HGSE Launches International Pathway of Online Master’s

Knowing that professionals interested in going back to school to become leaders in education around the world can’t always relocate or put jobs and families on hold, the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) today announced the launch of a new master’s degree option designed specifically to focus on international education.  

Called the International Education and Policy Management (IEPM) Pathway, the two-year, part-time only “pathway” will fall under the Online Master’s in Education Leadership (OEL) Program which launched in 2021. OEL’s two initial pathways, PreK–12 and Higher Education, both focus on education in the United States. The new pathway will admit 65 students beginning this fall and focus on the challenges and issues related to education around the world.

“This newest offering of our Online Master's in Education Leadership is deeply grounded in HGSE faculty research, teaching, and field-based expertise in education policy and management internationally,” says Academic Dean Martin West. “Building from the tremendous success of our PreK–12 and Higher Education Pathways, this new pathway allows us to expand our innovative online pedagogies on a global scale, providing HGSE’s signature combination of rigorous coursework and job-embedded learning to leaders and educators worldwide.”  

IEPM’s co-director, Professor Fernando Reimers, says the timing for a new offering with a global lens couldn’t be better.  

“There are exciting efforts around the world transforming education,” he says, “and this new pathway is an opportunity to bring together those contributing to those efforts who are seeking to increase the impact of their leadership into a community of changemakers that can learn from one another and with our faculty.”

This pathway, he says, is “for people with experience in education management and policy and interested in playing a leadership role in system-level transformation to make education more accessible and relevant in empowering students to improve the world.” As working professionals, students will be able to apply what they learn in their courses directly to pressing challenges in the field, while also sharing their practical experience with classmates. “I'm excited to build a diverse, global learning community of education leaders whose professional experiences,” says Reimers, “will deeply enrich our discussions.”

This fully online degree will combine classes that are asynchronous (students access pre-recorded material at their convenience) and synchronous (live classes aligned with the Eastern time zone). The remainder of the hours will be spent working independently on assignments or in groups online with other students.

The curriculum, says Lecturer Robert Jenkins, co-director of IEPM, is designed to help students develop a set of technical professional skills while also learning and sharpening leadership know-how. A course on education policy analysis, for example, will introduce students to global challenges in education. A hands-on social entrepreneurship class will help students design innovative solutions to real-world problems. “Graduates will leave with enhanced skills,” Jenkins says, “and a wide network of colleagues engaging in education systems around the world with a shared mission to affect positive, large-scale change.”

Jenkins and Reimers say they are excited to be involved in this new, much-needed extension of the original, domestic-focused OEL Program.

“It is an incredible privilege to be part of growing a global network of committed professionals working for positive change in education,” Jenkins says. “This pathway will provide a springboard to maximize our collective impact. With exciting developments in education, including the growing evidence of the positive impact of large-scale innovations in diverse contexts, this program — by enabling the sharing of experiences and enhancing skills — will play an instrumental role in transforming education systems globally.”

Says Reimers, “I’m delighted to be collaborating with Rob Jenkins in leading this pathway and with the many colleagues on our faculty who will be teaching in it because it will give us an opportunity to be in conversation with changemakers around efforts to transform education around the world, and to contribute to preparing a generation of leaders of the global education movement to educate all children and youth well.”

Learn more and start an application.