Meet Professor Nirmala Rao, a distinguished developmental and educational psychologist at the Faculty of Education at HKU. With a research focus on child development and education, Professor Rao is committed to improving the lives of young children and promoting their development and learning through large-scale research that has the potential to influence national educational policy.
After obtaining her post-doctoral training in the United States, Professor Rao began her career at HKU. She transitioned from training educational psychologist in the Department of Psychology to the Faculty of Education to focus on Early Childhood Education. During her tenure, HKU has evolved into a more research-oriented and international institution, and Professor Rao has experienced vibrant and dynamic changes in the university.
Having lived in Hong Kong for over 30 years, Professor Rao’s research has a particular focus on Asia. With China and India together accounting for approximately 35% of the world’s children under the age of five, her work holds significant global relevance.
Professor Rao’s work is not confined to academic collaborations with global universities. She has also been active in professional community service, working with governments in many countries. Additionally, she has collaborated with international organisations such as UNICEF, UNESCO, the World Bank and the OECD, to make a tangible impact on early child development and education.
For Professor Rao, the essence of a global university lies in diverse programmes of study, cutting-edge research, and an international faculty and student body. The curriculum across all disciplines addresses global challenges such as poverty, climate change, and public health.
At HKU, we continue to go Beyond Borders and Embrace the World.
Professor Nirmala Rao shared insights into her projects that bear significant global relevance with the editor Cherie Xu.
Xu: Can you share one of your most memorable projects involving global cooperation?
Professor Rao: One of the most memorable projects involved large, nationally representative samples of children aged 3 to 6 years from Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu. We developed and validated psychometrically robust tools to conduct these studies, as none previously existed. Through this project, we were able to show governments how children from different parts of the country, different genders, and children from parents with various levels of education differed. These robust data have a significant impact on policymaking and promote social justice, as children are the future.
Xu: What is the unique positioning of HKU when it comes to working on global projects?
Professor Rao: HKU is uniquely positioned due to its research excellence, strategic geographic location, and focus on critical contemporary global issues. Being highly respected in the region, we can leverage these strengths to foster international research collaborations. It truly opens doors.
Xu: What are the key obstacles you’ve encountered?
Professor Rao: The key obstacles include cultural differences, language barriers, funding and resource limitations, challenges in accessing target populations, and data collection issues. We address these challenges by tackling their root causes. For example, we provide multilingual support and implement standardised data collection protocols.
Xu: How do your research projects influence national educational policy?
Professor Rao: Better data lead to better decisions. We provide solid data to governments on where they should invest to improve child development. Recently, we conducted a comprehensive global analysis of the state of early childhood care and education, published by UNESCO in 2024.
Do all children have access to preschool services? We reviewed the progress, challenges, and policy implications across multiple regions over the past 12 years, including sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Africa and Western Asia, Central and Southern Asia, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and Europe and Northern America. We also identified noteworthy practices for governments to consider. For instance, some countries had low-cost and effective programmes that could be scaled up to other regions.
Xu: Thank you, Professor Rao. Your research projects offer actionable recommendations to enhance early childhood education equity globally.
