If your question does not appear below you can contact the Program Director, Iveta Silova at ism207@lehigh.edu for further assistance.

THE COMMUNITY

Who are the people in the CIE program?

While attracting full time students is our priority, the CIE program makes a special effort to serve the large (yet frequently overlooked) pool of education professionals – policymakers and practitioners – who may not necessarily be able to commit to a full-time graduate study, yet are strongly motivated to pursue a graduate degree in international and comparative education. Potential students may include government officials and education policy makers, research/policy institute scientists, program officers, as well as schoolteachers and administrators from both the United States and abroad. 

In addition to traditional school settings, potential students come from (and can expect to move upon graduation to) government offices, ministries of education, and international development organizations, including:

• International financial institutions, including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, and others.
• Multilateral organizations, including UN agencies (UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
• Bilateral organizations like USAID.
• Non-governmental organizations such as the American Institutes for Research (AIR), Academy for Educational Development (AED), Open Society Institute (OSI), Save the Children, World Vision, and others.

How does the CIE program create an international learning community?
The 'global classroom" allows students from around the world to synchronously interact in real time, bringing real world international perspectives to on-campus classroom discussions. More importantly, projects often put students from different countries in the same group, which encourages interaction through free SKYPE phone calls, email, discussion boards, and other forms of global communication technology available to students. This experience, as new as it may be for many students, provides the opportunity for students to intimately interact with each other in an informal manner outside of the classroom and around the world.

What are the opportunities for students and faculty to interact?
The faculty are actively involved in projects in the field of CIE and events on campus. Opportunities exist for students to work with faculty on personal research projects, editing the international peer-reviewed journalEuropean Education: Issues and Studies and the International Perspectives on Education and Society volume series, and planning committees for events such as International Education Week. Students are encouraged to participate in the CIE book club, which explores issues and ideas in the field in a casual, collegial environment, and all other CIE events.