Richard Desjardins
Moore Hall 3119
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90095-1521
Richard Desjardins
Professor
Richard Desjardins is a Professor of Education and Political Economy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Education. He worked at the OECD between 2010-2013 on the OECD Skills Strategy as well as PIAAC (Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies), and has been involved in large scale assessment of adult skills and adult learning for 25 years. His work focuses on adult learning participation, structures and systems at the nexus of the fields of comparative education, comparative economics and comparative politics.
Departments
Areas of Expertise and Advising Interests
Other Affiliations
Education
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Ph.D., Economics, Lund University, 2014
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Ph.D., International and Comparative Education, Stockholm University, 2004
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M.A., Economics, Carleton University, 1999
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B.A. Honors, Economics, Carleton University, 1998
Select Publications
- Desjardins, R., & Kalenda, J. (2026). Conceptual foundations for understanding and characterising adult learning systems: towards more comprehensive comparative reporting. Journal for Research on Adult Education.
- Desjardins, R., & Kalenda, J. (eds) (2025). A Modern Guide to Adult Learning Systems. Edward Elgar.
- Desjardins, R., Jang, S., & Walder, J. (2025). Policy learning processes, interactions and dynamics in education: An integrated model of the dialectics of the local and the global, European Journal of Education Policy and Practice, Volume 1, Issue 1, Aug 2025, p. 1 – 38.
- Desjardins R., & Huang, H. (2025). Lifelong learning and skill formation over the life course. In E. Saar and P. Robert (eds), Handbook on Education and Labour Market. Edward Elgar.
- Desjardins, R. (2023). Alternative approaches to the political economy of education and some of their implications. In: L.I. Misiaszek, R.F. Arnove and C.A. Torres (Eds.), Comparative Education: Emergent Trends in the Dialectic of the Global and the Local (Chapter 3, p. 41-57). Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
- Desjardins, R., & Kim, J. (2023). Inequality in adult education participation across national contexts – Is growing employer support exacerbating or mitigating inequality in participation?, International Yearbook of Adult Education, Volume 2023 , pp. 75-98.
- Desjardins R. (2022). Lifelong learning systems. In: K. Evans, W-L. Lee, J. Markowitsch & M. Zukas (eds.), Third International Handbook of Lifelong learning. Springer Nature.
- Desjardins, R. (2020). Micro and macro drivers affecting adult literacy proficiency profiles across countries, International Review of Education, Volume 66, Number 2-3, pp. 289-340.
- Desjardins, R., & Ioannidou, A. (2020). The political economy of adult learning systems: some institutional features that promote adult learning participation, Journal for Research on Adult Education, Volume 43, Number 2, pp. 143-168.
- Grotluschen, A., Desjardins, R., & Liu, H. (guest editors) (2020). Literacy and numeracy: Global and comparative perspectives, International Review of Education, Volume 66, Number 2-3, editorial pp. 127-137; whole thematic portfolio pp. 127-413.