Loravia is a fictional country located in Eastern Europe with a population of 20 million. The government of Loravia wants to achieve major improvements in both the quantity and quality of education for its children. Because McKinsey has great deal of global knowledge and expertise in the education sector, the Loravian Department of Education has asked McKinsey to provide advice on how they can achieve this transformation in its school system.

Loravia’s free-market economy is still developing, having emerged from many decades under communism. Recently, the government of Loravia put in place a new economic plan, with aspirations to transform its economy and “turbocharge” its development so that it is well positioned to compete with its European neighbors. The government of Loravia realizes that the education of its children is a critical factor in meeting its economic-development goals. It intends to transform its school system over the next 10 years so that it is able to support its economic aspirations.

Schooling in Loravia is completely public, and is provided by a network of government-run schools, which admit children from ages 5 through 18.

The first stage of this effort is to diagnose the current state of education in schools in Loravia to determine how best to meet the government’s future aspirations.