On 1 January 2025, the Agency welcomed Dr João Costa as its new Director.
The Agency Director is responsible for the day-to-day co-ordination and management of the Agency and its activities. Dr Costa brings a wealth of experience, vision, and energy to the role, succeeding Dr Cor J.W. Meijer, who has stepped down after almost 20 years of dedicated leadership and service.
A former Professor of Linguistics at Nova University, Lisbon, Dr Costa was Portugal’s Minister of Education from 2022 to 2024, and Secretary of State for Education for seven years prior to that. He has worked closely with international organisations, such as the OECD and UNESCO, including currently as Chair of the OECD Education Policy Committee.
On his appointment as Director, Dr Costa said, ‘It is an honour to serve the European Agency, for its history in working with and for countries for creating education systems in which ‘all means all’, where the ambition of granting access to the curriculum is a vision put into practice.’
As Dr Costa leads the Agency towards an exciting and challenging future, in which inclusion is more important than ever, the Agency also bids farewell to its former Director, Dr Cor J.W. Meijer. Having started work with the Agency in 1997, he took up his leadership role in 2005. Since then, he has participated in 40 Agency bi-annual meetings with country representatives and seen the number of member countries rise from 23 in 2005 to 31 in 2024. He was instrumental in the Agency’s name change in 2014, which reflected the Agency’s shift towards working for inclusive education for all learners, and in moving from knowledge building to providing advice and consultancy to its member countries. He has also led and contributed to numerous Agency, European and international activities and events on inclusive education.
The Agency Team and its member countries thank Dr Meijer for his huge contribution to the Agency and its work, and to the field of inclusive education more generally.
