Monthly Archives: September 2013

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Director Janina Brutt-Griffler’s Plenary at International Linguistic Association

Namsook Kim | September 27, 2013
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Center Director Dr. Brutt-Griffler gave a plenary talk entitled Encounters with English: Present-Day English in a Multilingual World at International Linguistic Association (ILA)’s 58th Annual Conference with the theme of ‘English–Global and Local’ in New York on April 12, 2013. Abstract of the talk follows: The epoch of ‘globalization’ is characterized by the intensified transnational […]

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Center Director Dr. Brutt-Griffler gave a plenary talk entitled Encounters with English: Present-Day English in a Multilingual World at International Linguistic Association (ILA)’s 58th Annual Conference with the theme of ‘English–Global and Local’ in New York on April 12, 2013.

ELA2013

Abstract of the talk follows:

The epoch of ‘globalization’ is characterized by the intensified transnational migrations of people, the products they make, and the languages they speak. In hurling nations into competition on the world market and people into collision on the job market, it throws languages into contact. The linguistic consequences of that language contact are as complex and multidimensional as they are profound and dramatic. On the one hand, speaking a second language opens up opportunities not merely for crossing societal borders temporarily but perhaps even permanently, permitting the exit from one social identity and entry into another. No language confers such benefits more than English, called variously a world language, an international language, or a lingua franca to call attention to its unique role in a globalizing late modernity.  On the other hand, scholars of what has come to be called language endangerment predict that anywhere from fifty to ninety percent of the world’s more than 6,000 languages will disappear in the twenty-first century. My goal is to assess the validity of such claims using empirical data on language spread and offer another perspective. I suggest that the threat to the world’s endangered languages stems from a very different source—locally dominant and particularly national languages. These findings offer a cautionary note to the uncritical adoption of political analyses in linguistics and applied linguistics, however seemingly compelling the cause they espouse.


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Background

Namsook Kim | September 26, 2013
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Scholarly work in the international comparative study of education, master’s and doctoral concentrations in comparative education, and the Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education (CCGSE) have a long history at the University’s Graduate School of Education (GSE). The Center began in the 1980s in GSE’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy under the […]

Scholarly work in the international comparative study of education, master’s and doctoral concentrations in comparative education, and the Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education (CCGSE) have a long history at the University’s Graduate School of Education (GSE). The Center began in the 1980s in GSE’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy under the direction of Dr. Philip Altbach, one of the world’s most influential scholars and publishers in the field of international comparative higher education. Dr. Altbach left in 1994 to found the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, and leadership of the CCGSE and the master’s and doctoral concentrations passed in to Dr. William Cummings, who later went on to Georgetown University. Leadership then passed to Dr. D. Bruce Johnstone, former Chancellor of the State University of New York and a comparative scholar of the economics, governance and policy formation of higher education, and Dr. Yoshiko Nozaki, with scholarly interests in ethnic, class, and gender issues in comparative educational perspective.

After the retirements of Dr. Johnstone and Dr. Nozaki, the acceptance of new students into the master’s and doctoral concentrations in comparative education were placed on a temporary hold, although Johnstone has maintained his affiliation with the programs and with the International Comparative Higher Educational Finance and Accessibility (ICHEFA) Project and its influential website that he began in 1999 to study the worldwide shift of higher educational costs from predominant reliance on governments to being shared by parents and students. The Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education has been revived in 2013 under the leadership of Dr. Janina Brutt-Griffler, an internationally known scholar in the fields of sociolinguistics, language policy, and language education, who has taught at a wide range of institutions, including York University and the University of Vienna.

Under Dr. Brutt-Griffler, the Center will expand its purview to all of the departments of the Graduate School of Education to sponsor lectures, seminars, conferences, and research initiatives that advance this intellectual mission.


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Undergraduate Courses

Namsook Kim | September 26, 2013
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Language, Culture, and Education in a Global Society (ELP 450C) Are you interested in learning more about multilingualism and muticulturalism in education? We, ourselves from diverse backgrounds of everywhere in the global world as well as the United States, interact with ever-increasingly diverse people in our daily context and through the media. Then, how competent […]

Language, Culture, and Education in a Global Society (ELP 450C)

Are you interested in learning more about multilingualism and muticulturalism in education?

We, ourselves from diverse backgrounds of everywhere in the global world as well as the United States, interact with ever-increasingly diverse people in our daily context and through the media. Then, how competent are we as global citizens in our understanding, communicating, and interacting with our fellow diverse members of local, regional, national, and transnational communities?

