The MSc in Education degree is a one year full-time degree which aims to provide a grounding in educational research methods and theoretical and methodological understanding of the field of education through one of the following five specialist pathways.
The very strongest applicants for all our MSc programmes who apply by the course’s January application deadline are automatically considered for University Clarendon scholarships. There is no separate application process. These are highly competitive and each year only one or two of our students are successful. During our initial admissions screening, supervisors nominate applicants with outstanding academic records to be considered. They then prepare a supporting statement. The Admissions tutor puts forward a shortlist of the strongest applicants to the divisional committee.
Up to 70 Mastercard Foundation AfOx Scholarships are available each year for applicants to any full-time one-year taught master’s who are African nationals, are ordinarily resident in African countries who are applying and intending to return to Africa upon completion of their studies.
The Mastercard Foundation AfOx Scholarships cover course fees and a grant for living costs for full-time students at the UKRI minimum doctoral stipend rate. Awards are made for the full duration of your fee liability for the agreed course.
To be considered for this scholarship, submit your application for graduate study by the relevant December/January deadline for your course, and tick the relevant box on the graduate application form. If you are eligible for this scholarship, you will be contacted by email in late March and asked to submit additional material to show how you meet the selection criteria.
In awarding the Scholarships the panel looks at four areas: 1) Academic merit and potential 2) Leadership experience and capacity development 3) Alignment with AfOx values and themes 4) Commitment to Africa’s development.
For more information about these scholarships, visit the Mastercard Foundation AfOx Scholarships page.
MSc Education (Comparative and International Education), MSc Education (Digital and Social Change) and MSc Education (Higher Education) applicants who meet the eligibility criteria are encouraged to apply for the Oxford-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme. In order to be considered for this scholarship, you must select the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme in the University of Oxford Scholarships section of the University’s graduate application form and submit your application for graduate study by the January application deadline for your course.
The WHT scholarship is for students from emerging economies including Africa, India and China as well as those who have been displaced due to conflict in their home countries.
The 1+1 programme is a unique, two-year postgraduate experience which offers you the opportunity to combine the depth of our specialised, one-year MSc in Education with the breadth of Saïd Business School’s top-ranking, one-year MBA. As a result, you will embark from Oxford with the skills to translate specific domain knowledge into practical and innovative solutions to the many challenges facing our 21st century world.
In addition, the Oxford Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship is available for up to five extraordinary 1+1 students who are committed to addressing world-scale social challenges. The Scholarship provides full funding for tuition, college fees and living expenses for both the MSc and MBA year. Please see further details about the Oxford Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship here.
When funding is available, the scholarship will provide full funding for a South African citizen to study a one year full-time MSc in Education or MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition at the Department of Education. The scholarship will be awarded based on academic excellence, leadership ability, community involvement and the candidate’s potential to be a destiny changer. The successful candidate will be a member of Wadham College. Candidates need to apply by the January application deadline for their course.
This scholarship is available to applicants for the MSc in Education (Research Design and Methodology) who wish to be considered for an ESRC 1+3 studentship. Applicants should signal in their application their intention to continue to doctoral study.
The ESRC is the UK’s largest organisation for funding research on social and economic issues. The University, in collaboration with Brunel University and the Open University, hosts the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership – one of 14 Doctoral Training Partnerships accredited by the ESRC as part of a Doctoral Training Network.
In order to be considered for a Grand Union DTP ESRC studentship, you must select ‘ESRC Grand Union DTP Studentships in Social Sciences’ in the University of Oxford scholarships section of the University’s graduate application form. You must also complete a Grand Union DTP Application Form and upload it, together with your graduate application form, by the January application deadline for your course.
Information about ESRC studentships at Oxford can be found here. Please ensure you have read all of the guidance available on the website before you complete the Grand Union DTP Application Form. Please direct your queries to the Grand Union DTP Office at granduniondtp@socsci.ox.ac.uk.
Each year a Routledge Scholarship of £6,000 is awarded to one student taking the MSc course in Comparative and International Education. Given in collaboration with St Edmund Hall, the scholarship is awarded on the basis of: (1) strength of academic qualifications; (2) fit between the proposed research project and the research interests of the Department and (3) financial need.
All those who apply by the March deadline are automatically considered – no separate application is necessary. The Routledge Scholarship cannot be used as evidence of funding to secure a place on the course.
The following number of places are available for each of the programme’s pathways:
MSc Education (Research Design and Methodology) – 15
MSc Education (Research Design and Methodology, part-time) – 2
MSc Education (Child Development and Education) – 18
MSc Education (Comparative and International Education) – 18
MSc Education (Higher Education) – 15
MSc Education (Digital and Social Change) – 16
It is not possible to study at a distance or on-line on our MSc in Education programme.
