Abbreviations
| AASU | All-African Students’ Union |
| ACE | Africa Centres of Excellence |
| ACER | Australian Council for Educational Research |
| Action4SD | Action for Sustainable Development |
| ADB | Asian Development Bank |
| ADEA | Association for the Development of Education in Africa |
| AEGEE | Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de l’Europe |
| ANP | Awami National Party |
| ASA | Asia Students’ and Youth Association |
| ASPBAE | Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education |
| ATD4th World | All Together in Dignity Fourth World |
| AU | African Union |
| BEST | Best Education Statistics for Improved Learning |
| °C | Degrees Celsius |
| CAMPE | Campaign for Popular Education |
| CANAE | Confederación Estatal de Asociaciones de Estudiantes |
| CARICOM | Caribbean Community |
| Cedefop | Centre Européen pour le Développement de la Formation Professionnelle [European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training] |
| CESR | Center for Economic and Social Rights |
| CFS | Canadian Federation of Students |
| CI | Confidence interval |
| CIA | Central Intelligence Agency (US) |
| CLADE | Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación [Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education] |
| CO2 | Carbon dioxide |
| CONFEMEN | Conférence des ministres de l’Éducation des États et gouvernements de la Francophonie [Conference of the Ministers of Education of French-speaking countries] |
| COP21 | Conference of Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Paris, 2015 |
| COSATU | Congress of South African Trade Unions |
| CPD | Continuing professional development |
| CRPD | Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities |
| CSA | Commonwealth Students Association |
| CSO | Civil society organisation |
| CUE | Center for Universal Education, Brookings Institution |
| DBE | Department of Basic Education |
| DESD | UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development |
| DFAT | Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) |
| DFID | Department for International Development (United Kingdom) |
| DoE | Department of Education |
| DOI | Digital Object Identifier |
| ECCE | Early childhood care and education |
| ECE | Early childhood education |
| ECHO | European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations |
| ECOSOC | United Nations Economic and Social Council |
| ECW | Education Cannot Wait |
| EDS | European Democrat Students |
| EF | Ecological footprint |
| EFA | Education for All |
| EFA-FTI | Education for All Fast Track Initiative |
| EGRA | Early Grade Reading Assessment |
| EI | Education International |
| EMI | English as a medium of instruction |
| ESCAP | United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific |
| ESD | Education for Sustainable Development |
| ESIB | European Students’ Information Bureau |
| ESP | Education Sector Plan |
| ESRC | Economic and Social Research Council (UK) |
| ESU | European Students’ Union |
| EU | European Union |
| FDI | Foreign direct investment |
| FFA | Education 2030 Framework for Action |
| FfD | Financing for Development |
| FTI | Education for All Fast Track Initiative |
| GAD | Gender and Development |
| GAML | Global Alliance to Monitor Learning |
| GCE | Global Campaign for Education |
| GDP | Gross Domestic Product |
| GEFI | Global Education First Initiative |
| GEM | Global Education Monitoring |
| GEMR | Global Education Monitoring Report |
| GER | Gross Enrolment Ratio |
| GERM | Global Education Reform Movement |
| GI-ESCR | Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights |
| GIZ | Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit |
| GLM | Global learning metrics |
| GNH | Gross National Happiness |
| GNI | Gross National Income |
| GNP | Gross National Product |
| GoJ | Government of Japan |
| GoKP | Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| GoP | Government of Pakistan |
| GoS | Government of Sindh |
| GPE | Global Partnership for Education |
| GPI | Gender Parity Index |
| GSC | Education 2030 Global Steering Committee |
| GSV | Global Student Voice |
| HCETSR | High Council for Education, Training, and Scientific Research |
| HCI | Human Capital Index |
| HEC | Higher Education Commission |
| HLP | High-Level Plan |
| HLPF | High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development |
| HRW | Human Rights Watch |
| IADB | Inter-American Development Bank |
| IAEG-SDGs | Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators |
| IAG-EII | Inter-Agency Group on Educational Inequality Indicators |
| ICAE | International Council on Adult Education |
| ICC | International Cooperation Cambodia |
| ICIJ | International Consortium of Investigative Journalists |
| ICQN/TVSD | Inter-Country Quality Node on Technical and Vocational Skills Development |
| ICSU | International Council for Science |
| ICT | Information Communications Technology |
| ICTD | International Centre for Tax and Development |
| IEA | International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement |
| IEAG | Independent Expert Advisory Group |
| IFAD | International Fund for Agricultural Development |
| IFFEd | International Financing Facility for Education |
| IIEP | International Institute for Educational Planning (UNESCO) |
| IISD | International Institute for Sustainable Development |
| ILO | International Labour Organisation |
| ILSA | International large-scale assessment |
| IMF | International Monetary Fund |
| IPCC | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
| ISC | International Student Conference |
| ISSC | International Social Science Council |
| ITE | Initial teacher education |
| ITU | International Telecommunication Union |