To address the critical need for developing and fostering global leadership with improved knowledge, skills, and disposition, you are invited to participate in this hybrid course–with face-to-face classroom meetings and online participation combined. Through on-going discussions on scholarly literature, interviews, and popular cultural films, interactive lectures, presentations, group discussion leads, and empirical research projects, students will gain a deeper understanding of languages and cultures with their powerful relevance to and impact on education and beyond.

This course is appropriate for students in a range of majors interested in multilingualism and multiculturalism in a global, educational context.

ELP450C Course Flyer for Spring 2014

 


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Graduate Courses

Namsook Kim | September 26, 2013
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American Education for International Students (ELP 592) A person seeking to developing a better understanding of the United States could probably find no better place to begin than to study American education. Scholars in the U.S. both shape and are shaped by the communities they serve, and by American society at-large. Public schools in particular […]

American Education for International Students (ELP 592)

A person seeking to developing a better understanding of the United States could probably find no better place to begin than to study American education. Scholars in the U.S. both shape and are shaped by the communities they serve, and by American society at-large. Public schools in particular provide the foundation for America’s democracy and are perceived by many to be the gateway to the “American Dream”.

This course is intended to help international students develop a better understanding of America’s education system through readings, group discussions and projects and visits to area schools. In this course, students will examine American education’s philosophical underpinnings as well as its policy-making and governance structures. Students will then be asked to compare and contrast these policies and practices with those in their home countries.

Topics to be covered include: the history and goals of public education; the profession of teaching; equality of educational opportunity; multicultural and multilingual education; local control, choice, home schooling and charter schools, power and control at the state and nation levels; textbooks, curriculum and instruction, e-learning and cyber bullying; and the courts and the schools.

ELP592 Multilingual Course Brochure for Fall 2013
ELP592 Course Flyer for Fall 2013

Comparative and Global Studies in Education (ELP 566)

We are pleased to offer this important, new, graduate-level course in Comparative and Global Education. This is a great opportunity for our students to gain in-depth exposure to key educational issues in global context.

This course provides an overview of research paradigms, methods, and current trends in comparative education. The course exposes students to different theoretical lenses, research paradigms and strategies that are being used to study education in comparative perspective (e.g., sociology, economics, and policy analysis). Special emphasis is placed on large-scale international surveys of educational achievement studies (e.g., TIMSS, PISA, TALIS) and their implications for national education policy making and education research in the United States and other countries.

The topics and issues to be explored in the fall 2013 include: IEA-/OECD-type Cross-National Comparative Policy Studies; School Accountability, Autonomy, and Choice; Teacher Education, Teacher Quality, and Teacher Policies; and Educational Inequality in International Context.

ELP566 Course Flyer for Fall 2013

Comparative Higher Education (ELP 511)

This course is an introduction to the study of higher education from an international comparative perspective. All GSE students, both U.S. and international, in the programs of higher education, educational administration, educational culture, policy and society, foreign and second language education, and bilingual education who want to develop the comparative perspective are welcome to join to further their international perspective in higher education. It is designed especially for master’s and doctoral students who may be interested in:

  • Examining higher education from an international, comparative global perspective to better understand US colleges and universities;
  • Preparing for administrative positions in colleges and universities that may require an understanding of international students (e.g., admissions or student affairs);
  • Preparing to return to a university in a home country to take either an administrative or a faculty position and who who wish to know more about how colleges and universities operate worldwide;
  • Understanding what we in the US may learn from higher education in the UK, France, Germany, China, Korea, Latin America, the Middle East, or Africa;
  • And many other gems that GSE students should know!

ELP511 Course Flyer for Spring 2013

Cultural Diversity in Higher Education (ELP 513)

This course is the first in a series of courses designed to explore cultural diversity in educational settings. The cultural diversity series is intended to help students to develop an awareness and deeper understanding of cultural diversity issues. The series also challenges students to understand themselves, other people, and institutional structures in increasingly complex and dynamic ways. The first course, Cultural Diversity in Higher Education (ELP513), is designed for all students regardless of prior course work or training in cultural diversity issues. ELP513 will explore cultural diversity specially in relation to gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, ableism, and social class. The course will use developmental and sociological concepts to analyze social identity formation, social group differences, inter- and intra-group differences and relations. Concurrently, this course will explore models for implementing successful diversity management initiatives.

Economics of Education (ELP 543)

The economics of education is a field within the subject of Economics that draws upon many areas of economic specialization. This particular course is a survey course at the introductory level. It assumes that the student has at least some willingness to gain a general background in economics, enough to apply basic microeconomic concepts to a variety of educational policy issues. The course will emphasize the development of analytic skills in using economic tools for educational policy. Although the course will require familiarity with algebra and basic statistics, it will not require calculus.

