master's programs internationally - education

I'm living and working internationally and want to do a master's in education. But I don't want to confine myself to courses offered by just one uni. I'd like to do courses all over the place, and then have a good university (ideally in the UK or Canada) vet them, ask me to take a couple more courses to "fill in the gaps", and then grant me my Master's.

How can I find info about this? Universities' web sites all start by assuming that you want to attend that university and no other.

- cross posted on the UK branch -

Most universities require that you do the entire programme in residence before they grant you a Master's degree. This is particularly true when a thesis paper is required.

I can't see why any university would want to do what you are asking for. I know some allow you to get credit for a certain number of courses from other institutions but I can't see them wanting to grant you a Masters if the majority of your work was at other universities.

Why do you want to do it this way? Sounds to me like it would be a very expensive way to go about things.

I would suggest finding a university that offers all the subjects you are interested in and doing your masters with them.

I started my masters while I was living in the UK and managed to study through a Uni in Australia via distance education. As I've got my CPA in Australia I also managed to get credits for some of the subjects through a joint study program. You might want to look at universities who offer joint study programs with other places and that might be another option for you.

Whilst we're on this thread, I've been toying with the idea of doing a Masters by correspondance as well, from France but would be 'open' to universities worldwide. I've looked at a few in Europe & at Rhodes in South Africa .. thinking of doing Development Studies/International Relations .. anyone have any ideas?

Kira

I'm working in China and currently completing a Master's in Applied Linguistics entirely by correspondence through the University of New England in Australia (I also did my undergrad there because I enjoyed it so much!). It's entirely online (but IS real!) though a couple of subjects you can do offline.

Hey,

I'm doing my masters through UNE too while I work in China! I'm doing a masters in international education. I don't do online subjects though because I'm too lazy to keep up, I do all the offline ones.

#4 I would say that if you were going to do a Masters by correspondance try and get personal recommendations from people who have studied that way. I chose UNE because I talked to a range of students who had positive experiences studying through distance education there. You want a university that caters to the needs of distance education students (eg how helpful will the library be in getting stuff to you etc).

I have to say, I agree with purpletreefrog. If I were looking at your application to come finish your Master's at X university, I'd be wondering why you have courses from all over the place instead of focusing and being committed to one program. While I'm sure the policies vary from university to university, the University of Toronto (which has arguably the best Master's of education program in Ontario) is notoriously difficult on students trying to get previous credits recognized. We're not talking about a "fill in the gaps" situation, but more likely a "start over or redo most of your program" situation. At the end of the day, universities are businesses, and if they feel they can reasonably squeeze more money out of you, they will. Best of luck though!

Simon Fraser University in BC Canada offers reputable distance education for their Master's program and you can get a PhD with them as well. As part of my own Masters in Education, I was able to take up to two credits as a visiting graduat student in another Ontario University. I didn't inquire about doing the courses abroad. I do know someone who did their oncampus work during summers home (a university in Alberta, I believe). I personally finished my Masters thesis in Egypt while I was living there. Family and friends printed it and took it to the assigned editor and then paid her for me. It was all done electronically. I spent lots of time online doing research. Fortunately, there are journals online now all available to current alumni for you to download.

Good luck!

Actually, several European universities have so called "joint masters" programmes that require you to do at least 1 term at your "home" university and then you can pick a 2nd (or even 3rd) university for your remaining terms. You get your degree from your home university but with a mention that you were a visiting student here and here. I did my masters that way, one term in each of Rotterdam, Bologna and Haifa. There were about 6-7(can't remember exactly) different universities to choose from but mostly in Europe. There is an EU list of joint masters' programmes, it should come up if you google it.

A 2nd option is to check out which universities in the country of your choice give you the option of completing a semester abroad after you spent the required amount of residency at the home university. Good luck!

I think there are some US consortiums like what trigirl mentions where a group of universities in the same area get together and offer shared courses but I can't imagine being able to attend a number of different universities and putting together a "package" to get a degree. Most universities require that you take a certain number of credits within their program offerings.

Seems to me that you can take all the independent courses that you want so look for a university whose degree requirements are the least limiting while offering the end result that you desire.

Ruth