Master's in International Education

The mission of our program is to:

• Optimize the constructive leadership capacity of individuals to advance education reform, and social and environmental justice on a global scale.
• Enhance individual, organizational, and community resilience, effectiveness, and equity at global, national, and local levels.
• Train scholar-practitioners with the capacity to lead and address critical education issues in international organizations, government, business, and non-profit organizations.

Through this program, students will be able to:

• Recognize the rich theoretical perspectives, while stepping out into the complexities of the real world through examining the policies and practices in specific local, regional, national, and global contexts;
• Acquire the tools, methods, and habits of analysis that enable them to play a variety of key roles as leaders and change agents;
• Pursue and specialize in cutting-edge topics and issues within and across the field, such as international education development, international higher education, and global education.

IEP students and faculty engage in research that critically examines the complex challenges facing international education today—particularly in contexts of crisis and inequality. Our work explores education in emergencies and post-conflict settings, the educational experiences of refugees and migrants, and efforts to expand access to quality learning opportunities for underserved populations.

At the forefront of emerging conversations in the field, we also reimagine global citizenship and explore how education can contribute to sustainability, peace-building, and social justice in an increasingly turbulent and complex world.

Learn more about the IEP faculty and their current research interests/opportunities:

Dr. Jihae Cha’s research sits at the intersection of education, displacement, and social justice, focusing on how education quality, belonging, gender, and psychosocial well-being shape the academic experiences of students affected by forced displacement. Using narrative inquiry and participatory action research, she explores how refugee-background youth in the U.S. and East Africa construct identity and navigate belonging, from life in camps to post-resettlement. Her work challenges deficit narratives by illuminating both the structural barriers and the agency, capabilities and aspirations of displaced learners. With over a decade of experience leading and collaborating on community-based projects, Dr. Cha is deeply committed to equity-driven, participatory scholarship and enjoys mentoring master’s and doctoral students who are passionate about working alongside communities to conduct research that is both critically engaged and socially impactful. View Dr. Cha's current courses and recent publications >

Ongoing Collaborative Projects:

• Hope and Navigational Capacity of Recently Arrived Immigrant Students in Northern Virginia
• Integration of Overage Immigrant Students in Northern Virginia: Community-engaged Approaches to Educational Inclusion
• Network Analysis of Knowledge Production in Refugee Education
• Examining Factors That Influence Schooling Experiences of Students with North Korean Backgrounds in South Korea
• Understanding Education Policies on Refugees, Asylum-seekers, and Undocumented Immigrants in South Korea
• Portrayal of Refugees in South Korean Media: Implications for Public Perceptions on Refugee Education

Dr. Laura Engel's research in policy sociology and international and comparative education focuses on multilateralism and the influence of global education policy trends in national and regional systems, with specialization in federal systems. Her recent projects have focused on education policy trends related to sustainable development, nationalism, internationalization, and global governance. View Dr. Engel's current courses and recent publications >

Ongoing Collaborative Projects: 

• Global Governance of Greening Policies in Cities: This comparative study focuses on the role of cities in the global governance of policies focused on education and sustainable development. 
• Assessing Global Competence: This on-going project-based work focuses on assessments of global competence among K12 students and educators in Washington, DC and Illinois public schools.
• Ambitious Multilateralism: This study (and related course) addresses changing dynamics of multilateral governance, and how these changes affect education policy dynamics in systems worldwide.
• Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism: This series of papers with colleagues in systems around the world focuses on new education policy initiatives related to nationalism and cosmopolitanism.

Dr. Bernhard Streitwieser’s research focuses on the ways that universities compete globally (“Internationalization”); how they manage study abroad and international student exchange; and how they support access to higher education for underserved populations including at-risk migrants and refugees. His geographic focus is on Europe (Germany) and North America (the United States). View Dr. Streitwieser's current courses and recent publications >

Ongoing Collaborative Projects: 

Dr. Streitwieser currently has numerous ongoing short-term research projects that would welcome voluntary graduate student participation:

• Resilience and Higher Education with the URGENT research group (Ukrainian Research Group in Education and National Transition)
•  Higher Education Resilience in the face of global challenges: How can universities adapt to natural and political disasters?
• Media portrayals of refugee background students in the higher education literature
• A case study of Afghan university students' resettlement
• Refugee learners risking and resisting (in)visibility in and through lifelong learning (Uganda focus)