Role
President of Government Relations and Research at Efekta Education. 2026 Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Bio
Stefania Giannini was appointed Deputy Director-General for Education by UNESCO in May 2018, becoming the United Nations System's highest authority on education. In this capacity, she is responsible for defining the strategic vision and leadership of UNESCO's Education Sector globally.
In this role, she is responsible for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) within the 2030 Agenda. Previously, Professor Giannini was elected Senator of the Italian Republic in the XVII legislature (2013 – 2018) and Minister of Education, Universities and Research (2014 – 2016).
During the same period, he chaired the Education and Competitiveness Councils of the European Union during the Italian Presidency (July–December 2014), promoting the role of creativity, cultural heritage, and innovation as tools for international dialogue and cooperation, with particular reference to the prevention of radicalization and extremism.
With an academic background in the humanities, Stefania Giannini has been Professor of General Linguistics since 1992 and was elected Rector of the University for Foreigners of Perugia for two consecutive terms (2004–2012), being the youngest and one of the first women to reach this position in the history of the Italian Republic. In this context, she was a member of the Selection Committee for the Erasmus Mundus Programme at the European Commission (2005–2009), and served as Head of International Relations at the Conference of Rectors of Italian Universities (2006–2010) and as a member of the National Commission for the Promotion of Italian Culture Abroad at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006–2011).
Stefania Giannini has dedicated her career to promoting education as a fundamental human right, through the importance of language, lifelong learning, culture, freedom of expression, and identity, in an effort to ensure more inclusive and equal societies.
In her role as Senator of the Italian Republic and Minister of Education, Universities, and Research, Giannini developed and implemented a structural reform of the Italian education system, focusing on social inclusion and aiming for cultural awareness.