PhD in Education

The COE (College of Education) PhD offers a track in Global & International Education through the Department of Educational Foundations. This track is designed to prepare individuals in range of leadership, academic, policy, and research positions to meaningfully incorporate global perspectives into their professional practice. Put differently, this PhD track is relevant for those who occupy or aspire to the following position classroom teacher, school leader, school system administrator, higher education practitioner, study abroad facilitator, community leader, education analyst or researcher, university faculty, and professionals working in non-profit or non-governmental organizations. 

This unique PhD track examines how the cultural, technological, economic, and political aspects of globalization affect education policy and practice in a multitude of ways from early childhood education through advanced graduate studies. As the effects of globalization continue to manifest and to evolve, the insights gained are not only essential for professionals across every level of education but also across geographic regions, from the United States to the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Globalization presents challenges and opportunities by making the world more interconnected, by facilitating the dissemination of ideas and knowledge, by encouraging the movement of peoples, by creating new political bodies that create education policies at the supranational level, and by placing new pressures on local communities and national economic systems—all of which has major implications for education.

A key feature of this PhD track is that it goes beyond a focus on understanding these dimensions of globalization to also provide program participants with tools, frameworks, lessons, and strategies that can be adapted to numerous educational and organizational contexts. There are valuable resources embedded in this program that can help you improve your practice—and the practices of your organization—whether you are a classroom teacher, a school leader, a higher education professional, a school system administrator, or any of the other professional positions mentioned above. The courses in this program will focus on topical issues that are common to all educational systems and are appropriate for education professionals in diverse geographical locations. As indicated by the course titles further below, the courses focus, among other things, on how to analyze the effects of globalization on education policy and the curriculum (within and beyond the United States); drawing lessons from the policies and practical responses of a range of countries; critically understanding multiculturalism and diversity (and how to embody these ideals at multiple levels); analyzing education from a “systems” perspective that emphasizes the interconnectedness of each aspect of education reform and educational change; and examining the strategies and responses of teachers, principals, higher education professionals, and communities when it comes to how they “internationalize” their curricular, leadership, and programmatic activities.