A DOCTORAL PROGRAM FOR THE WORLD: GLOBAL TERTIARY EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP

The purpose of this paper is to share the findings of a highly generalizable investigative feasibility project, whose goal is to enhance the teaching ability of current higher education faculty members. The mission of the project was to introduce a new doctoral degree on Global Education and Leadership (GEL) geared toward a ubiquitous, broad approach to assist faculty members in their pursuit of improved teaching and learning. The methods used were to perform an online search identifying 18 different institutions, whose mission focused on both student-centered learning, as well as pursued an active scholarship of teaching and learning agenda; contact 52 key personnel for a visit to share our program; travel to each of eight countries to share the vision of the program in five weeks; and finally to collate results and examine trends and identify host institutions, accreditation steps and start dates. The major result of this experience was the unanimous agreement on the universal unsystematic process of providing tertiary faculty members with the essential andragogical methods to efficiently and effectively become exemplar teachers. Due to the overwhelming uniformity in affirmative response to the program, the key conclusion is to move forward with the doctoral program aggressively.