Our History

In 2018, a group of distinguished educators and researchers from different corners of the world began having conversations about a challenge they all faced: how to ensure quality education that transcends borders, cultures, and economic barriers. These weren't planned meetings—they were organic connections made at international conferences, through academic collaborations, and via shared frustrations with the fragmented state of global education standards.

The First Focus Groups

Professor Eduard Babulak, a renowned scholar with expertise spanning 14 languages and connections across 96 countries, along with Roohi Gupta, a strategic thinker with a background from Harvard University and IIM Calcutta, began convening informal focus group discussions. Roohi's passion for reimagining internationalization and digitalization in higher education proved instrumental in shaping the early vision. What started as monthly video calls between a handful of educators quickly grew into something much larger. Dr. Schahram Dustdar from TU Wien in Austria brought perspectives from European technical education. Brian Mulligan from Ireland's IT Sligo offered insights into online learning innovation. Dr. Hector Barbosa contributed the Latin American viewpoint from Mexico's Tecnológico Nacional.

Each conversation revealed the same truth: educators worldwide were grappling with similar challenges—how to assess learning meaningfully, how to prepare students for a rapidly changing world, and how to ensure that credentials earned in one country were valued in another.

From Conversations to Action

By 2019, the focus groups had grown to include voices from the UAE, Malaysia, and beyond. Dr. Hamad Odhabi from Abu Dhabi University and Dr. Senthil Nathan of Edu Alliance Ltd brought Middle Eastern perspectives on international education. Norpisah Mat Isa from Malaysia's UNIMY and Dr. Chin Kuan Ho from Multimedia University added Southeast Asian insights. Dan LeClair, CEO of the Global Business School Network, provided crucial understanding of how business education was evolving globally.

Saurabh Gupta emerged as a key organizer, helping to coordinate the increasingly complex network of participants across time zones and continents. What began as academic discussions transformed into a structured initiative with clear goals: to create an organization that would bring together institutions, educators, and learners to establish quality standards that matter.

The Founding of WAC

In early 2020, after two years of focus groups, research, and planning, the World Assessment Council was officially established as a non-profit organization headquartered in Boston. The founding members had a clear mission: to transform education through innovation, collaboration, and excellence.

The timing proved both challenging and fortuitous. As the global pandemic disrupted traditional education models, WAC's focus on digital learning, international collaboration, and innovative assessment became more relevant than ever. Universities that had been hesitant about online learning suddenly needed guidance. Educators sought new ways to assess students remotely. The need for globally recognized credentials became acute as traditional pathways were disrupted.

Growth and Impact

What started as conversations among a few dozen educators has grown into a network spanning 4,000+ universities, 200,000+ educators, 350,000+ learning enthusiasts, and 2 million+ students across 96 countries. The four pillars that emerged from those early focus groups—AI-Powered Learning, Internationalization, Skill-Centric Learning, and Assessment Excellence—now guide WAC's initiatives worldwide.

The weekly "Educators This Week" series, which began as an informal way to continue the collaborative spirit of those early focus groups, has become a flagship program connecting educators across the globe. The IntegrityCheck platform addresses one of the original concerns: ensuring academic integrity in an increasingly digital world.

Today, the World Assessment Council continues to grow, guided by the same principles that brought its founders together: a belief in the transformative power of education, a commitment to global collaboration, and a vision of a world where every learner has access to quality education that is recognized and valued everywhere.