Global Public Policy and the Knowledge Society

The learning objectives of the course are the following: to help students to acquire empirical knowledge of education policies, higher education, and comparative education systems in a global context; to promote the understanding and critical assessment of the scholarly debates and theoretical controversies in the field of global public policy, and the management of the knowledge Society; to enable the analysis of contemporary policy issues, associated with the impact of globalization for knowledge systems at the national and local level of government; to engage with contemporary theoretical and policy debates on global citizenship and how education citizenship interacts with identity politics; and to develop skills in presenting to the class one's own arguments and ideas in an articulate and effective way.

By the end of the course, students will have a full understanding of institutions, policy issues, challenges and responses to the globalization of educational systems and higher education. Students will also develop the analytical foundations and empirical knowledge to study global policy reforms and transformative trends in knowledge production and management. Education borrowing and lending by governments, promoted by international organizations (such as the OECD, UNESCO, the EU and others) have a lasting impact on the diffusion of new global models and the course presents the adoption of similar policies across different countries, and regions of the world. The course will also introduce students to the critical analysis of the role of international organizations in the field of education policy, international assessment and evaluation, studying the local implementation of global paradigms. The course will reach these objectives by using a policy orientated approach, emphasizing the in -depth empirical analysis of case studies from advanced and developing countries.