Professor Mohammad Issack Santally is a UNESCO Chair in Inclusive Education Technologies and Commonwealth of Learning Chair at the University of Mauritius. A Full Professor with a PhD in Education Technologies, he brings over 25 years of experience in technology-enabled learning, open and distance education, and institutional transformation. He served nine years in senior executive leadership as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Resources), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academia), and Acting Vice-Chancellor, before returning to his academic platform to lead research, policy engagement, and international collaboration. My work is grounded in the realities of Small Island Developing States and focuses on inclusive, equitable, and future-ready education systems for the Global South.
I have spent 25 years at the intersection of education technology, institutional leadership, and development policy most of it at the University of Mauritius, and much of it focused on a question that does not get enough attention in global education debates:
How do Small Island Developing States build resilient, equitable, and future-ready education systems — with limited resources, small populations, and outsized climate and economic vulnerabilities?
That question has shaped my research, my institutional work, and my international engagements from leading Mauritius' first technology-enabled learning policy in 2004, to pioneering micro-credentials and AI in education at a national level, to contributing to Commonwealth and UNESCO frameworks on inclusive digital learning.
I returned to my academic platform: to contribute at the level of ideas, policy, and international collaboration, where I believe I can have the most lasting impact.
My focus is generally on:
• Technology-enabled and inclusive education for SIDS and the Global South
• AI in education — policy, ethics, and implementation
• Micro-credentials, open educational resources, and lifelong learning frameworks
• Higher education transformation, governance, and institutional resilience
• Open and distance learning, learning analytics, and online pedagogy
I welcome connections with policymakers, researchers, international organisations, and education leaders who share a commitment to making quality education genuinely accessible — especially where it is hardest to deliver.
