The program in International Comparative Education (ICE) is a multidisciplinary, international, cross-cultural program of training that places educational problems into an international and comparative framework. Core courses explore how education is related to economic, political, and social development in both developed and developing countries. The program provides a strong theoretical and empirical base for studying education in a rapidly changing global context and for understanding the how and why of successful policy-making to improve educational practice in different social settings.
In both its training and research activities, ICE has developed a special concern for the study of education in less developed countries. At the same time, several faculty are engaged in research comparing educational policies and conditions in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The relationships among educational research, educational policy, and educational planning are important in the program's intellectual agenda.
The doctoral specialization in ICE is designed to relate a firm grounding in the theories and methods of a basic social or behavioral science to the analysis of education's role in the processes of economic growth, political development, and social change.
The training of ICE doctoral students is geared toward achieving substantial research competence in areas where a social science discipline and the policy problems of development education intersect. Doctoral students are therefore expected to have, or to acquire while at Stanford, substantial graduate training in a social science discipline relevant to their fields of interest at a level equivalent to the master's degree or a PhD minor in the appropriate university department.
Graduates of the PhD program in ICE typically choose research-oriented careers either within their countries' universities or with government agencies. Their expertise is sought from time to time by international and philanthropic organizations.
While there is no universal foreign language requirement for the ICE doctoral program, students must be proficient in the languages appropriate to their professional and geographical areas of interest. They are also encouraged to seek practical research training in their areas of interest.
For the PhD program requirements, please see the Doctoral Degree Handbook.
For more information about the ICE MA program, please visit: https://ed.stanford.edu/ice
Affiliated faculty include (are not limited to): Eric Bettinger, Patricia Bromley, Martin Carnoy, Prashant Loyalka, Woody Powell, Francisco Ramirez, Alfredo Artiles, and Christine Min Wotipka.