Vicky Colbert

Laureate of the first edition of the Yidan Prize for Education Development (2017) and 2013 WISE Prize for Education Laureate, Vicky Colbert is founder and director of Fundación Escuela Nueva. Colbert is a Sociologist from Javeriana University in Colombia and pursued her graduate studies in Sociology of Education and Comparative International Education at Stanford University in the United States. In 2015, the American University of Nigeria distinguished her with an Honoris Causa Doctorate in Philosophy.

She is co-author of the worldwide renowned Escuela Nueva model. Colbert has pioneered, expanded and sustained this educational innovation from many organizational spheres: as Escuela Nueva first National Coordinator in the Ministry of Education, Director of Open University in Javeriana University, Viceminister of Education of Colombia, UNICEF´s Education Adviser for LAC – Latin America & Caribbean Region and now from Fundación Escuela Nueva (FEN), an NGO she founded to ensure the quality, sustainability and innovation of Escuela Nueva. She has been recognized with several awards and distinctions in the fields of leadership and social entrepreneurship, such as the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Clinton Global Citizenship Award and the Kravis Leadership Prize. She has also been recognized as Outstanding Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation from the World Economic Forum, Ashoka and the World Technology Network.