MASTER OF ARTS IN CROSS-CULTURAL AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

(MACIE)

A new degree program called Master of Arts in Cross-Cultural and International Education (MACIE) is now being offered in Educational Foundations and Inquiry (EDFI) at Bowling Green State University.  The purpose of the program is to prepare professional educators to be effective leaders in the internationalization of schools and communities and to be positive facilitators of cross-cultural understanding.  As cultures merge and populations diversify, educators in the new millennium must be prepared to teach in a world that has changed over the last century.  In light of these changes, teachers are faced with at least two challenges.  The first is to recognize and support the existing diversity within school settings as an educational asset.  The second is to lead efforts in reconstructing education in a global context.  The purpose of this degree program is to prepare professional educators to be effective leaders in the internationalization of schools and communities and to be positive facilitators of cross-cultural understanding.  The focus of the degree program is to prepare a global educator who is able to: 1) serve as a leader in internationalizing curriculum; 2) foster international educational partnerships; and 3) infuse education policy and practice with cross-cultural awareness.

As one of the largest colleges in Ohio dedicated to teacher education (graduating approximately 750 teacher education students annually), Bowling Green State University’s College of Education and Human Development is committed to developing the global professional at the graduate level.  While attractive to professional teachers seeking a graduate degree, the program is not limited to schoolteachers.  The unique curricular design of the MACIE program will be of interest to individuals from both formal and non-formal settings.  Members of the EDFI faculty have conducted work in African, Asian, and European settings, as well as in Canada and the United States.

Purposefully located within the theoretical framework of the Educational Foundations, students in the MACIE program will apply social, political, and economic lenses to interpret educational policies and practices from comparative perspectives.  The program’s core component consists of three foundations courses, namely Cultural Studies in Education, Comparative Education, and Cross-Cultural Human Development and Learning.  An interdisciplinary component is another aspect of the program, in which students choose a cognate (e.g., international development across cultures, poverty and marginalization across cultures, gender constructs across cultures) or design their own cognate with approval from their advisor.  These courses are chosen from other colleges across the campus.  Other MACIE program components include language acquisition, research and inquiry, and a capstone for which students complete either a Master’s thesis or a comprehensive exam and seminar.  A unique feature of the program is a required cross-cultural internship component whereby students complete an educational internship in an international setting or with a historically disadvantaged and under-served population in the United States. 

We are now inviting inquiries and applications.  For further details, please contact: Patricia Kubow, Associate Professor, Comparative and International Education, Phone: 419-372-7380, Email: pkubow@bgsu.edu