M.Sc. in Education Leadership

The Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education (NU GSE) is proud to offer the M.Sc. in Educational Leadership program that includes three areas of specialization:

• School Education
• Higher Education
• Inclusive Education

The M.Sc. in Educational Leadership program is designed to provide working education professionals with the skills, knowledge, and capacities necessary to lead for change within their work institutions, their professional communities, and the larger society.

More specifically, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the national and international educational issues and debates relevant to their field of study, strategies for leadership and change management, and methodological approaches appropriate for researching educational topics important to both Kazakhstan and other international contexts.

General information

• Campus: Astana, Kazakhstan
• Language: English
• Delivery mode: Full-time, on-campus
• Duration: 2 years

Benefits of the M.Sc. in Educational Leadership program

Combining intensive on-campus sessions with online learning experiences, the NUGSE M.Sc. in Educational Leadership provides high quality, international-standard, research-based Master’s program that:

NUGSE M.Sc. in Educational Leadership graduates will join a growing community of educators and scholars in Kazakhstan and elsewhere with enhanced capacity to:

• Understand key educational trends, theories, issues, and debates for education reform in national, regional, and international contexts.
• Analyze educational reform policies, their contexts, and their significance at institutional, national, and international levels.
• Apply program learning directly to their work in their home institutions.
• Design and conduct a rigorous research project on an important national education topic of their choice.
• Develop strategies for leading and managing change in their workplace.
• Work collaboratively and productively in multilingual, multicultural contexts.
• Participate in professional and academic discussions and debates on education reform both within Kazakhstan and in other international and national contexts.

"As educators, not only must we refuse to settle for easy consensus, to simplify, to neutralize, or to translate; we must also accept and assume the responsibility to ‘think, speak, and act’ within aporetic situations…. Most of all, we must engage students in a quest for knowledge which should take them way beyond the boundaries of their immediate socio-politico-cultural contexts in space and in time. We must encourage them to take risks in learning and discovering the other, the unknown while building a greater sense of responsibility."
Denise Egéa,
NUGSE Professor

Graduate School of Education

The Graduate School of Education (GSE) at Nazarbayev University aspires to become an influential, world-class graduate school of education, effecting change in educational thinking, policy, and practice at all levels of education through scholarly research, quality teaching, and persuasive argument. Through its research, teaching, and scholarship, the GSE is committed to working to improve education for all, sustaining a vision of education that enables individuals to maximize their own potential, free from the constraints of poverty and background, within the context of mutual understanding and global interdependence.

Strategic partners

• The University of Pennsylvania (USA)
• The University of Cambridge (UK)

Other strategic partners of Nazarbayev University

• Duke University, Fuqua School of Business (USA)
• The National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore)
• Colorado School of Mines (USA)
• The University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA)
• The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (USA)
• The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA)
• The Oak Ridge Associated Universities (USA)

Core courses

• Introduction to Educational Leadership
• Thesis Seminar
• Academic English
• Kazakh for Professional Purposes
• Research Methods
• English for Thesis Writing
• Internship Project
• Work-based Project
• Educational Context and Reform in Kazakhstan

Elective courses (School Education):

• Assessment: Theories, Policies, Practices
• Comparative and International Education
• Leading Multilingual Education in Schools
• Curriculum Design and Management
• Education Policy Analysis and Development
• School Improvement and Effectiveness

Elective courses (Higher Education)

• Higher Education Management Reform in Kazakhstan
• Perspectives on Teacher Education
• Organization and Governance in Higher Education
• Globalization and Higher Education
• Research Management in Higher Education
• Higher Education Finance

Elective courses (Inclusive Education)

• Change Management for Inclusive Education in Kazakhstan
• Leading Inclusive Education Pedagogy and Assessment
• Theories of Inclusive Education
• Inclusive Education: Policy Perspectives
• Designing and Managing Education for Gifted and Talented Learners
• Psychology and Special Education Needs

The graduates of the master programs will develop the capacity to make important contributions within schools, education ministry institutions, development agencies, NGOs, think tanks and universities.