Based on detailed analysis of thousands of confidential World Bank documents, this book outlines the evolution of World Bank lending policies in education, and assesses the policy impact of the Bank's educational projects. The author demonstrates that the World Bank lies at the centre of the major changes in global education of our time. Its financial power and influence have helped shape the economic and social policies of many governments, including policies that affect education. It has been an influential proponent of the rapid expansion of formal education systems around the world, and has financed much of that expansion. It has been instrumental in forging those policies that see education as a precursor to modernisation. It has served as a major purveyor of Western ideas about how education and the economy are, or should be, related. The author's exposition of how all of this has been achieved, and the implications of the achievement, is unique. It will be of enormous value to those studying, or working in, educational policy in developing countries, international organisations and financial institutions, and aid agencies.