Global Higher Education Management program offers rare chance for engagement with a dream team of international experts

Imagine a single classroom led by professors in South Africa, India, the U.K., and other locations around the globe—each bringing decades of experience in shaping higher education across continents. It’s not a fantasy; it’s the everyday reality for students in the Global Higher Education Management (GHEM) program at Penn GSE.

Because the 12-month master’s is delivered entirely online it is able to convene a world-class faculty that would be impossible to establish in one physical location. The digital format doesn’t just make the program accessible to students around the world, it enables Penn GSE to assemble a dream team of international experts whose collective insights are transforming how institutions think about leadership, equity, and innovation.

The distinguished affiliated faculty includes Nirmala Rao, vice chancellor of Krea University in South India; Roberta Malee Bassett, a global lead for tertiary education and senior education specialist at the World Bank; Jonathan Grant, senior vice president at KAUST in Saudi Arabia and formerly of King’s College London; Geoff Hayward, professor of education at the University of Cambridge; and Ahmed Bawa, former head of Universities of South Africa and former vice chancellor (president) of Durban University of Technology, South Africa.

“These are world-class experts delivering a world-class education from literally around the world,” said Peter Eckel, a senior fellow at Penn GSE who designed and directs GHEM. “We’re able to really tap expertise in a way that creates, I think, an amazing educational experience for our students.”

Nowhere else do students have access to such wide-ranging, international collection of education leaders and experts in governance, curriculum, and institutional change. These affiliated faculty members don’t just teach—they mentor, challenge, and collaborate with students on real-world problems. The program’s curriculum is action-oriented, culminating in a capstone project that allows students to apply their learning directly to their current professional contexts.

GHEM’s online format is more than a logistical solution, it’s a strategic innovation. It allows students and faculty to transcend borders, time zones, and institutional silos, leveraging global expertise for local impact.

“Graduates of the Global Higher Education Management program bring a forward-thinking perspective to the evolving education landscape,” said Rao, the program faculty member who is also the CEO of Krea University in India. “With a strong foundation in personalized and learner-centered delivery models, they are equipped with the strategic and operational skills needed to drive innovation. The program equips employees with a deep understanding of international higher education systems, trends, and challenges which make them valuable change agents and effective leaders.”