It will be useful to students interested in educational administration, educational planning and policy, and those with interest in pursuing further studies in the economics of education proper.

The course readings will be made of canonical articles; though not necessarily the most recent in the literature, they will be examples of formative contributions in the overall debates. Reading examples for a variety of policy topics will be drawn from such field journals as Economics of Education Review, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

ELP543 Course Flyer for Fall 2013

Education and Social Stratification (ELP 590)

Education (K-16+) is a major contributor to processes of social stratification, where it is well established that wide variation exists in academic achievement, course taking patterns, and academic attainment at the K-12 level for varying groups in the population. Similarly, notable variation exists in patterns of college matriculation, persistence and graduation, as well as linked graduate/professional school experiences and later socioeconomic outcomes.

ELP590 explores the relationship between education and social stratification processes in American society. This course will review sociological theories and empirical research that have been concerned with the connections between family of origin and educational outcomes, and between educational attainments and labor market outcomes. The course will pay close attention to multiple bases of stratification in American society, such as social class, gender, and race/ethnicity. Although literature is drawn primarily from the United States, some cross-national material will be employed. The topics and issues to be explored in Spring 2014 include: theories of stratification; status attainment models and social mobility; mechanisms of stratification, specially as linked to schools; transitions from school to work; vertical and horizontal gender stratification; educational expansion and persistent inequality; and institutional arrangements of education systems and social stratification.

This course will provide a venue for students to think critically about the role of K-16+ institutions in explaining both educational and occupational attainment processes as well as launch their own research project on a topic of interest. The course will be valuable for those whose own work is centrally located in issues of stratification as well as those who wish to become more informed as to the ways in which educational institutions serve as “sorting machines” for the broader society.

ELP590 Course Flyer for Spring 2014

Education in a Global Economy (ELP 525)

Education is critical to our future prosperity.

In the emerging logic of global comparative and competitive advantage, education is viewed as the lynchpin for economic development. Education will be called upon to respond to current needs and for future opportunities.

This course provides an introductory survey of the links between education and economic development with examples from around the world. We start by surveying differences in educational attainment and schooling investments in various regions of the world in recent years. The course then moves to explore the factors that influence primary and secondary school enrollment and success in developing countries, the role played by higher education on economic growth, and the nature of inequities in educational outcomes on the basis of income, gender, race, and ethnicity–among other things.

Throughout the course there is a focus on key policy issues in education and economic development, such as the gender gap in schooling, child labor force participation, adult literacy programs, the role of international organizations (such as the World Bank), and the relative impact of public versus private spending on primary, secondary and tertiary education.

No previous background in economics is required; the course is theory driven, not math based. It is thus suitable for MA and PhD students interested in global issues and policy matters.

ELP525 Course Flyer for Spring 2014

Media, Globalization, and Education (ELP 687)

The so-called Arab Spring highlighted for many the role that new technology like Facebook and Twitter can play in generating new social formations and promoting social change. Information can now circulate around the world instantaneously and in ways that cannot always be controlled or contained by governments and nation states. The rapid, world-wide proliferation of new technologies and media forms has opened up important questions about the status of culture and knowledge today. New and emergent poular cultures are developing around the world, blurring the line between “consumer” and “producer” as never before. More and more information is now available across more and more kinds of media platforms, in ways unimaginable even a generation ago. While education has never been more important, core ideas about culture and knowledge and expertise and authority are now being challenged in new ways. In this course, we will explore these issues–the new challenges that education faces as it negotiates this now inextricably global landscape. Students will acquire a critical perspective on globalization and related phenomena–a set of processes that often seem natural, immutable, and beyond the control of individuals.

This course will be appropriate for all GSE students as well as students across the university interested in these concerns. It will be especially appropriate for those interested in:

  • Exploring the ways “official knowledge” is being challenged or opened up by digital communications, including “open access” venues and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), and the implications for education;
  • Examining the ways stable notions of “culture” have been challenged by young people around the world who are participating in new kinds of “subcultures” and other emergent cultural formations;
  • Thinking about pursuing research related to globalization and education (This includes doctoral and master’s students);
  • And gaining a better understanding of the range of global forces that are now permeating the everyday lives of all students (This includes teachers and administrators).

ELP687 Course Flyer for Spring 2013

Multicultural Education: Theory and Practice (ELP 582) [Hybrid Course]

 Are you a multicultural educator?
How multicultural are you?

We, aspiring or in-service K-20 education leaders–whether classroom teachers, school administrators, or policy makers, at various levels and local, regional, national, and international contexts–live with and work with and for the ever-increasingly diverse population in this multicultural society with the hopes and goals that we serve the mission of education for all. Then, how active and transformative are we, in our personal and professional philosophy and educational practices, to realize our mission to help each one of our diverse students to learn in a better, equitable educational environment?

