How We Help Clients

Education

Improving student outcomes, increasing access and affordability, and enabling new academic research across the entire education ecosystem
McKinsey’s focus is on improving education and employment outcomes for all to create a more prosperous society with equal opportunity, and enabling new research that builds stronger communities and improves the environment.

McKinsey is committed to improving lifelong learning opportunities and outcomes around the globe by collaborating with clients on their top-of-mind issues while always keeping equity at the forefront. Our teams include former teachers, institutional leaders, policymakers, and researchers with deep expertise across all levels of education from early childhood and K-12, to higher education and workforce development.

We serve education institutions and systems, governments, philanthropists, investors, service providers, and vocational training providers, complementing our hands-on work with original research to allow us to better understand the sector’s toughest challenges, and build new capabilities to help solve them.

 
Strategy and implementation
Partnering with public and private entities, we create strategies that drive measurable impact informed by the unique needs of each institution. Our collaborative approach maximizes the odds of success, increases the pace of execution, and builds internal capabilities and ownership for lasting change.
Organizational and performance transformation
Working with educational organizations of all types, we help drive transformative improvement in student outcomes, institutional innovation, and financial stability. Our comprehensive approach focuses on execution excellence, capability building, and organizational health, which enables our clients to achieve and sustain superior performance.
Education venture building
Imagining, build, and accelerate ventures to scale and improve education and employment outcomes to deliver capabilities that enable our clients to repeat the process time and again, bringing together the world’s top educators, designers, operators, and other experts across all sectors and geographies.
Partnerships and mergers
Supporting organizations looking to enter a partnership or merger with another institution by helping clients assess the potential, design the structure, and ensure the long-term success of the new venture.

What we do

Examples of our work

Launching a large-scale online learning initiative for a leading public university system
We supported the design-through-launch of a new online-learning initiative for one of the largest public university systems in the United States. The project entailed extensive stakeholder input: 5,000 survey responses, 300 faculty interviews, and ten days of community-working sessions. The initiative enabled improved access to high-growth job opportunities across the university system and defined the necessary technology and organizational structures for its continued success.
Partnering with UNESCO to help school systems respond to COVID-19
McKinsey joined UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition to codevelop a series of toolkits for education-system leaders to help ensure learning continuity and provide support—especially for vulnerable students—during the pandemic.
Good to great transformation for a flagship state university
We partnered with a flagship state university to identify ways to improve its return and maximize the impact of new investments. Through engagement with more than 300 faculty and staff members, we helped to deliver impact in athletics, auxiliary revenues, enrollment, online growth, procurement, research, and student success. The institution saw a five percent increase in freshman enrollment, a ten percent increase in transfer enrollment, new research partnerships implemented, and net surplus captured from negotiation of contracts and savings from procurement initiatives.

Our People

Jake Bryant
PartnerSeattle
Helps education organizations spanning early learning, K-12, higher education, and adult learning improve learning and life outcomes,...
Wan-Lae Cochran
PartnerWashington DC
Supports public, private, and social sector organizations in designing and executing strategies that will help advance inclusive...
Felipe Child
PartnerBogotá
Passionate about improving the efficiency and effectiveness of critical organizations for our society—across the public, private,...
Emma Dorn
Senior Knowledge ExpertBay Area
Supports education donors, foundations, systems, and institutions to improve education outcomes and equity for all students,...
André Dua
Senior PartnerMiami
Provides strategic counsel and advises on performance transformation to state and local governments as well as public and private...
Jonathan Law
Senior Partner
Supports education organizations and state, provincial, and local governments design and implement major initiatives that advance...
Cheryl Lim
PartnerSingapore
Advises public- and private-sector clients in education, youth employment and engagement, and tourism, as they pursue policy,...
Duwain Pinder
PartnerOhio - Columbus
Serves colleges and universities on strategy and performance improvements and supports organizations across sectors on racial...
Jimmy Sarakatsannis
Senior PartnerWashington DC
Offers broad and deep expertise in education, with a particular interest in the use of technology to transform teaching and learning...
Dirk Schmautzer
PartnerDubai
Shapes economic and human capital development strategies to boost growth and create jobs. Leads McKinsey’s Education Practice...
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How We Help Clients

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