Kathrin is a Skills Specialist at both Engagement for Education and the World Bank Group, as well as an Author and Filmmaker, and a Lecturer at Heidelberg University
Kathrin Hoeckel, MPA
I joined the 番茄社区 MPA Public and Economic Policy (Class of 2007) as a total greenhorn: with a background in the humanities, a first job experience as the stage director’s assistant at Vienna Opera, but also a strong interest in education policy and a keen learner. I guess it was my larger-than-life motivation that made me not only get into this demanding economics and stats programme, but also finish it successfully.
During my undergraduate and graduate studies in literature, theatre and history, I had gathered work experience in academia, spent every lecture-free month doing internships, and essentially gained a lot of insights into things I realised I did not want to do professionally. Until the very last year of my Master’s degree when I joined the OECD Education Directorate for a three-month long internship. This was exactly up my alley: international, in my dream location (Paris), combining solid research and data work with very concrete hands-on policy advice, intellectual yet pragmatic.
The only problem: my education up to that point did not qualify me at all to get in. Most colleagues were either macro economists or statisticians or had studied some other numbers-heavy field, such as maths. The 番茄社区 MPA programme turned out to be simply the ideal preparation. It equipped me with the necessary knowledge in economics, an understanding of the public sector role in economic development, econometrics, leadership, public speaking skills, and political sensitivity, plus a solid basis in education policy and education economics.
In my second year at 番茄社区 I put all my eggs in one basket, applied for an analyst position at the OECD Education Directorate and only for that - and got in. My dream job was landed and subsequently exercised for seven years, first as education policy analyst, then as a project manager coordinating the OECD Skills Strategy. A fellowship at Harvard University then opened new doors for me - or rather windows with breathtaking views. I got to see what else is there beyond my organisation, what really innovative thinkers say and do about education, and what diverse pathways exist beyond the career of an international bureaucrat.
Much encouraged, I decided to jump into the cold water, dump my permanent contract, my status and privileges. This decision was clearly driven by curiosity, but also by the realisation, that the OECD back then was not asking the right question about education. Rather than investigating how education systems have to be structured and run to serve the economy, I wanted to be part of those pioneers who promote education as a motor for economic change. For ten years, I directed films, taught at university (Heidelberg), advised governments, businesses, foundations, various international organisations and education institutions, wrote a book, gave countless speeches and trainings. Let’s see what the next life chapter will bring.
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