This hybrid course–the seminar with face-to-face classroom meetings and online participation combined–is designed to create and engage in the dialogic, reflective venues through which we discuss such critical issues of multicultural education as language, gender, ethnicity, race, class, disability, and sexual orientation in not only the U.S. but also other countries. Through on-going discussion with reading, viewing, evaluating, and reflecting on relevant scholarly literature, films, lectures, interviews, and empirical case studies and ethnography, and doing a case study as a class project, students will gain a deeper understanding of and sensitivity to the dynamic conditions of multiculturalism and their influence on the construction and re-construction of personal, communal, and social identities.

ELP582 Course Flyer for Spring 2014


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A Human Capital Agenda for Educational and Economic Development

Namsook Kim | September 26, 2013
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 A Human Capital Agenda for Educational and Economic Development is the UB Office of Provost’s E Fund project that investigates in high-impact, high-return strategic initiatives responsive to NY SUNY 2020 and UB priorities. This Project aims at developing scholarly and instructional activities concerning “human capital.” This intangible asset represents a store of human knowledge and […]

 A Human Capital Agenda for Educational and Economic Development is the UB Office of Provost’s E Fund project that investigates in high-impact, high-return strategic initiatives responsive to NY SUNY 2020 and UB priorities. This Project aims at developing scholarly and instructional activities concerning “human capital.”

This intangible asset represents a store of human knowledge and productive capacity, which can be augmented through formal education, training, investments in health and wellness, and informal channels of knowledge transfer. Human capital is increasingly recognized as the engine of economic growth and social mobility in the global information economy of the 21st century. A focus on human capital is also compatible with the University’s basic mission.

We have assembled highly accomplished faculty in Economics (CAS), the Graduate School of Education (GSE) and other supporting CAS and SMBS units who are interested in advancing collaboratively a human capital agenda. The Center for Human Capital, Technology Transfer, and Economic Growth and Development [Center], founded in 2007 with a NYSTAR grant, will coordinate this agenda.

The agenda aims to transform the Center into an innovative, interdisciplinary Institute for Studies on Human Capital in collaboration with the Graduate School of Education, by launching joint research and learning programs built on existing strengths and leveraged on existing resources. We will conduct collaborative research on major educational policy issues including the efficiency of comparative education/financing systems, the private and social returns on investments in learning and training, and the role of human capital in promoting economic development. We also plan to launch an innovative MA program in economics and educational policy with an international orientation designed for education leaders, as well as a visitors program. Resources from the E-fund will be used to launch these projects and enable coordinated hiring of new faculty that would contribute to these projects and their sustainability. Our agenda emphasizes cross-disciplinary cooperation in research, grant-generation, and teaching; promotes policy analysis and civic engagement; and enhances UB’s reputation and ranking, consistent with 3E goals and UB’s 2020 strategic plans.


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International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility

Namsook Kim | September 26, 2013
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The International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility (ICHEFA) Project is a program of research, information dissemination and networking. The project is looking at the worldwide shift in the burden of higher education costs from governments and taxpayers to parents and students. Directed by Dr. D. Bruce Johnstone, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of Higher and […]

The International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility (ICHEFA) Project is a program of research, information dissemination and networking. The project is looking at the worldwide shift in the burden of higher education costs from governments and taxpayers to parents and students. Directed by Dr. D. Bruce Johnstone, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of Higher and Comparative Education Emeritus at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and managed by Pamela N.  Marcucci, the project is operated through the Graduate School of Education’s Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education.

This partial shift of costs – sometimes referred to as “cost sharing” or a part of “revenue diversification” – can be seen throughout the world, as in:

  • Mounting tuition fees in both public and private universities in the US and elsewhere.
  • Rising costs of student living, especially in urban areas, even where tuition may not yet be a factor.
  • The advent of tuition, along with the diminution or even the phasing out of student grants, and the increased interest in student loan schemes throughout Europe.
  • The introduction of tuition in China and other nations still holding to some elements of Marxist-Socialist ideology.
  • The heavy reliance on private, tuition-supported colleges and universities in much of Asia (Japan, Korea, the Philippines) and Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Mexico).
  • The emergence of private, tuition-supported colleges and universities in Russia, China and other nations that until only recently forbade both tuitions and non-state universities, and that guaranteed all students a free higher education.
  • The emergence of dual-track tuition policies in public universities throughout Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe whereby a certain number of free university places are awarded by the government and other places are available to qualified, but lower scoring, students on a tuition fee paying basis.
  • The continued—often bitter and sometimes violent—resistance to tuition fees in many countries, in spite of the presence of financial assistance, the fact that tuition fees are always far less of a financial barrier than living expenses, and the equity arguments in favor of modest tuition fees.