The Department offers a very wide range of courses. As well as a comprehensive Doctoral programme attracting students from all over the world, we offer full-time one year MSc in Education and in MSc Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (ALSLA) courses, as well as a range of part-time courses, some aimed primarily at active teachers (e.g. MSc Learning & Teaching, MS Teacher Education) and some at distance learning (e.g., Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching). Consequently our courses cater to students from a diverse range of backgrounds.
For example in 2021/22, the Department had a total complement of 780 students of whom 414 were studying full-time and 366 were studying part-time. For 2021/22, across the MSc Education, MSc ALSLA, and DPhil programmes, approximately 29% of our students came from the UK, and the remaining 71% from the EU or overseas. The cohort from those programmes included students from Afghanistan, Australia, Japan, Germany, India, Malaysia, China, Mexico, Estonia, Australia, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United States, among many others.
What our students share is exceptional academic achievement in their previous learning and an ambition to excel academically.
Part-time study is possible on the MSc in Education (Research Design and Methodology).
To find out how much it will cost to undertake your studies at the University, please visit the Fees and Living Costs webpage for details.
Yes, however we would strongly encourage you to focus your application on the course for which you have the most interest and experience.
Yes, you may apply for any of our courses whilst studying for another degree. If you are successful in achieving a place on one of our programmes, we would make a conditional offer which would include the condition of you achieving your qualification. You are required to submit an interim transcript at application. However, your final outcome would need to be available prior to you commencing the course at Oxford.
If you do not have English as your first language, we would like you to have achieved the higher level competence in English Language proficiency. A list of standardised English language tests accepted by the University can be found here. Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. We encourage applicants to apply with a successful language test however if evidence that you successfully meet the English language requirements cannot be provided with your application your application will still be considered as long as all other required documents have been submitted. Any offer of a place will require you to submit English language test results at the required level by a deadline set in the offer letter. Further information can be found by visiting the Application Guide.
For information on applying for a waiver of the English test requirement please visit the Application Guide.
For a more detailed explanation of the process, please click here for the application guide.
If you require more space on the application form, please contact Graduate Admissions for advice.
One of your references should be from your most recent academic tutor. If you are currently in employment, you would be expected to provide a reference from your employer alongside academic references which comment on your academic suitability for the course.
Your supervisor will be decided by the Department following your successful offer of a place on the course on the basis of staff research interests and staff workload and availability.
Candidates will be shortlisted based on academic ability, potential and fit of interests with the course content. Interviews for shortlisted candidates are normally held 2-6 weeks after the closing date of the admissions round. You will be given advance notice of your interview date and time and we require confirmation of attendance.
All interviews will be held online via Microsoft Teams.
The interviews are normally conducted by two interviewers on Microsoft Teams, and will focus on your academic background. You may be asked to outline your research interests and how these might be developed during the dissertation element of the course. You may also be asked about your reasons for wanting to study in this area and the reasons why this particular course is of interest to you.
Applications will be considered by the admissions panel within the Department and decisions will be made in accordance with the following deadlines:
Application submitted in January will receive a decision by mid March
Applications submitted in March will receive a decision by early April
You will be informed of our decision by email to ensure that you receive the outcome as soon as possible.
In the event that we are not able to offer you a place, we regret that it is not possible to provide you with feedback on your application.
The University will only consider requests for deferral of entry due to exceptional unforeseen circumstances, and only after all conditions set for the offer (both academic and financial) have been met.
Couldn’t find your answers under our FAQ section?
Please direct any queries or questions to a member of the administrative team and they will be happy to assist you.
The MSc Education (Comparative and International Education) is a full-time, one-year, Master’s course that engages students in developing a critical understanding of theoretical approaches, methods, policies and practices in comparative and international education. The course aims to develop students’ understanding of the factors that shape educational systems in different parts of the world and the research skills to compare policy choices and critically evaluate major debates, policies, histories and practices of education globally. Many alumni of MSc Education (Comparative and International Education) course have gone on to academic and research careers at universities in the UK and abroad. Others are employed across a wide range of other sectors such as policy for government departments, NGOs or think tanks, international organisations, administration at local and national levels, as well as state and non-state schools in different parts of the world.
By the end of the course students should have:
The course consists of six papers and a dissertation. Students undertake five compulsory modules. For 2023/2024, these compulsory modules are:
Students may also choose one option from a list of option papers. The following list provides an indication of papers usually available (please note, this is not a guarantee of availability for any particular elective in a given year):
These papers are taken during Michaelmas and Hilary Terms. In Trinity Term, students work on a research-based dissertation, reporting on an empirical study, of 15,000-20,000 (max.) words. The dissertations should demonstrate the students’ research and critical analysis skills as well as the ability to write clear and concise reports to a high level of academic competence.