| IUS | International Union of Students |
| KGB | Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti [Committee for State Security of the Soviet Union, 1954–1991] |
| KoB | Kingdom of Bhutan |
| KoC | Kingdom of Cambodia |
| KoM | Kingdom of Morocco |
| KP | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) |
| L1; L2 | First language; second language |
| LAMP | Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme |
| LDCs | Least Developed Countries |
| LGBTIQ | Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer/questioning |
| LIC | Low-income countries |
| LMP | Learning Metrics Partnership |
| LMTF | Learning Metrics Task Force |
| LOITASA | Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa |
| LSA | Large-scale assessment |
| MAFF | Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan) |
| MDGs | Millennium Development Goals |
| MENA | Middle East and North Africa region |
| MENAP | Multilingual Education National Action Plan (Cambodia) |
| MFEPT | Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training |
| MGIEP | Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development |
| MLE | Multilingual education |
| MNC | Multinational corporation |
| MNEVT | Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Scientific Research and Higher Education (Morocco) |
| MoE | Ministry of Education |
| MoEYS | Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (Cambodia) |
| MOI | Means of implementation |
| MOOC | Massive open on-line course |
| NDP | National Development Plan |
| NECC | National Education Coordinating Committee (South Africa) |
| NEP | National Education Policy (Pakistan) |
| NGO | Non-Governmental Organisation |
| NLSA | National large-scale assessment |
| NRF | National Research Foundation (South Africa) |
| NSO | National Union of Students in Norway |
| NUS-UK UK | National Union of Students |
| OBESSU | Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions |
| OCLAE | Organización Continental Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Estudiantes [Latin American and Caribbean Continental Student Organisation] |
| ODA | Official development assistance |
| OECD | Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development |
| OHCHR | Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |
| OSF | Open Society Foundations |
| OWG | Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals |
| PASEC | Programme d’Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs de la CONFEMEN [CONFEMEN Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems] |
| PBS | Pakistan Bureau of Statistics |
| PforR | Program for Results |
| PIAAC | Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies |
| PIRLS | Progress in International Reading Literacy Study |
| PISA | Programme for International Student Assessment |
| PISA-D PISA | for Development |
| PPPs | Public-Private Partnerships |
| PSO | United Nations Peace Support Operations |
| PTI | Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [Pakistan Movement for Justice] (political party) |
| r | Pearson’s correlation coefficient |
| RFSD | Regional Forum on Sustainable Development |
| Rio+20 | UN Conference on Sustainable Development, 2012 |
| RSA | Republic of South Africa |
| RTE | Right to Education |
| RTEI | Right to Education Index |
| RTI | Research Triangle International |
| SABER | Systems Approach for Better Education Results (World Bank tool) |
| SACMEQ | Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality |
| SADC | Southern African Development Community |
| SAIH | Studentenes og Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond [Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund] (Norway) |
| SDGs | Sustainable Development Goals |
| SDSN | Sustainable Development Solutions Network |
| SES | Socioeconomic status |
| SIDS | Small Island Developing States |
| SSA | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| STEM | Science, technology, engineering and mathematics |
| t | Tonne |
| TAG | Technical Advisory Group on Education Indicators |
| TCC | Teacher Creativity Center (Palestine) |
| TCG | Technical Cooperation Group |
| TEI | Teacher Education Institution |
| THE | Times Higher Education |
| TIMSS | Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study |
| TST | Technical Support Team |
| TVET | Technical and vocational education and training |
| UIS | UNESCO Institute for Statistics |
| UN | United Nations |
| UNAPRCM | United Nations Asia-Pacific Regional Coordination Mechanism |
| UNCTAD | United Nations Conference on Trade and Development |
| UN DESA | United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs |
| UNDP | United Nations Development Programme |
| UNE | National Union of Students (Brazil) |
| UNECA | United Nations Economic Commission for Africa |
| UNESCO | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation |
| UNFPA | United Nations Population Fund |
| UNGA | United Nations General Assembly |
| UNHRC | United Nations Human Rights Council |
| UNICEF | United Nations Children’s Fund |
| UN MGCY | United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth |
| UNU-WIDER | World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University |
| UNV | United Nations Volunteers |
| UPE | Universal primary education |
| UPR | Universal Periodic Review |
| USAID | United States Agency for International Development |
| USSA | United States Student Association |
| VAT | Value-added tax |
| VNR | Voluntary National Review |
| WB | World Bank |
| WBG | World Bank Group |
| WCHE | World Conference on Higher Education |
| WEF | World Education Forum |
| WESIB | Western European Students’ Information Bureau |
| WFP | World Food Programme |
| WID | Women in Development |
| WP | White Paper |