“Cost Sharing” is supported by the economic concepts of equity and efficiency, as well as by the apparent inability of public revenues in almost all countries to keep up with burgeoning enrollments and rising per-student costs. However, it may be strongly resisted in countries with traditions of free tuition (sometimes constitutionally enshrined), some of which also have no traditions or mechanisms of means-tested financial assistance or of student loans to maintain accessibility in the face of these rising costs.

***

A background paper by Dr. Johnstone can be found under the Publications. The policy dilemma of nations struggling with the need to maintain and extend higher educational accessibility under conditions of increasing competition for scarce public resources can be summarized in the following six propositions.

  1. Most countries are experiencing a dramatic increase in both the public and private demand for higher education as higher education comes to be recognized as the engine of economic growth and of individual opportunity and prosperity. (This is especially true of those countries still trying to change from “elite” to “mass” tertiary-level participation.)
  2. Higher education nearly everywhere–particularly in developing, or low-income, countries and in those countries in transition from command to market-driven economies–is suffering from a severe and worsening austerity. This austerity is a function of: (a) increasing enrollments, as noted above; (b) high costs and a resistance to many measures that might increase the efficiency or productivity of universities; and (c) declining public (taxpayer-based) funding. (The decline in public revenue, in turn, is a function both of increased difficulty in taxation, and of competition from other, oftentimes more politically compelling, public needs.)
  3. In light of the above two propositions, national systems and institutions nearly everywhere in the world are turning to some “cost sharing,” or “revenue supplementation,” from students and parents in the form of tuition and of more nearly full-cost recovery from the provision of room, board, and other non-instructional services.
  4. In addition to the sheer need for revenue, tuition–even in otherwise “public” institutions–is supported by concepts of equity (the notion that those who benefit should at least share in the costs), efficiency(the notion that the payment of some tuition will make students and families more discerning consumers, and the universities more cost-conscious providers), and responsiveness (the idea that the need to supplement public revenue with tuition, gifts, and grants will make universities more responsive to individual and societal needs).
  5. Thus, some increased costs borne by parents and students are probably both inevitable and economically rational. Indeed, the supplementation of higher educational revenues by non-governmental sources–primarily the family–is one of the major recommendations from the World Bank and most other development experts as one important solution to increasingly underfunded and overcrowded universities. We can see the beginnings of tuition and various kinds of fees in such countries as China, Vietnam, India, more and more countries in Latin America and Africa, and even in formerly tuition-free Britain. We see the dilemma of most of Western Europe as well as Russia, East Europe, and the other countries of the former Soviet Union, all struggling with the need for tuition to supplement increasingly inadequate public revenues for higher education, looking for loopholes in their present constitutional guarantees of free higher education. We see a mature, even if uneven, private higher education sector, mainly tuition-supported, in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Chile, and most of the rest of Latin America, and private higher education sectors emerging in the countries of the former Soviet Union and the rest of Eastern Europe.
  6. In the face of these increasing expenses born by students and parents, national systems and individual institutions face the challenge of maintaining higher educational accessibility, especially for poor, minority, rural, and otherwise underserved populations. (This challenge is particularly compelling in light of the increasing income disparities being experienced in most of the countries of the world.) In the US and many other countries, the principle of expanding higher educational opportunity and accessibility is being met, among other ways, with means-tested student financial assistanceand/or student loans or other forms of delayed payment, such as graduate taxes.

What is most problematic about this shift, at least in the developing world and in the nations of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, is that many of these countries may lack (in addition to the enormous affluence of the US) such traditions as:

  • the appropriateness of tuition—i.e., that parents and/or students should contribute to the instructional costs of high education, at least to the limit of their abilities;
  • the tradition of revealing incomes and assets, honestly, in response to tax laws or requests for the documentation of financial need for the obtaining of student assistance; or
  • the tradition of philanthropic giving to higher education, which can build up scholarship funds at colleges and universities, public as well as private.

