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Be part of global change. Gain the leadership experience and technical skills required to successfully design, advise, and implement innovative education policies and programs to improve education systems globally.
As part of our online Ed.M. program in education leadership, the International Education Policy and Management Pathway will prepare you to lead and advise in policy-oriented processes and large-scale programming initiatives that transform education systems in international, development, and crisis-affected settings. Drawing on comparative and international knowledge and skills in analysis and management, you will learn to lead education systems towards greater relevance, effectiveness, and accessibility.
This two-year, part-time online pathway, is for education professionals with a significant level of relevant work experience. This may include experienced professionals who are focused on program management, development, and policy engagement in ministries of education or other related government organizations, or in entities engaging with education systems and platforms at large scale. This pathway is intentionally designed to be career-embedded, meaning you can immediately apply what you are learning, in real time, to the work you are doing in your organization. You will also be encouraged to share and leverage your experience to support actionable, real-world positive change.
Throughout your participation in this exclusive cohort-based program, you’ll have the opportunity to interact with esteemed Harvard faculty and experienced colleagues working worldwide; build a lifelong global network of peers; and enhance your leadership, technical, and management capacities.
For those looking to make an impact in education across the United States, please explore our PreK−12 and Higher Education Pathways.
“This program offers a rare opportunity for education professionals around the world to gain the skills, networks, and global perspective needed to lead meaningful reform and shape the global education movement. You’ll join an accomplished and diverse cohort of changemakers, learn from world-class faculty, and become part of a lifelong global community of leaders transforming education systems to educate all children well.” Fernando ReimersFaculty Co-Chair
“This program offers a rare opportunity for education professionals around the world to gain the skills, networks, and global perspective needed to lead meaningful reform and shape the global education movement. You’ll join an accomplished and diverse cohort of changemakers, learn from world-class faculty, and become part of a lifelong global community of leaders transforming education systems to educate all children well.”
Fernando ReimersFaculty Co-Chair
After completing the International Education Policy and Management Pathway, you will have strengthened competencies to:
Our prescribed curriculum is intentionally designed to meet your professional needs. It is anchored in both foundational knowledge and core competencies in education policy and program design and management. You will also have the opportunity to select courses from a small subset of electives. A minimum of 42 credits are required to graduate with an Ed.M. degree from HGSE.
The main elements of this academic year curriculum are:
Throughout the two-year program, you will participate in Foundations courses in up to four areas: How People Learn, Leading Change, Evidence, and Advancing Equity and Opportunity. Through the Foundations, you’ll build core skills central to the profession of education.
Students will take core courses that align with the following sectors in which their work will make an impact.
Students will have the opportunity to choose from a curated list of electives during the fall and spring of their second year.
Courses combine synchronous meetings and asynchronous work and assignments. Live or synchronous aspects of required courses will occur on varied weekdays (Monday–Friday) between 8 and 11 a.m. ET. Typically, students in the program will take 8–10 credits per semester. At HGSE part-time students must take at least six credits but no more than 10 credits per semester.
On average, this degree requires 14–20 hours per week of work. Students can expect to spend approximately five to seven hours per week in synchronous online class sessions with faculty members and classmates. The remainder of the hours will be spent working independently on assignments, asynchronously in courses, or in groups with other students from your cohort. Typically, students can expect to dedicate an estimated 8–10 hours a week for assignments per course, but this may increase during busier times of the semester.
Students will work closely with faculty associated with their area of study, but students can also work with and take courses with faculty throughout HGSE. View our faculty directory for a full list of HGSE faculty.
Robert Jenkins brings over 30 years of experience in international development and humanitarian programming in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
An expert in global education, Fernando Reimers focuses his work on building an understanding of how to educate children so they can thrive in the 21st century.
The International Education Policy and Management Pathway prepares you for a variety of leadership, technical, strategic, and programmatic careers in a range of areas, including:
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Explore examples of the Online Master's in Education experience and the impact its community is making on the field:
Alfred Santos, the 2026 winner of the Phyllis Strimling Award, helps female students see STEM as a reachable field
HGSE’s online students share what they’ve learned and how they’re applying it in real time
Degrees & Programs
If you have program-specific questions, please contact OEL Associate Director Nicole Barone.