My friend and colleague Bob Cowen, who has died aged 84 following a heart attack, was emeritus professor of comparative education at the Institute of Education, University College London.
He became a leading light in the development of this particular field of study, in which social science is used to analyse and compare educational systems and explore how they relate to wider social and global factors. Bob helped to shift comparative research away from describing similarities and differences towards a focus on the “transfer, translation and transformation” of educational ideas and policies, and how educational systems navigate global influences.