It is because of these traditions–together with the $143 Billion dollars in student aid and loans (2007-08), most of it “need-sensitive”—that the US, in the face of very high costs of high education, can still hold to the principle that access to higher education, to the limits of a student’s ability and interest, need not be limited by family financial status. In the absence of these traditions, and of the policies and procedures that can emerge from them (which is the condition in most of the rest of the world, and nearly all of the world that is low-income, or “developing”), there is reason to believe that higher education will become increasingly unattainable to all but the affluent. “Financial need” is exceedingly difficult to ascertain and verify, especially in non-Western countries, where private sector incomes may be neither reported nor even recorded (or certainly underreported) and where tax evasion is everywhere prevalent. Whatever parental financial responsibility may exist may be limited to sons, or may be handled by extended families. Sections of the population may subsist on largely non-monetary income, making “financial need” even more difficult to assess. Yet without some way of assessing “need,” either very large segments of the population must effectively be denied access to higher education, or tuition must be kept zero or low for all students—which in light of the absence of alternative public revenue means either that the colleges and universities must limit enrollments (and continue to serve only a small elite), or must be maintained at such levels of overcrowding and shabbiness such that all students may be denied a decent higher education.

*****

This is the challenge upon which the International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility Project attempts to shed some scholarly light. The Project solicits contributions in the form of essays or short research articles either for publication as monographs or for inclusion in the website. Directions and a style guide and more about the Project and publications in multiple languages appear in the ICHEFA Project website: http://www.gse.buffalo.edu/org/IntHigherEdFinance


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Resources

Namsook Kim | September 26, 2013
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Center for Excellence in Writing http://writing.buffalo.edu Center of Excellence on Human Capital, Technology Transfer, & Economic Growth and Development http://www.head.buffalo.edu Confucius Institute http://www.confuciusinstitute.buffalo.edu College of Arts and Sciences http://www.cas.buffalo.edu Department of Economics http://economics.buffalo.edu Department of Educational Leadership and Policy http://gse.buffalo.edu/elp Department of English http://english.buffalo.edu Department of Learning and Instruction http://gse.buffalo.edu/lai Department of Transnational Studies http://www.transnationalstudies.buffalo.edu […]

Center for Excellence in Writing
http://writing.buffalo.edu

Center of Excellence on Human Capital, Technology Transfer, & Economic Growth and Development
http://www.head.buffalo.edu

Confucius Institute
http://www.confuciusinstitute.buffalo.edu

College of Arts and Sciences
http://www.cas.buffalo.edu

Department of Economics
http://economics.buffalo.edu

Department of Educational Leadership and Policy
http://gse.buffalo.edu/elp

Department of English
http://english.buffalo.edu

Department of Learning and Instruction
http://gse.buffalo.edu/lai

Department of Transnational Studies http://www.transnationalstudies.buffalo.edu

English Language Institute
http://wings.buffalo.edu/eli

Graduate School of Education
http://www.gse.buffalo.edu

Graduate School of Education Office of Graduate Admissions and Student Services
http://gse.buffalo.edu/admissions

International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility Project
http://gse.buffalo.edu/org/IntHigherEdFinance

International Students Scholars Services & Immigration Services
http://wings.buffalo.edu/intlservices

Office of International Education
http://wings.buffalo.edu/intled

Office of the Provost
http://www.buffalo.edu/provost

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
http://www.eng.buffalo.edu

Study Abroad
http://wings.buffalo.edu/studyabroad

University at Buffalo
http://www.buffalo.edu


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Comparative and Global Education (CGE)

Namsook Kim | September 19, 2013
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Description Students who select this concentration will receive the Master’s of Education (Ed.M.) degree in Education Studies. The concentration in Comparative and Global Education (CGE) is noted on the diploma. The CGE concentration is designed for students who are interested in studying education in broad-based social, cultural, and linguistic contexts. Students in this concentration seek […]

Description

Students who select this concentration will receive the Master’s of Education (Ed.M.) degree in Education Studies. The concentration in Comparative and Global Education (CGE) is noted on the diploma.

The CGE concentration is designed for students who are interested in studying education in broad-based social, cultural, and linguistic contexts. Students in this concentration seek to understand the global issues that affect educational practices and outcomes in schools, communities, and educational systems on local and global levels. The CGE concentration prepares students with both foundational and advanced knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become global educational leaders. Students in this concentration will be prepared to contribute to the most current and pressing discussions around educational policy as they are happening around the world.

Degree Concentration

Prospective Students

Format

Comparative and Global Education

(CGE)

Anyone interested in the study of education in global contexts including those aspiring to be a successful professional or academic in educational leadership. Careers include but are not limited to the following:

·         Faculty and researchers of comparative education or related fields in higher education;

·        Teachers and administrators in K-12 schools;

·        Policy makers and analysts in government and non-governmental agencies.

