has increased dramatically since the pandemic. In these circumstances, the shortage of teachers is particularly acute.
Nadezhda Knyaginina
Artificial intelligence in schools has moved beyond the experimental stage, but there is no uniform approach to it. The EU introduces risk-based regulation and requires AI literacy from employees, the United States relies on partnerships with universities and tech companies, while China integrates AI comprehensively—from educational programmes to school management. ‘No one has yet determined who will teach children how to work with AI at school. However, the countries are unanimous on the smartphone usage. About a third of them have already restricted the use of phones in schools, while Denmark has imposed a complete ban since 2026,’ said Nadezhda Knyaginina, Research Fellow at the HSE Education Law Laboratory.
Academic mobility has also changed. The UK, Canada, and Australia have simultaneously tightened migration rules for students, while new centres of attraction are emerging in the Middle East and East Asia.
In the United States, the Trump administration has started the de facto dismantling of the Department of Education through staff cuts and the transfer of functions to other departments, while increasing pressure on universities. The authors of the report see this as an example of how quickly political polarisation can reformat an entire system.
The countries also invest in adult retraining and the development of microqualifications and digital vouchers, but these primarily cover those who are ready to study. People with poor skills are the least likely to participate in the programmes created for them. This paradox can be observed in most countries, and no one has proposed a convincing solution yet.
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