The UK DFID has commissioned three studies on globalisation and education. ODI will be doing one of these. The main aim of the research was to provide a state-of-the-art survey of the links between 'globalisation and education', but it also exemplified the main issues in two further papers with new panel data and case-study evidence on the effects of Foreign Direct Investment on education and training. We surveyed the literature on the main links between globalisation and education, and discussed and tested three issues: • The quantity and quality of education and training determine whether and how countries can participate in the processes of globalisation, such as global value chains, fragmentation, increased trade in final products, and migration. • The processes of globalisation (as measured by FDI, trade and migration) affect the demand and supply of education and training. This will include new evidence of the effects of FDI on the international specialisation in education and training. • Public policies have effectively attempted to reconcile human resource development and the processes of globalisation in order to obtain the maximum impact on development. These issues are discussed on the basis of evidence. The complexities of the policy implications of the links between globalisation and education are further exemplified by a case study of South Africa, which has, to a considerable degree, experienced most facets of globalisation. The study was conducted by Dr Dirk Willem te Velde from ODI London and Dr Simon McGrath and Dr Andre Kraak from the Human Resources Department of the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria.