Study program

The Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Education Policies for Global Development (GLOBED) is a postgraduate Masters programme (120 ECTS), taught full-time over 2 years and divided in 4 semesters (30 ECTS each).

Students shall start their studies at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, followed by a semester that will contain elective courses offered by the University of Glasgow, the University of Cyprus and the University of Bremen, provided that students will follow these courses at one university or the other. Students will start the third semester with an internship at our Associate Partners and will do the regional specialisation course and fieldwork afterwards. Finally, students will write their thesis during the fourth semester, right after the Winter School.

1st semester

Autonomous University of Barcelona

Global education policies
5 ETCS
Provides a solid theoretical foundation that helps participants make sense of the multi-dimensional relationship between global governance and education policy, looking at how globalization has altered the way we think about and study education policy. More specifically, this study unit focuses on theories of globalization, global governance and education policy, and the analysis of specific global education policies and programmes.
Actors in education and development
5 ETCS
Sets out to understand how international organisations work, how they are governed, and by whom, thus introducing students to key agencies and actors involved in education internationally, through a critical review of their policies and practices. This leads to a deeper understanding of how global education policy agendas are constituted, and by whom, and how they are transposed and reconceptualised in multiple contexts. The role of supra-national actors in a global governance scenario and education for development in the international aid regime are particularly important concerns in this study unit.
Theories of social justice in education
5 ETCS
Puts social justice at the heart of educational policy making, thus departing from mainstream approaches that restrict their understanding of development to economic returns. Different conceptualisations of social justice are examined, focusing in particular on the most relevant debates concerning the intersections between social policies and inequalities in contemporary societies.
Educational development, poverty and global inequalities
5 ETCS
Focus on the relationship between education, poverty and inequalities in the global context. The course explores current debates on globalization, poverty and inequality and the place and role education play within these debates. Students will get familiar with the main policies and programmes that focus on education as a means to fight poverty and/or inequalities.
Basic research methods
10 ETCS
Introduces students to the fundamentals of educational research, building on their prior knowledge and experience in order to consider the ways in which a range of research strategies, drawing from a variety of traditions, can be deployed in educational studies generally, and in education for development more specifically. Both basic qualitative and quantitative methods are addressed in this course, as well as the epistemological implications related to research processes. Methods are therefore seen as inextricable from epistemological and ontological considerations.
Place ECTS Subjects
Barcelona 5 Global education policies
5 Actors in education and development
5 Theories of social justice in education
5 Educational development, poverty and global inequalities
10 Basic research methods

2nd semester

Over and above the core study units, the GLOBED programme also offers a number of electives during the second semester of the course. These electives provide a deepening and contextualisation of the broad knowledge base offered during the first semester, and reflect the substantive interests and expertise of the consortium partner universities, together with their specialist knowledge of specific regions in the Global South. Students can thus choose a study path that correspond to their academic and professional interests.

The University of Glasgow (UOG), University of Cyprus (UCY), and the University of Bremen (UB), each offering study units worth 30 ECTS in all, have been planned for the second semester of the Master’s programme.

STUDY PATHWAY 1

Education and Global Development

University of Glasgow

Advanced research methods
10 ETCS
Provides students with the depth of understanding and comprehensive skill set needed to conduct educational enquiry and apply this to the development of their thesis proposal. The aims of the course are 1) to build on the knowledge base acquired from the course ‘Basic research methods”, 2) to develop the understanding required to select and apply diverse and appropriate methods of enquiry to the thesis proposal, 3) to equip students with the skills of data collection (primary and secondary), analysis, interpretation and presentation needed to apply and evaluate appropriate qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods of educational enquiry, 4) to provide experience in using analytical software packages for qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods of educational enquiry and 5) to support the development of strategies for project management and research design for the thesis proposal.
Education and international development
10 ETCS
Critically considers the range of theories and approaches regarding development, from classical traditions (such as the modernization and dependency theories) to contemporary alternative approaches focusing on sustainability and capabilities. The contrasting ways in which the aims and goals of education are defined in the different approaches to development are analysed in the light of historically generated insights.
International and comparative education
10 ETCS
Aims to introduce participants to key dimensions of comparison in international education and to apply them to specific fields such as Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), citizenship education of processes of policy borrowing. It outlines major theoretical underpinnings and assumptions behind cultural and political economy comparative frameworks in education. The course encourages students to apply these frameworks to international comparisons and judge the explanatory power of the different approaches as well as their normative implications. Quantitative and qualitative methods of comparison are presented to familiarise students with possible research strategies to develop their future theses.
Place ECTS Subjects
GLASGOW 10 Advanced research methods
10 Education and international development
10 International and comparative education

STUDY PATHWAY 2

Comparative and Inclusive Education

University of Cyprus

Advanced research methods
10 ETCS
Provides students with the depth of understanding and comprehensive skill set needed to conduct educational enquiry and apply this to the development of their thesis proposal.
Comparative education
10 ETCS
Tackles system, transfer, space, time, state, context, culture, identity. Deconstructing entrenched ideas, CE compares countries and systems, looking for similarities and differences. Globalization, internationalization, Europeanisation, democratisation, colonialism, neo- imperialism and their educational codings. The role of international organisations in global and local education. The dialectic of the global and the local. European education policy and national translation.
Special and inclusive education
10 ETCS
Aims at introducing students to Inclusive Education issues through knowledge and critical reflection on the history, policy and practice in different contexts, and in Cyprus. The students are expected to 1) develop an understanding of Inclusive Education (basic concepts and controversial issues), 2) develop an understanding of the move from segregation to integration and inclusion as far as different groups of learners are concerned, with a focus on learners with disabilities, 3) develop skills to criticise existing research, policy and practice and suggest alternative approaches that are at a par with the inclusive education literature, 4) understand how competency in evaluating and synthesising research papers and monitor their learning about inclusive education issues.
Place ECTS Subjects
CYPRUS 10 Advanced research methods
10 Comparative education
10 Special and inclusive education

STUDY PATHWAY 3

Global, Social and Education Policies

University of Bremen

Advanced research methods
10 ETCS
Provides students with the depth of understanding and comprehensive skill set needed to conduct educational enquiry and apply this to the development of their thesis proposal. The aims of the course are 1) to build on the knowledge base acquired from the course ‘Basic research methods”, 2) to develop the understanding required to select and apply diverse and appropriate methods of enquiry to the thesis proposal, 3) to equip students with the skills of data collection (primary and secondary), analysis, interpretation and presentation needed to apply and evaluate appropriate qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods of educational enquiry, 4) to provide experience in using analytical software packages for qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods of educational enquiry and 5) to support the development of strategies for project management and research design for the thesis proposal.
Governance and education
10 ETCS
Introduces theories of Organisational Sociology, Organisational Psychology and theories on Governance, Education and Social Management. Fundamental concepts of the Administrative Sciences and Public Management will be discussed. Moreover, administrative and organisational routines in the field of social and education policy and their influence on German, European and international institutional arrangements on a state-level, but also with respect to institutions of the Civil Society and private organisations will be questioned.
Inequality, education and justice
10 ETCS
Gives an overview of the history of welfare state theories, the development of education systems. Students also learn how to analyses fundamental problems of normative theories of justice in these contexts. Discussions will be based on relevant literature from the social sciences, education policy and the theory of law as well as political theory and political philosophy. The objective of the module is to enable students to read and interpret challenging literature on the normative aspect of welfare state theory and education policy. They will be introduced to theoretical problems, which in consequence help to identify and analyse concrete political problems convincingly.
Place ECTS Subjects
BREMEN 10 Advanced research methods
10 Governance and education
10 Inequality, education and justice

3rd & 4th
semesters

In advance of the start of the second year, students will formally enrol at the UCY for the third semester for the regional specialisation, fieldwork and Winter School courses, and at the UB for the internship course. On the fourth semester students will enrol in all three full partner universities: the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Cyprus.

Internships
15 ETCS
During the third semester students are placed in internships, where they have the opportunity to make stronger and more meaningful links between the theoretical literature they have been reading and the realities of education for development work in the field. They will be expected to keep reflective journals, which are constantly and regularly monitored by the consortium lecturers, who, together with regular staff in the internship placements, will provide academic and professional mentoring and support as needed.
Fieldwork
5 ETCS
The internships will also help students prepare for the fieldwork that they wish to carry out for their thesis, and in some cases may actually overlap, with the internship site also becoming the place for data collection. Together with the Winter School, the fieldwork experience is worth 10 ECTS, with students eventually meeting in Cyprus to share and reflect on their experiences in the field.
Regional specialization
5 ETCS
One of the novelties of the new Master will be the Regional Specialization course, registered at the UCY for 5 ECTS. It also takes place in the third semester, when students will meet in small groups to follow the remote lectures coordinated by one of the Key Associate Partners, depending on their regional interest: Asia, Mediterranean, South-Saharan Africa, or Latin America. The Asian course is led by Professor Keita Takayama from the University of South Australia. The Latin American course is taught by Javier González and Rafael Carrasco from SUMMA, while the African course is led by Professor Stephanie Allais from Wits University in South Africa.
Place ECTS Subjects
- 15 Internships
5 Fieldwork
5 Regional specialization

GLOBED Winter School

University of Cyprus

Gloded Winter School
5 ETCS
The course offers students the opportunity to reflect on the processes of negotiation/access to fieldwork and data collection, adjust their initial research design, and prepare for the data analysis phase of their thesis. Students will be encouraged to share their experiences in fieldwork and to elaborate on how the data collection process has shaped the nature and the quality of the evidence produced. Methodological literature will be made available to students as well as individual feedback from peers and experienced researchers.

Master Thesis

Barcelona, Glasgow, Cyprus, Bremen

The fourth and final semester is dedicated to the writing of the thesis, under the supervision of one or two consortia staff. Given the overall goals of the GLOBED Masters, which aspires to provide an academic and professional apprenticeship for those wanting to work in the field of education for development, students will be able to produce an academic article or policy report, in cooperation with their supervisors. The thesis is credited with 30 ECTS, and here too students will be provided with a guidebook to ensure that expectations and standards in regard to academic, professional and ethical conduct are as transparent as possible.

 

🎓 Master’s Theses Publicated

Find a selection of our students’ outstanding Master’s theses. These works showcase the academic excellence, critical thinking, and global perspective fostered in our program.

Author: Luke T. Ducemann (Edition 8). Link: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/320471 
Director: Xavier Rambla (UAB)
Title: ¿Pura vida para quién? A Qualitative Study on the Removal of Benefits in Costa Rica’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program “Avancemos” and Its Effects on Secondary Students’ Educational Trajectories and School-to-Work Transitions.

Author: Matilde Bosio Antisso (Edition 8). Link: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/320472 
Director: Michele Schweisfurth (UoG)
Title: From History to Reality: Gender Representations in Italian History Textbooks and Their Impact on Students.

Author: Natalia Acosta Ponce (Edition 8). Link: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/320473
Director: Oscar Valiente (UoG)
Title: Evaluating the role of financial incentives in teacher retention: a study on the special hardship allowance in challenging and hard-to-staff school environments.

Author: Noelle Ria Marie C. Roa (Edition 8). Link: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/320474
Director: Janice Kim (UoG)
Title: A study on the Special Hardship Allowance and its impact on teacher retention in challenging and hard-to-staff school environments.

 

Agreement & Handbook

Download the Edition VII Student Agreement & Handbook.
DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT

Internship Catalogue

Download the Edition IX Internship Catalogue and have a look at the seats offered by the Associate Partners in 2025
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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA can be held responsible for them.