Tigran Shmis is an Acting Program Leader and Senior Education Specialist for Russia. He holds a specialist degree (2001) as a teacher of computer science and economics. After graduating from the University, he completed the postgraduate study in educational ICTs and now holds a PhD (candidate of sciences) degree (2004) from the Russian Academy of Education. Later he completed an MEd (2007) program of the Moscow branch of the University of Manchester on Management in Education and Educational Policy.
Tigran carries the experience of preparation and implementation of educational projects in Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Guyana, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Peru, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan.
He is leading the education work programs of the World Bank in Russia and Belarus. In Russia, Tigran leads the capacity building program Russia Education Aid for Development (READ). Tigran has experience in coordination with external partners – UNICEF, UNESCO, OECD, CEB, and EIB.
The main areas of research interest include the role and impact of learning environments on the educational achievement of students, Research and programs in Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Preschool Education, Importance of Education Quality and Educational Evaluations, and EdTech and Information and Communication Literacy.
Currently, Tigran is co-leading the work of World Bank Education Global Practice on COVID-19 response tracking, contributing to COVID-19 Global Education Recovery Tracker also collaborating with UNICEF and Johns Hopkins University. He co-authored two reports on country responses to COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 with UNICEF, UNESCO, and the OECD based on three rounds of COVID-19 country surveys.