Seminars during the course are a combination of tutor and student input, and are based on preparation, response to a presentation and/or analysis of documents and various group activities. There is a programme of visiting speakers from around the world.
During their time in Oxford, course members will be part of a lively research community with interests in a wide range of topics in comparative and international education. The University of Oxford provides an ideal environment for graduate study: its resources are first-class and its graduate population is among the best qualified in the world. The Department of Education is a particularly friendly institution within the University, and the international constitution of the student body makes everyone feel at home.
MSc CIE pathway 2023 cohort
The MSc Education (Child Development and Education) aims to promote a critical understanding of theories and research on child development and their relevance to the design and evaluation of educational programmes and policies in diverse contexts. It also aims to promote a critical understanding of the current challenges for a global and inclusive science of child development. Our students come from varied professional backgrounds: experienced Early Years professionals and primary school teachers; professionals working with children and aiming to prepare themselves for a leadership role (e.g. head teachers, professionals engaged in programme evaluation research, including in governmental and non-governmental agencies). We welcome graduates with psychology degrees who wish to develop their knowledge of psychology in the field of child development and education; those seeking to pursue a doctoral degree will find that this course offers them a solid disciplinary and research foundation. This is a full-time, one-year Master’s course.
For 2023/24, the course is structured with two compulsory modules that focus on the disciplinary underpinnings to child development and education (Foundation Learning and Wellbeing and Cognitive Development and Educational Attainments), one in each term. Two further papers in the first term aim to develop students’ research skills (Foundations of Educational Research 1 and Introduction to Quantitative Research). In the second term, students chose two options from a list of electives. The following list provides an indication of papers usually available (please note, this is not a guarantee of availability for any particular elective in a given year):
You will also complete either field work or conduct secondary data analysis for your master’s dissertation. You will choose your master’s project in discussions with your supervisor. Together, the course will provide opportunities for you to deepen your understanding of child development theories and their relevance to decisions about children’s education and wellbeing.
Throughout the course, you will participate in lectures, seminars, and workshops. Teaching involves a combination of tutor and student input, including group activities and students’ presentations. You will benefit from the expertise available through the Quantitative Methods Hub and the Qualitative Methods Hub at the Department of Education. You will also benefit from access to seminars across the wider university.
You are encouraged to explore the department’s website and find out about the research carried out by the course team and the Children Development and Learning research group.
A sample of dissertation titles from previous years is presented below.
Watch our online video with Dr Sonali Nag, who gives an overview of the course, what kind of students it attracts, and what they go on to do.
The MSc Education (Digital and Social Change) is an exciting and innovative course, in which you will develop a theoretical understanding of new technologies, education and society. At the core of the programme is a strong commitment to digital inclusion and social justice that addresses contemporary issues regarding the impact of digital and social change in education. Consequently, you will conceptualise and design learning technologies through participatory approaches, examining how they impact the marginalised in the UK and globally. At a time when many people are discussing significant moral questions regarding technology and its use in education, including for example, the ethics of Artificial Intelligence, there is a pressing need for a new generation of researchers and practitioners that can affect social change through stronger theoretically-informed practice, design and policy. Building on the past success of our MSc Education (Learning and Technology), we welcome students from a range of disciplinary backgrounds including but not limited to education, computer science, sociology, communications and international development. You will have a commitment to social justice in education, a questioning stance on technology and an interest in developing interdisciplinary knowledge.
By the end of the course you will develop:
MSc Education (Digital and Social Change) consists of six modules.
You will take the two core research methods modules, which are common to all pathways:
You can also choose from the optional papers from the other MSc Education pathways. The following list provides an indication of papers usually available (please note, this is not a guarantee of availability for any particular elective in a given year):
You are encouraged to explore the department’s website and find out about the research carried out by the course team, including the Learning and New Technologies Research Group.
Although this was a new pathway beginning 2021, it builds on the success of our MSc Education (Learning and Technology). Alumni from that pathways have gone on to academic and research careers at universities in the UK and abroad, including MIT, LSE, Stanford, The Turing Institute and UCLA. Others have worked for international NGOs, various international organisations and also founded their own technology and consultancy start-ups.
The MSc Education (Higher Education) at Oxford University attracts students from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds and offers them a critical introduction into research, theory, and practice in the complex field of higher education at a global level. During this course, students will have the opportunity to consider a wide range of issues that higher education systems around the world are facing today, including internationalisation, the relationship between higher education and labour markets, access and social justice, student fees, and rankings. Teaching sessions will combine tutor input, class discussion, and working in small groups in order to examine these key issues and the discourses that shape them. In addition to seminars on core concepts, students are taught by leading researchers, giving them the opportunity to engage directly with current thinking and evolving themes in the field. This mix, which builds on the firm foundations of the Oxford Department of Education’s research strengths, is relevant to people at different stages in their professional lives – from recent graduates, those hoping to forge an academic career in higher education studies, to those who have established careers in, or are working closely with, higher education institutions. Recent graduates of the programme have continued onto doctoral research and academic careers, or have taken positions in higher education management, administration, and policy-formation. The programme is studied full-time over a single year, with the final term devoted to work on a dissertation.
