Global Governance Institute

ITSF 4199: The Global Governance Institute, Paris

Faculty Leader: Dr. Gita Steiner-Khamsi, William H. Kilpatrick Professor of Comparative Education & Honorary UNESCO Chair of Comparative Education Policy

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Global Governance Institute in Paris is a TC-wide course offered in collaboration with the research university Sciences Po Paris and IES Abroad. Masters and doctoral students from all departments of Teachers College, Columbia University, are invited to participate.

The course includes visits to three of the most influential organizations that promote, fund, and spread global education reforms: the Global Partnership for Education, the OECD, and UNESCO. Guest speakers include experts from these three major governance institutions and other international players (European Union, Right to Education Initiative and private foundations), as well as researchers from Sciences Po and Sorbonne universities in Paris. We will host a joint mini-conference in which interested Masters and doctoral students from TC, Sciences Po and Sorbonne share their research related to global governance. 

COURSE TOPICS

Students learn in this course about the following:

• The tools of global governance: how global players establish international agendas (such as the Sustainable Development Goals), monitor and coordinate the achievement of such agendas, and continuously have to nurture their own credibility and legitimacy in the absence of internationally binding laws and regulations.  
• Differences and similarities between the various global players, and changes over time.
• New priorities and initiatives such as the Futures of Education initiative of UNESCO, the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) of the Global Partnership for Education, and the OECD 2030 Learning Compass. We will also explore how the three global actors cope with the rise of AI.
• Challenges of global governance and international cooperation in a polarized and fragmented world, including the US withdrawal from UNESCO (effective January 1, 2026) and new patterns of international collaboration, such as the rise of new donors (e.g., PR China) and the shift toward multi-stakeholder global players that encompass governments, philanthropies, and private foundations.

ANTICIPATED STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

• Research Universities: Sciences Po and Sorbonne 
• International Organizations: the Global Partnership for Education, the OECD, UNESCO, the European Union, the Right to Education Initiative