Mar 28, 2024  
ACE Catalog - Volume 31 
    
ACE Catalog - Volume 31 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Higher Education, M.Ed.


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Program Description

The M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration focuses on the critical knowledge and skills necessary to lead or serve in academic organizations in an ever-changing global, economic, and technological environment. Focused on evidence-based practice, the courses establish foundational frameworks in finance, legal, and governmental constraints; management of operations, academics, student affairs, and human resources; assessment and evaluation, and other areas essential to higher education. The program guides students in using data to inform and drive quality decisions regarding academic engagement, which support student-centric policies and processes. Designed to complement professional agendas, an integration of concepts prepares higher education professionals to navigate the complexity of systems influenced by modern societal issues.

Program Outcomes

  1. Establish a solid knowledge of the role, scope and trends within the field of higher education and the dynamics of functions within colleges and universities. 
  2. Recognize the scope of diversity in higher education and the goals and intended outcomes for academic achievement. 
  3. Coordinate roles of faculty, administrators, students, and external constituents in higher education. 
  4. Synthesize and validate the importance of information, knowledge, and points of view established in theories, standards, principles, and evidence-based research to make data-informed decisions and select resources.
  5. Adapt intellectual processes to a range of circumstantial settings including ethical dilemmas, self-assessment, and cultural awareness impacting issues, concepts, and critical and creative endeavors. 
  6. Employ strategies which effectively articulate the complexity of a situation to enhance understanding and meaning as a way to build relationships and resolve problems. 
  7. Critically analyze perceptions, compare cultural distinctions, and identify critical components of systems influencing civic and global responsibilities within a higher education setting. 
  8. Formulate performance expectations to foster continued personal and professional growth required to support principles of academic learning. 
  9. Demonstrate habits of the mind leading to tangible changes and solutions to critical problems, enhance experience for self and others, and empower collective decisions while practicing ethical choices necessary for leadership in higher education. 
  10. Measure the critical components of essential frameworks established to manage policies, utilize resources, and evaluate decisions to establish and maintain organizational culture. 

Mission Statement

The M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration program prepares innovative and ethical leaders to further increase access to education. Through evidence-based research and critical analysis, students address issues in postsecondary education, manage positive change, and explore policymaking.

Focus of Study Options (9 Semester Credits)


Community College Leadership 

This focus of study centers on the unique needs of leadership in a community college setting.  With the growing cost of higher education, local institutions will serve a greater role in supporting student achievement, enabling them to complete degrees for career options which may not exist today. Consideration is given to the historical development of the two-year college in light of the economic dynamics existing in the 21st century and how change is needed to build community relationships, service students, and sustain institutional growth.   

Enrollment Management  

Enrollment management provides direct support to individuals seeking degree programs to fit their personal and professional goals. This focus of study combines appropriate theories and research, aligns policies, and identifies strategies and practices influencing how an institution markets to prospects, helping to retain them through strategic decisions shaped by data. By modeling ways to build a collaborative culture, leaders choose effective processes to enhance the prospect’s experience through enrollment as a student.  

Institutional Research and Planning  

Academic analytics yield critical information to establish and measure institutional goals and objectives, and to report to stakeholders and required state, regional, and federal agencies.  This focus of study contrasts ways of handling surveys, collecting data, identifying trends impacting policies, determining how assessment of students and evaluation of programs will be addressed. Institutional research searches, discovers, and shares information in a manner which tells the story to both internal and external entities.  

Leadership 

Leadership is more than managing tasks; it involves investing in individuals, pursuing effective policies and procedures to ensure an organization is successful. Enhancing personal and professional abilities and traits, this focus of study identifies practices of exemplary leadership, asking students to engage in actions leading to change through shared vision, analyzing processes, and enabling others to reach their potential through shared modeling and advocacy. Leaders make a difference as they bring change.  

Student Development and Affairs 

Admission into an institute of higher learning is the first step towards achieving personal and professional goals. Leadership in student affairs serves the interest of students through advising, program support, technology guidance, and information necessary to successfully complete a degree pathway as aligned to institutional policies, processes, and procedures. Grounded in development theory, this focus of study supports understanding how adults learn, achieve, and transition to new careers.

Course List (34 Total Semester Credits)


Research Courses (3 Semester Credits)


Teaching/Learning Core Courses (3 Semester Credits)


Digital Learning and Teaching/Technology Courses (3 Semester Credits)


Marketing Courses (3 Semester Credits)


Choose a Three-Course Focus of Study (9 Semester Credits)


Note


  • This program is neither designed nor approved (as of the publication date of this Catalog) to prepare students for licensure, certification, or endorsement in any state.

  • Check availability in your state on the Programs by State section of the ACE website.

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