Global Studies in Education Online Masters Program

Fall Semester Application Deadline May 15, 2013

We are all Citizens of the World.

The Global Studies in Education (GSE) Masters program, which leads to a Master of Education (EdM) with a specialization in Educational Policy Studies and a focus on Global Studies in Education, is based on the realization that the world has become inextricably interconnected as well as interdependent, and education cannot afford to ignore this new reality.

There is a need to extend knowledge of the world and develop critical skills to understand the changing economic, political, and cultural contexts within which education takes place. At the same time, the new contexts provide educators, administrators and professionals (administrators, librarians, NGO workers, personnel working in transnational companies, military personnel, etc.) with wonderful new opportunities to enhance the quality of their teaching, training and guidance by connecting with a network of global citizens from all around the world. GSE enables critical considerations to the ways in which globalization affects work and lives.

Connecting to Global Citizens through GSE online

Global Studies in Education is a high quality online program that blends the convenience of distance online learning with the closeness of on-site instruction by affording the opportunity to learn together with instructors and classmates in a synchronized virtual classroom where students and faculty hear and speak with one another. Convenience of communication is also afforded through asynchronous weekly writing sessions, where discussions can be thoughtfully and collaboratively developed prior to real-time audio visual meetings. Of course this global connection can be accomplished from anywhere in the world.

All GSE courses are taught by core faculty, who are connected to an international network of higher education institutions, publish extensively on theories of globalization; post-coloniality; identity and the politics of representation; youth cultures; identity, culture and education; and the emerging role of international and non-government organizations in the development and evaluation of educational policies. The faculty organizes major international conferences, consults with governments and non-governmental organizations; edits various journals; and are editors for a new book series, Global Studies in Education with Peter Lang Publishers, New York.

Designed for Global Perspectives in Education

Global Studies in Education builds upon the traditions of comparative and international education programs at the University of Illinois. The division has strong links with other university units and study centers, including the Center for Global Studies, and 11 other thematic and area studies resource centers that are concerned with teaching and researching international and global issues that affect people on local national and global levels.

Our faculty and students are interested in examining and researching the changing forms of global interconnectivity and interdependence in areas such as but not limited to:

• educational policy and governance
• youth cultures
• new media and popular cultures
• the politics of social identities
• postcolonialism in education
• gender, class and racial inequalities
• the political economy of knowledge production and management
• development and education
• issues concerning the new global ecologies of learning
• critical citizenship

GSE, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the World

Global Studies in Education (GSE) is a division of the department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership (EPOL) in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The University of Illinois is a Tier I research institution, and is home to 11 Nobel Laureates and 18 Pulitzer Prize recipients. We are an institution with a history of excellence and global reach recognized by the following associations:

•  2008 NASFA: Association of International Educators listed the University of Illinois as one of five recipients of the 2008 Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization. The award recognizes outstanding and innovative efforts in campus internationalization.
• 2010, the Institute for Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranked Illinois as the 25th best university in the world and the 19th best university in America.
• 2012 The College of Education is ranked 22nd in graduate programs nationally according U.S. News & World Report with the EPOL department obtaining a national ranking of 13.
• As a UIUC student, you will have access to the largest public university research library in the United States.

For more information in regards to quality of education at the University of Illinois and the weight a Masters degree from Universtity of Illinois carries, please visit: http://illinois.edu/about/about.html