Hybrid

 

Successful graduates typically take jobs in:

  • Colleges/Universities–as faculty/scholars of comparative and global education or administrators in international (e.g., study abroad) programs;
  • Schools–as supervisors or school administrators;
  • Ministries–as policy makers and analysts;
  • International development or human service agencies–as analysts, program officers, or administrators;
  • Non-governmental agencies–as researchers, analysts, program officers, or administrators.


Program of Study

The strength of the CGE concentration program of study lies in the maximum flexibility in designing the program according to the dynamic needs and interests of the student. Individualized programs are built and optimized in continuous consultation with and guidance from their academic advisors.

Consider the program guide below as a guiding reference, instead of a pre-determined program universal to all students (see Course Descriptions online at: http://gse.buffalo.edu/admissions/course-descriptions).

I.    Core courses (Take a minimum of 12 credit hours from the courses below.)

  • Nature of Inquiry (ELP500)
  • Comparative Higher Education (ELP511)
  • Structure and Reform of Education (ELP530)
  • Economics of Education (ELP543)
  • Comparative and Global Studies in Education (ELP566)
  • Education and Globalization (ELP575)

II. Breadth courses (Select from University-wide course offerings. See select GSE courses below.)

  • Cultural Diversity in Higher Education (ELP513)
  • Education in a Global Economy (ELP525)
  • Culture and Schools (ELP540)
  • Foundations of Education (ELP548)
  • Women in Educational Comparative Perspective (ELP571)
  • Education in Asia (ELP574)
  • Multicultural Education: Theory and Practice (ELP582)
  • Gender and Education (ELP583)
  • Sociological Bases of Education (ELP585)
  • Education and Socialization (ELP589)
  • American Education for International Students (ELP592)
  • Qualitative Research Methods in Education (ELP593)
  • Applied Social Research (ELP685)
  • Independent Study (ELP703)

III. Culminating event (Select one of the 3 options below.)

  • Comprehensive exam (1 credit hour; twice a year, in January and May; can take up to twice)
  • Master’s Project (ELP700: 1-3 credit hours)
  • Master’s Thesis (ELP701: 1-3 credit hours)

Program Procedure

A. Initial Program

  • Upon admission to the CGE concentration program, the student designs his or her initial program using CGE Concentration Program Planner in consultation with the initial advisor and begins coursework.
  • Transfer courses, if any, should be approved by the initial advisor and the department before the end of the 2nd semester. A maximum of 6 graduate-level credit hours may be transferred into the CGE concentration program with the advisor’s approval.

B. Application to Candidacy

  • Application to Candidacy (ATC) for the Ed.M. in Education Studies agreed and signed by the permanent advisor should be filed with the department for submission to the GSE Graduate Studies Committee after completion of 12 credit hours and prior to completion of 24 credit hours.

Admissions Requirements

The CGE concentration program welcomes applications to the program on a rolling basis. All applicants are required to fulfill the following to complete their application to the CGE concentration program.

1.     Academic background

a.  A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution prior to enrolling

2.  Application fee

a.  $50, non-refundable, paid electronically or by check

3.  Transcripts

a.  Official transcripts from all colleges/universities attended. Applicants who are
currently at UB or have studied at or graduated from UB do not need to request an official UB transcript. GSE’s Office of Admissions can download and print the transcript.

b.  Please be sure to provide us with your former/maiden name if you have one. When requesting transcripts, please ask the sending institution to indicate both your current name and former/maiden name.

4.  Two recommendation letters (either from an academic or a professional reference)

5.  A sample of academic writing (approximately 5 pages long)

6.  Online application with all supporting documents (http://gse.buffalo.edu/apply).

a.  According to new policies and procedures regarding the application process effective fall 2013, all supporting documents must be uploaded and attached to your online application. This includes unofficial copies of your transcripts, recommendation letters, and any other documents required for review.

7.  English language proficiency (for international students)

a.  All applicants, including those who are transferring from or who have completed degree programs at other U.S. colleges or universities, must have their score in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) reported directly to the University. The score report must be dated within 2 years of intended enrollment at UB.

8.  Financial documentation (for international students)

a.  Complete and return the Foreign Applicant Financial Statement along with supporting documentation as outlined in the instructions.

Financial Assistance Opportunities

The Department, the Graduate School of Education, and the University offer a wide range of financial assistance opportunities to incoming and continuing students. Students should apply through a special application form to the Department. The University offers a number of competitive fellowships for which students should apply. The Graduate School provides information concerning the nature, availability, and qualifications of these fellowships. Other opportunities for financial assistance become available from time to time, and students are encouraged to keep in touch with the Department on a regular basis if financial aid is required.

