Conrad Hughes

Hughes is the son of South African scholar and author Jean Marquard[6] and British etymologist and university professor Geoffrey Ian Hughes.[7] He attended St David's Marist Inanda[8] and subsequently Waterford Kamhlaba, the United World College of Southern Africa.[9][10] In the course of university studies in France, South Africa and the United Kingdom, he obtained a Masters in Comparative Literature at the University of Montpellier,[11] a PhD in English literature (writing on the treatment of the body in the fiction of J.M. Coetzee)[12] at the University of the Witwatersrand, and a Doctorate in Education (EdD) from Durham University.[13][14] He taught in India, France and the Netherlands before joining the International School of Geneva, where he was successively a teacher of English, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Coordinator, Director of Education and Director of the Secondary School and of La Grande Boissière campus (while simultaneously teaching Philosophy), prior to becoming the school's first internally appointed Director General since 1949.[15][16][17][18]

Conrad Hughes

In his capacity as Campus and Secondary School Director of La Grande Boissière, Hughes launched the Universal Learning Programme (ULP).[19] Hughes and the ULP were the subject of a laudatory article in TES (formerly known as Times Educational Supplement).[20] In May 2023 an article devoted to him was published by Geneva's leading daily newspaper, Tribune de Genève.[21]

Hughes is a member of the advisory board for the University of the People, a senior fellow of UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education and a research assistant at the University of Geneva’s Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education.[22][23]

Hughes has published four books on educational matters, including Understanding Prejudice and Education (Routledge, 2016), Educating for the Twenty-First Century: Seven Global Challenges (Brill, 2018) and Education and Elitism (Routledge, 2021).[24][25] Educating for the Twenty-First Century has been praised by British philosopher A. C. Grayling ("An insignificant book, which makes it required reading for educators, public policy experts, indeed every thoughtful citizen of our time") and French philosopher and former Minister of Education Luc Ferry ( "An essential book for all those who are interested in the future of their children, in other words, the very future of humanity").[26] Hughes is also the author of numerous articles published in peer-reviewed journals.[27]

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