Fatima Samji

Background

About Fatima Samji

Fatima Samji, Ph.D. is an Education Policy Researcher and Consultant as well as an Education Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Specialist. She completed her PhD in Higher Education, specializing in Educational Policy at OISE, University of Toronto. Her doctoral study is on differentiation and system-wide change across Ontario’s higher education sector. Specifically, she analyzes the disconnect between access and excellence policy and practice within political and business contexts. She has conducted research within research centres, namely the Pathways to Education and Work Centre, the Centre for the Study of Canadian and International Higher Education, and the Datahost Research Lab where she has worked under the advisement of Canada Research Chairs. She values knowledge dissemination, earning awards to present at respected international conferences where she advocated for broadening the perspectives held by leaders in the education sector. She started her consulting career at Continuing and Professional Learning, OISE, U of Toronto where she worked from the program level up to supporting system level policy reforms in the higher education sector internationally and locally in Canada. She consults in the areas of education policy and advises on matters relating to equity, diversity, and inclusion more broadly. She is highly passionate about capacity building and innovation in education for greater social mobility and has had experience in this area within Ontario Colleges and Universities and private organizations. For example, she creates and delivers custom solution workshops that build the capacity of people to support both EDI and excellence. She holds a MA degree in Higher Education specializing in educational policy from the University of Toronto, and a Masters of Education degree in K-12 School Leadership in the 21st century.