NIE International

The Master in Educational Administration is an inter-disciplinary programme conducted primarily in Chinese to develop professionalism in effective management of schools and education institutes in an environment which is increasingly market-driven.

Drawing on NIE's unique expertise in both research and professional practice, this new international award programme is designed and contextualised for an international body of senior professionals in China. The programme is relevant to a wide range of participants, including:

The strength of this programme is its inter-disciplinary nature. Economics and management modules are being included, enabling participants to evaluate the value of education in both economic and social development context.

This innovative programme offers an opportunity for a cross-cultural and global perspective on professionalism in education.

The teaching faculty, consisting of both local and expatriate scholars at the leading edge of their respective fields, will definitely provide for a stimulating exchange of ideas amongst the participants and teaching faculty.

NIE's delivery is highly interactive and participative. Participants are considered as partners and fellow collaborators in the learning process. Participants are engaged through diverse modes, such as action learning, dialogue, simulations, case studies and scenarios. These delivery modes are meant to stimulate and build the cognitive, affective, reflective and analytical capacities among participants.

Timeframe

This is a one-year full time programme.

Entry Requirement

- A bachelor degree granted by a Higher Learning Institute that is recognized by the Ministry of Education, China. Applications from those who have achieve special accomplishments will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

- Minimum three years of full time professional experience in educational administration or teaching.

- The National Institute of Education, Singapore reserves the rights to determine other pertinent requirements as necessary.

Application

Application for the MEA programme is only through Education Department/Bureau of the respective China Provinces/Municipality and appointed Education Institutions /Organisations* to NIE International. Please note that applications through unauthorised channels are prohibited. *For any queries, please direct to Mr Liu Xing at mea@nie.edu.sg.

Structure

(a) 18 AUs from 6 Core courses;

(b) 9 AUs from 6 Elective courses;

(c) 9 AUs from the Term Paper

Candidates must complete 36 Academic Units (AU) in order to graduate from the programme. Each Core course is 3 AUs, Elective course 1.5 AUs and a Policy Analysis Paper 9 AUs. Consequently, the total programme shall be equivalent to 36 AUs.

Core Courses

MECE 804 Change Management in Education

At the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• Be familiar with the major aspects of change in education;
• Learn theories of change management and find their applicability in educational organizations and their workin China;
• Widen their perspectives in creativity and innovation in educational organizations;
• Enhance their understanding of new educational philosophy, and pertinent skills in managing change

MECE 805 Systems Thinking

According to the Learning Organization philosophy, learning is the driving force for real change and improvement in an organization. Therefore, many organizations are keen to discover how they can develop themselves as learning organizations. Systems thinking is a basic discipline of the Learning Organization. It integrates the theory and practice of other disciplines in the Learning Organization.

An organization is a system. Its operation is affected by many small but inter-related actions of its parts. Such effects may only manifest themselves after a long time. Many leaders, trapped within the system, cannot see the overall dynamics of change and often focus on certain parts or episodes without a grasp of the fundamental problem. Systems Thinking is a conceptual framework, a body of knowledge and a set of tools that helps us to make sense of complex dynamics and formulate effective strategies for change.

MECE 806 Educational Policy Making

This course helps participants to understand the Educational Policy of Singapore and the main features of education policies over the past few years. It examines the issues of the applications of the theoretical framework to school management at organization, team, and individual levels.

MECE 807 Economics of Education Policy

This course introduces the participants to the basic concepts and analytical tools of microeconomics and demonstrates how these concepts are used in analyzing educational policy problems and designing appropriate responses. The course covers relevant microeconomics topics, such as theory of invisible hand and market mechanism, market imperfections and market failure, economics of public policy, cost-benefit analysis and its application. The course assumes little or no familiarity with economics of the participants.

MECE 809 Research Methodology (Introduction to Research in Education)

At the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• Understand the principles and techniques of basic quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Use a scientific view to read and criticize research reports
• Design and conduct simple educational study

MECE 810 Educational Leadership

At the end of the course, participants should be able to:

• Differentiate the concepts of leadership and management, and their functions;
• Become familiar with the components of leadership qualities in the trait theory, and with the standards of leader selection criteria in the Chinese military classics;
• Learn situational leadership theory and practice to enhance their ability to analyze situational factors;
• Understand the educational system in Singapore: School leadership, school clusters and superintendency;
• Learn the skills to build leadership team dynamics;
• Explore the origin and essence of servant leadership, and examine issues in the current leadership practice in educational administration

Elective Courses

MECE 841 Curriculum Design and Development

This course helps participants to improve educational contexts through an examination of the history, perspectives, approaches, and sources of school curriculum. Factors that influence curriculum design, development and implementation will be discussed.

MECE 842 Human and Intellectual Resource Development in Education

This course helps participants to deal with key concepts of human resource development and intellectual development in educational institutions. It examines the issues of the applications of the theoretical framework to school management at organization, team, and individual levels.

MECE 845 Evaluation of Educational Programme and Special Project

The course lays a theoretical and practical foundation for the participants in the following aspects:

• Describe the development of evaluation models
• Decide on evaluation designs and data
• Analyze data
• Write a coherent report on the evaluation

MECE 848 Macro Economic Management of Singapore

This course examines macro economic policy in Singapore from a perspective of non-economists. Singapore’s macro economic policies in terms of fiscal, monetary and exchange rate are affected by the Central Provident Fund, National Wages Council, etc. Hence, we will discuss all these schemes and more.

MECE 849 Quality Management

This course introduces the concepts of quality management in various organizations and corporations. Participants will learn about systems, methodologies and thought processes in quality management so as to develop a greater understanding of new management strategies. The subject will also provide information on how changes made by policy-makers over the years have shaped the Singapore education system to what it is today.

MECE 850 Educational Technology and Issues in Management

The rapid development of educational technology such as e-learning has offered great challenges for teachers as well as administrative leaders. At the end of the course, the participants will be able to:

• State various applications of technology in education;
• Guide effective technology integration into the curriculum;
• Identify issues and future trends of educational technology development
• Write a coherent report on the evaluation

MECE 855 Innovation in Instruction and Assessment

The course lays a theoretical and practical foundation for the participants in the following aspects:

• Understand the 21st century competencies, skills and desired educational outcomes
• Understand the theoretical foundation of current educational innovation in instruction and assessment
• Understand different instruction and assessment methods in educational innovation
• Design new instruction and assessment methods