Xiaonan Cao is a senior education specialist in the Education Global Practice of the World Bank. He has led the development and preparation of the Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Project with eight participating countries and twenty-four competitively-selected centers across an array of disciplinary areas. He has also led policy dialogue and project preparation/implementation in education and skills development in Botswana, Swaziland and Tanzania. He currently manages the Bank’s education portfolio for Zambia.