Dr Ger Graus OBE is a respected figure in the field of education. He is Director of Education and Partnerships at KidZania UK, the UK’s first educational entertainment centre. Here children aged 4 to 14 get to experience the world of work through role-play.

Graus was the founding Chief Executive of The Children’s University (CU) Trust in 2007 and CU Trading in 2013. He left The Children’s University in 2014 after 7 rewarding years.

Under Graus’s watch, The Children’s University became a multiple-award winning international charity providing 5 to 14 year olds with exciting and innovative learning opportunities – through its ‘Passport To Learning’ – outside the normal school day, at weekends and during school holidays. The Children’s University’s global reach now extends as far as Australia, China, Malaysia and Singapore with further developments planned. Independent evaluations by the University of Cambridge demonstrate that through participation in the Children’s University, significant differences to children’s lives are achieved.

Graus moved to the UK in 1983 when he began his teaching career at Taverham High School in Norwich. He next moved on to a management position at Winifred Holtby School in Hull. He was Education Adviser to Manchester City Council (1991-96), responsible for the introduction of Modern Foreign Languages into primary schools. He was also a co-optee on the Curriculum Working Group for Modern Foreign Languages.

In 1996, he became Senior Inspector for Salford City Council where he was responsible for introducing the Government’s Excellence in Cities initiative in 1999.

Graus was Director of the two Wythenshawe Education Action Zones based in the south of Manchester (2000-07). The Wythenshawe Education Action Zones were and are viewed as one of the leading proponents of private/public sector partnership in school improvement.

Graus was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Staffordshire University in 2011 and was made an Adjunct Fellow by the University of Adelaide in 2013.