Òscar Valiente has replaced Jaana Puukka for a six-month period leading the OECD work on Higher Education and Regional and City Development. He joined the OECD in January 2010 as a consultant in the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). He has a PhD in Sociology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and has completed postdoctoral research at the Graduate school of Education of the University of Bristol, the Fundaçao Joao Pinheiro of Minas Gerais, and the Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies of the University of Amsterdam. He has published books and articles in international journals about globalisation, education and poverty in Latin America, the effects of markets in education and the contribution of human capital to social equity and sustainable development. Before joining the OECD, he has worked for different private institutions in Catalonia such as the Fundació Jaume Bofill and the Fundació BCN Formació Professional. Some of his recent work suggest policy reforms to improve the matching between the VET system of Barcelona and the needs of the emergent economic sectors in the region. At the OECD, his work has focused on students’ use of ICT in education and its effects on the development of 21st century skills.