Faculty

William Barba, Clinical Professor of Higher Education. Research interests include educational leadership and policy. Courses include Foundations of Higher Education, Historical Bases of Higher Education, Critical Issues in Higher Education, Higher Education in U.S., Intercollegiate Athletics in Higher Education, Supervised Professional Experience, and Law & Education.

Janina Brutt-Griffler, Professor of Foreign Language Education, ELP Department Chair, and Director of the Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education. Research interests include the understanding of language use in society, educational and language policy, and higher education. Courses include Doctoral Seminar in Sociolinguistics, Principles of First and Second Language Acquisition, and Linguistics for Second Language Education.

Nathan Daun-Barnett, Assistant Professor of Higher Education. Research interests include college access and choice in U.S. higher education and public policy in higher education. Courses include  Financing Higher Education, Program Evaluation and Assessment, Organization and Governance in Higher Education, and College Choice and Access in U.S.

Greg Dimitriadis, Professor of Educational Culture, Policy and Society and GSE Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Research interests include qualitative methods, urban education, educational policy, and popular culture. Courses include Sociological Bases of Education, Qualitative Research Methods, Sociology of School Knowledge, and Education and Globalization.

Seong Won Han, Assistant Professor of Educational Culture, Policy and Society. Research interests include international and comparative education, gender inequality in STEM, educational policy, and teacher quality. Courses include Comparative and Global Studies in Education, Education and Social Stratification, and Foundations of Education.

Megan Holland, Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Educational Administration. Research interests include sociology of education K-20, educational transition, college access, and racial and ethnic diversity. Courses include Higher Education in U.S., Changing Social Contexts for Education Leaders, Organization and Governance in Higher Education, and Educational Transitions P-20.

Stephen L. Jacobson, UB Distinguished Professor of Educational Administration. Research interests include effective principal leadership in challenging, high needs schools, the reform of school leadership preparation and practice, and teacher compensation and labor market behavior. Courses include American Education for International Students, Reforming Teacher Compensation, and School & District Capacity Building.

D. Bruce Johnstone, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of Higher and Comparative Education Emeritus and Director of the International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility Project. Research interests include higher education finance, higher education governance, and international comparative higher education. Courses include Comparative Higher Education and International Comparative Education Finance.

Namsook Kim, Clinical Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy and Assistant Director of the Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education. Research interests include transformative education in a multilingual, multicultural, global society. Courses include Multicultural Education: Theory and Practice, Cultural Diversity in Higher Education, Language, Culture, and Education in a Global Society, Principles of First and Second Language Acquisition, and Linguistics for Second Language Education.

Raechele Pope, Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs. Research interests include multicultural competence, psychosocial development of students of color, multicultural organization development, and transformative leadership. Courses include The American College Student, Cultural Diversity in Higher Education, New Futures for Higher Education, Student Development, and Practicum in Higher Education Research.

Thomas M. Ramming, Clinical Associate Professor of Educational Administration. Research interests include leadership in schools. Courses include Collective Bargaining, Clinical Seminar Interns, Leading and Effective School District, and School Business Administration.

Margaret Sallee, Assistant Professor of Higher Education. Research interests include faculty work, graduate student socialization, work/life balance, and gender and masculinities. Courses include Historical Bases of Higher Education, Student Affairs Administration, The College Professoriate, and Organization and Governance in Higher Education.

Steven Simpson, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy. Research interests include economics of education. Courses include Economics of Education, Financing Higher Education, Education in a Global Economy, and Critical Issues in Higher Education.

Corrie Stone-Johnson, Assistant Professor of Educational Administration. Research interests include educational change, educational leadership, teacher cultures, and micropolitics. Courses include Nature of Inquiry, Curriculum & Instruction Leadership, and Problems & Paradigms in Educational Administration.

Lois Weis, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Educational Culture, Policy and Society. Research interests include race, class, and gender in American schools. Courses include Qualitative Research Methods in Education, Education and Socialization, and Writing Dissertation Proposals.

Contacts

  • For questions regarding admissions:
    Mr. Ryan Taughrin
    Office of Graduate Admissions and Student Services
    Graduate School of Education
    University at Buffalo
    366 Baldy Hall
    Buffalo, NY 14260
    Phone: (716) 645-2110
    Email: ryantaug@buffalo.edu
  • For questions regarding CGSE concentration program:     Dr. Namsook Kim
    Department of Educational Leadership and Policy
    Graduate School of Education
    University at Buffalo
    475 Baldy Hall
    Buffalo, NY 14260
    Phone: (716) 645-1094
    Email: nkim3@buffalo.eduDownload CGE Concentration Program Guide & Planner. The hard copy is also available in the Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education (CCGSE) (475 Baldy Hall) and the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy (ELP) office (468 Baldy Hall).

     

 


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