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Dirk Schmautzer

PartnerDubai

Shapes economic and human capital development strategies to boost growth and create jobs. Leads McKinsey’s Education Practice in the Middle East and co-leads our Global Economic Development Practice.

Dirk Schmautzer is based in our Dubai office. He co-leads our global Economic Development Practice and leads our Education Practice in the Middle East. Dirk is a former fellow of the McKinsey Global Institute, our economic think tank, where he led major research on economic development and government reform.

In the field of economic development, Dirk has shaped multiple country and sector strategies worldwide, including in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. For example, he supported the development and implementation of a country strategy for a major Gulf Cooperation Council country, which set out detailed reform initiatives and growth strategies for financial services, logistics, tourism, and manufacturing. The strategy led to significant job creation and increase in foreign direct investment. Dirk has also worked on sector-level reform strategies in both developing and developed markets, and has helped lead “delivery units” to support country- and sector-wide reform implementation.

In the field of education, Dirk supported the design and implementation of the largest reform of technical and vocational training (TVET) in the world, including developing new TVET public-private partnership models, building up regulatory institutions and driving school-level reforms. He also worked with major ministries of education on holistic K-12 reform strategies and helped them, and other government institutions, improve their efficiency and effectiveness.

Published work

Reimagining education in MENAP,” McKinsey & Company, July 2022

Reimagining higher education in MENAP,” McKinsey & Company, May 2022

How COVID-19 caused a global learning crisis,” McKinsey & Company, April 2022

A government blueprint to adapt the ecosystem to the future of work,” McKinsey & Company, February 2020

Unlocking the full potential of city revenues,” McKinsey & Company, July 2019

Beyond austerity: A path to economic growth and renewal in Europe,” McKinsey Global Institute, October 2010

Education

University of Muenster
PhD, finance and economics

University of Cologne/Stockholm School of Economics
MBA