The Department of Education offers a challenging but supportive atmosphere for conducting graduate studies. The course is run by the Department of Education but also draws on the expertise of colleagues elsewhere within the University and more widely.
Course sessions consist of a combination of seminars, lectures and collaborative course work. These sessions take place three half-days a week during the first two terms. Throughout the course:
The full-time Masters is aimed at students and professionals with an interest in higher education at all levels and areas:
The course will help you to develop your knowledge, expertise and skills in the following aspects:
We accept students from a wide range of disciplines and educational backgrounds – a previous degree in education is beneficial but not necessary for successfully participating in and completing the MSc in Higher Education. However, a keen interest in the key debates in higher education nationally and internationally and an openness to engage with new and challenging ideas is necessary.
The course consists of six modules and a dissertation. For 2023/2024, the required modules are:
Students also choose one option from a list of option papers. The following list provides an indication of papers usually available (please note, this is not a guarantee of availability for any particular elective in a given year):
These papers are taken during the first two terms. In their third term, students undertake work towards the production of a dissertation of between 15,000 and 20,000 words (including footnotes/endnotes but excluding appendices and references or bibliography).
Learning in the course is organised around tutor presentations, small group work, student led presentations, seminars and workshops, project work, input from external experts and tutorials.
All students participate in course projects in which they co-operate with other class members to produce presentations on a given topic. Supervisions support students in identifying research questions, selecting areas for literature review, carrying out field work, and reviewing drafts of the dissertation. Supported ICT sessions and literature searching skills (including electronic searches) are provided by library staff.
Additionally, students are expected to attend departmental research seminars and seminars hosted by the Centre for Global Higher Education which are held usually during the course of the year in order to broaden the scope of their learning and further develop their own critical skills. Oxford University provides the opportunity to participate in a wealth of further academic-related activities and students are encouraged to attend lectures and research seminars in other departments within the University.
The course covers a range of quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and data analysis, and introduces students to the challenges of carrying out social research in the field of education. A particular feature of the course is that all students have the option to take part in a research internship where they work in a research group within the Department on ongoing research projects. During this time they experience some of the variety of activities that are an everyday part of doing educational research. The course is offered on both a full time (one year) and part time (two year) basis. The degree and expectations for both modes of study are equally rigorous: part time students attend classes with full time students, but these are spread over two years to balance work and personal circumstances. Part time students attend classes and receive supervision one day per week during term time and are encouraged to spend at least one further day a week working in Oxford libraries and participating in relevant research seminars and research events or taking non-assessed courses. The teaching methods include tutor presentations, small group work, student led presentations, seminars and workshops, project work, and tutorials. All students undertake classes on quantitative and qualitative data analysis and there is substantial ‘hands-on’ experience in methods of data collection and analysis. Dissertation supervision supports students in identifying research questions, selecting areas for literature review, carrying out field work, and reviewing drafts of the dissertation. Supported ICT sessions are provided by Department of Education staff and sessions on literature access skills (including electronic searches) are provided by Bodleian Education Library staff. This course is recognised as providing a high quality comprehensive grounding in educational and social research methods, and can be the first year of an ESRC ‘1 + 3’ studentship. Please note progression from MSc Education (RDM) to DPhil is not automatic – students will be required to apply for admission to DPhil by the January application deadline in the year preceding the start date of their DPhil.
By the end of the programme, you will have developed a good understanding of:
The course consists of six modules and a dissertation. For 2023/2024, the required modules are:
You can also choose one module from the optional papers from the other MSc Education pathways. The following list provides an indication of papers usually available (please note, this is not a guarantee of availability for any particular elective in a given year):
We encourage applications from students throughout the world who wish to benefit from this course and the opportunities available at Oxford. We welcome students with backgrounds in social sciences and a range of other disciplines. The course is suitable for those with a good honours degree/MSc or MA in a relevant field who have a strong interest in education and developing their research skills. While many of our students have teaching experience in schools or higher education, this is not a requirement. It is an excellent basis for those planning further academic study (DPhil/PhD) and those who wish to pursue an academic or research related career.
Watch our online video with pathway leader, Dr Ariel Lindorff, who gives an overview of the course, what kind of students it attracts, and what they go on to do.
This course can be studied as a part of the Oxford 1+1 MBA programme. The Oxford 1+1 MBA programme is a unique, two-year graduate experience that combines the depth of a specialised, one-year master’s degree with the breadth of a top-ranking, one-year MBA.
