2026 Theses Doctoral

The World Economic Forum in Global Education Governance: Legitimacy, Script Formation, and National Translation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Henderson, Kevin A.

This dissertation examines the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) expanding role in global education governance. The WEF lacks treaty authority, formal enforcement power, and member states, yet it has become increasingly visible in education discourse by building legitimacy in the global education field and circulating a branded policy script through publications, partnerships, and elite convening. The dissertation is organized as three empirical articles that analyze (1) the WEF’s legitimacy-building and positioning alongside incumbent education authorities, (2) the organizational assembly and stabilization of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) as a policy script linking technology, the economy, and education, and (3) the national translation and institutional interpretation of 4IR language in India.

Article 1 draws on 118 WEF education publications (1998–2024), Davos participation data for 12,587 Annual Meeting delegates (2013–2020), and official programs and speaker materials. It shows that the WEF aligns its education discourse with central institutions, especially UNESCO and the OECD, and rearticulates established language on equity, quality, and competencies toward skills, employability, public–private partnerships, and digital transformation. Davos operates as a field-configuring venue in which participation concentrates among corporations, finance and economy officials, elite universities, and global media, while education ministries remain marginal. This participation pattern supports the conversion of convening capacity into symbolic authority for an industry-oriented education framing.

Article 2 uses 13 elite interviews and thematic analysis of 123 WEF publications (2016–2024) to trace script formation inside the organization. It finds that the 4IR concept entered the WEF through identifiable carriers and was consolidated by staff into a branded framework, with expert councils functioning primarily as public-facing endorsement. Across publications, the script stabilizes around crisis and urgency, skills-first reform, and business-led delivery through multistakeholder partnerships, positioning education as labor-market adaptation.

Article 3 analyzes NEP 2020 and NDEAR and draws on nineteen interviews with senior leaders across ten higher-education institutions in five Indian states. It shows that both policy texts contain recognizable 4IR themes, but they present them through domestic policy language, including narratives of national renewal and indigenous reform, rather than through direct adoption of a WEF template. It also shows that NDEAR translates ‘future readiness’ into a governance approach centered on digital platforms, interoperability, and coordination across actors, with early implementation concentrated in digital infrastructure and administrative systems. Interviewees most often describe the 4IR in terms of technology adoption, employability, and national development, and they report uneven uptake shaped by institutional capacity, state-level politics, and incentive structures within higher education.

The dissertation contributes systematic education-focused evidence on the WEF as a hybrid international organization; advances analysis of script formation inside international organizations; and extends neo-institutionalist accounts by demonstrating how legitimacy pressures and field incumbency shape international organizations themselves.