**Preface**

The topic "educational development and social justice" is profound. Our focus on this topic dates back to 2010. It was in that year, at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education (CSHPE), University of Michigan, that Professor Edward St. John, Professor Wang Chen, Dr. Li Xu, and Dr. Yang Lijing jointly discussed how to explore the subject of education promoting social justice in the context of globalization and under the framework of international comparison, as well as their collaborative research plans. The program has carried out several activities with funding from the International Cooperative Research Project of the Faculty of Education of Beijing Normal University (FOE, BNU), including Professor St. John's lecture series titled "Education and Social Justice in the Global Period" (2012), the workshop on "Actionable Research for Education Equity and Social Justice" (2015), and the book *Actionable Research for Educational Equity and Social Justice: Higher Education Reform in China and Beyond* (Routledge, 2018).

Around the same time, the Huiyan Education Fund provided a grant to the FOE for the research and development of international education, with which the FOE established the International Joint Research Project. Our research program "Educational Development and Social Justice" was awarded a three-year grant in 2019 (2019–2022) after a rigorous application process.

The "Education Development and Social Justice" project and the Center for Educational Development and Social Justice focus on structural educational inequalities in the international community. We explore the application of cross-border comparative research in studying global educational development models and look into the experiences, processes, and problems faced in educational equity. The project brings together international and Chinese experiences, working with scholars, students, and members of society concerned about educational equity to ponder issues related to educational development and social justice, and jointly explore the best way to achieve educational equity and social justice. At the same time, special attention is paid to educational opportunities for children from low-income families in rural and urban areas and marginalized groups, as well as social work in higher education. We actively participate in the reform and practice of promoting adequate educational opportunities and better educational resources for disadvantaged groups. We cooperate with social groups and actors that care about educational equity (such as the Yidan Education Foundation) to jointly promote educational equity.

During the three-year project, even with the disruption of the pandemic, we overcame various difficulties and we used available domestic and foreign resources to carry out a series of courses on educational development and social justice, actionable research to promote equity in education in the country, and international seminars, all of which led to fruitful results and established extensive cooperation.

In the fall semester of 2019–2020, the program invited over Professor Edward St. John (Chief-Expert International) and Dr. Daun-Barnett from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Professor Edward St. John gave a lecture entitled "Global Contexts for Promoting Education Equity: International Agenda for the BNU Center for Education Development and Social Justice", and Dr. Daun-Barnett gave a talk on "Collective Impact in Buffalo NY: Educational Equity Through Community Collaboration". We offered two international courses in the spring and fall semesters of 2020–2021 and the fall semester of 2021–2022. The first course was History of American Education, taught by Professor Kate Rousmaniere of the University of Miami; the second was American Education and Higher Education: 1810–1960, led by Professor Adam R. Nelson and Associate Professor Walter Stern of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the spring semester of 2022–2023, we invited Professor Yang Lijing of Ohio University to shed light on the latest theories and applications of international comparative education research to graduate students of the Institute of Educational History and Culture.

From its inception, the Center for Educational Development and Social Justice planned to publish its excellent research results in journals. In the summer of 2022, an email from one Education Sciences Special Issue editor made the plan a reality. After a discussion, we set the theme of the Special Issue of Education Sciences as "Education Improvement Promoting Human Capabilities Development in Post-Neoliberal Period". The research focused on addressing contemporary educational improvement challenges and promoting the capacity development of people from diverse backgrounds. We invited Dr. Luxi Chen, Dr. Zachary Taylor, and Dr. Lijing Yang to form the editorial board. We asked Dr. Xu Li, Dr. Nathan J. Daun-Barnett, and Dr. Cliona Hannon to write research articles. These articles discuss the challenges faced by China, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States in developing competencies for vulnerable groups, compare the connections and differences between developed and developing countries, and examine policies and programs to expand access to education to jointly explore more humanistic solutions for educational equity and social justice in the new era. While planning and writing the Special Issue, an author, Professor Patricia Somers, passed away due to illness, and we would like to express our deepest condolences.

During the three-year project, we received strong support from Professor Zhang Binxian and Associate Professor Sun Yi from the Institute of Education History and Culture of Beijing Normal University; Su Sanna, Director of Scientific Research of the Faculty of Education; Wang Hejia, Coordinator; Li Mingmei, Liu Min, and Hong Xiaohan, doctoral students of the Faculty of Education; and Luo Qiubai, a master's student. We express our gratitude to these personnel.
