The International Educational Development Program at Boston University is an intensive 40-credit program that prepares graduates to work with government and non-government agencies to design, implement, and evaluate programs at the local, regional, and national levels. This comprehensive graduate program reaches far beyond the classroom by helping people around the world develop new knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors including in the U.S.. Our students do more than examine problems from afar; they find solutions through extensive hands-on training.

In addition to developing a broad understanding of education and training, our students gain insight into political, social, cultural, and organizational dynamics. Students who graduate with a Master of Education (Ed.M.) in International Educational Development are well-equipped with the technical skills and conceptual frameworks to develop and implement educational programs for cultural, social, and economic development in their own or other countries.

To date, 58 percent of IEDP graduates have been international students; most American students have had overseas development experience. The program includes three semesters of study, including a fieldwork experience, writing a funding proposal, and a thesis. Generally, our students enter the program in September and complete their studies with the defense of a master's thesis in three semesters, taking a core curriculum that examines the various perspectives (cultural, political, economic, epistemological, pedagogical) in education for development as well as an internship in an agency or institution.

Our graduates are applying their skills and knowledge around the globe and here at home. Some work with the World Bank, UNICEF, and UNESCO (both at the mission levels and at the headquarters) to improve project planning and evaluation within those multilateral organizations. Others work with consulting development organizations such as World Education, Education Development Center, and the Academy for Educational Development. Click here for more information about our graduates in the Frequently Asked Questions section.

Today's world includes a large population that is deprived of access to democracy or social justice, and loyalty is exclusively to the family or ethnic group. Ignorance, hunger, poverty, and disease affect more people today than they did fifty years ago. We have a lot of work to do, and we need students who are committed to making a difference in the world.

Required Courses

Where some of our graduates are now:
• Attending doctoral programs to teach development studies in universities around the world.
• Running or establishing their own organizations.
• Working for multi-lateral organizations such as the World Bank, UNICEF, and UNESCO (both at mission levels in country and at the headquarters) to improve those organizations’ project planning and evaluation process.
• Working with national foreign aid and development agencies such as JICA, USAID, and Peace Corps, where they have major responsibilities for project selection and monitoring.
• Working with consulting development organizations such as World Education, Education Development Center and the Academy for Educational Development.
• Working with non-governmental organizations such as International Rescue Committee and Save the Children, which are multi-national and others with indigenous ones in their home countries.
• Working with government organizations either as nationals (for example, one is working for the Oman government as a citizen) or as ex-pats (for example, an American is working for the Turkish government in a technical training college).
• Working with religious organizations such as Lutheran World Relief overseas, while some are affiliated with faith-based development organizations here in the United States.

Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the main goals of the IEDP?
A: The IEDP prepares people to create strategies to solve development problems. These may take the form of changes in current policies or projects, the adaptation of current projects to new contexts or new problems, or the creation of new projects or policies. The IEDP challenges people to think in new ways, critique the traditional ways of believing about change and development, and to give much more attention to the nature of the problem.

Q: What is the relationship between education and development?
A: Education goes beyond schooling. Education means purposeful change in people’s knowledge, skills, behavior, and attitudes about such things as the relationships between the individual and the state in emerging democracies.

Q: How long will it take me to complete the IEDP?
A: The IEDP requires a minimum of 40 credits, and there is a sequence of core courses that covers three semesters. Although the program is designed for completion in three semesters, sometimes students select topics for their thesis that may require more time.

Q: What kinds of topics have served as the basis for an IEDP project thesis?
A: Here are some topic examples by graduates of the IEDP:
• Linking Education and Employment in Morocco: Policy Recommendations
• An Experimental Project for Improved Adult Education Strategies and Programs in Niger
• Reducing Child Obesity in the United States
• Functional Literacy in Thailand
• Promoting Small Scale Enterprises by Urban Poor Women in Thailand
• Improving Indian Education in Northern Colombia
• The Internet and China’s Economic Development


Financial Aid Director Joseph R. Stein
Boston University School of Education
sedaid@bu.edu
617-353-4238

Graduate Admissions Director Margaret Sullivan
Boston University School of Education
sedgrad@bu.edu
617-353-4237

Course descriptions

Download a description of this program

International Educational Development website