This volume was commissioned by the World Council of Comparative Education Societies, in memory of their Past President, David N. Wilson, who died on December 8, 2006. Professor Wilson was also President of the Comparative and International Education Society of Canada, the Comparative and International Education Society (US) and the International Society for Educational Planning. A call for papers was sent out to his colleagues worldwide, and many of his colleagues, friends and former students contributed chapters to this book. David N. Wilson was educated at Syracuse University as an educational planner, and he had a lifelong career at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His main interests are reflected in the five major themes in this book: Africa and Development, Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Cross-Cultural Issues, Policy Development, and Comparative Education. Each author places his or her work firmly within these areas of interest and explains how their work or life experiences were influenced by him. Several of his children also contributed to the Introduction, and Crain Soudien, the 2007-2010 President of the WCCES, wrote the Preface. Together, all of the chapters provide a fitting tribute to a man whose heart, in the words of his former student Suwanda Sugunasiri, was always "clamouring for a better world". This work was supported financially by the Comparative, International and Development Education Centre at OISE/University of Toronto and morally by his colleagues in every part of the world.
