A NORRAG Initiative on the Futures of Global Governance and Education 

Background

As the international community approaches the 2030 horizon of the Sustainable Development Goals, the question of what comes next for global policy has become both urgent and unavoidable. Goal 4 of the SDGs—to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”—has catalysed unprecedented global coordination. Yet widening inequalities, climate disruption, technological transformation, geopolitical fragmentation, and democratic backsliding alongside slashed aid budgets, increasing financialisation and xxinadequate international tax mechanisms and illiicit financiail flows have exposed structural limitations in current frameworks. The debate is no longer only about accelerating progress toward 2030; it is about reimagining the architecture of global education governance beyond it.

Recent convenings have converged around a common concern: the post-2030 agenda must move beyond incremental target-setting toward deeper questions of power, knowledge production, epistemic justice, sustainability, and democratic participation. Within this landscape, NORRAG launches Beyond 2030 as a platform for critical, inclusive, and forward-looking engagement.  Building on ongoing debates around SDG 4, Beyond 2030 seeks to interrogate—and contribute to—both what the next education goal should contain, but how it should be conceptualised, governed, and co-created.

Theme 1: Reframing the Education Goal Beyond 2030

The first strand of the project interrogates the future of the global education goal itself, examining:

• The normative foundations of a post-SDG education goal
• The balance between measurable targets and transformative ambition
• The distinction between goals (e.g. education for climate justice or peacebuilding) and means of implementation (e.g. digitalisation or financial governance)
• The relationship between education and the wider post-SDG architecture

Theme 2: Centering Marginalised Expertise and Democratic Participation

A second pillar of Beyond 2030 addresses a structural weakness of global policy formation: whose knowledge counts. Moving beyond tokenistic consultation, this strand explores mechanisms for meaningful co-creation, interrogates epistemic injustices in global education governance, and develops practical strategies for redistributing agenda-setting power, explicitly foregrounding participation from:

• Scholars and practitioners from the Global South
• Teachers and education workers across formal and non-formal systems
• Youth leaders and grassroots organisations
• Experts working at the intersections of migration, climate, disability, and conflict

Theme 3: The Role of Higher Education in Shaping the Post-SDG Agenda

The third thematic focus examines how higher education institutions (HEIs) can shape the full post-2030 development framework. Universities play a dual role: they are both subjects of global education policy and architects of knowledge, innovation, and public discourse. This strand will explore:

• Universities as influencers of transnational policy dialogue
• Research agendas aligned with planetary sustainability and social justice
• Civic engagement and public scholarship
• Institutional reform to address inequality, decolonisation, and academic precarity

Theme 4: Mapping and Connecting Global Convenings Through a Dedicated Portal

A fourth strand of Beyond 2030 will focus on collating, curating, and making visible the diverse ways in which actors across regions and sectors are already convening around the future of the education agenda. As discussions unfold in parallel, across multilateral agencies, universities, civil society networks, youth movements, philanthropic organisations, and regional coalitions, there is a risk of fragmentation, duplication, and uneven visibility. To address this, NORRAG will establish a dedicated digital portal that:

• Maps ongoing dialogues, calls for papers, regional consultations, and policy processes related to education beyond 2030
• Curates key publications, position papers, and emerging proposals
• Highlights initiatives led by actors in the Global South, teacher networks, and youth coalitions
• Facilitates cross-regional learning and exchange

The portal will serve not merely as an information repository, but as an enabling infrastructure for coordination and epistemic visibility. By documenting who is convening, where, and around which themes, this strand seeks to strengthen connective tissue across otherwise siloed processes across the wider ecosystem of actors shaping the post-SDG education landscape.

Toward a Transformative Post-2030 Vision

The transition beyond 2030 represents more than a technical policy reset; it is an opportunity to rethink education’s role in an era defined by ecological limits, social fragmentation, and contested multilateralism. By combining normative critique, participatory design, and institutional reflection, Beyond 2030 positions NORRAG as a convening space for reimagining global education governance. The question is not simply what replaces SDG 4 — but how the next framework can better serve equity, sustainability, and democratic futures.