Overview of Graduate Programmes

The Department of Educational Administration offers four graduate programmes focusing on key educational issues for the improvement and effectiveness of organizations, communities, and government. Specific information about each programme is accessible below.  

The Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) is intended for students interested in study at a level beyond that found in undergraduate course-work. The Master's course-based programme (MEd) represents a relatively new initiative within the Department, and has attracted many practice-focused students for whom a graduate degree offers a credential supporting in-depth professional development through the study of research and theory, as well as greater understanding, appreciation of, and experience with action research in their own school-based domain. The Master's thesis programme (MEd), in addition to professional growth through study, focuses on the mentorship and preparation of students in larger scale research projects and for future progress in academia. The doctoral programme (PhD) focuses attention on the preparation of academics through a rigourous, philosophical, and intense research-based extension of the Master's thesis programme.

Both the thesis and doctoral programmes provide an opportunity for students to pursue knowledge through research related to an area of personal concern under the supervision of a member of the faculty, normally on a full-time basis. The course-based programme offers students the opportunity to pursue depth of understanding in areas of personal concern where courses are scheduled to facilitate part-time study while students maintain their employment in schools. In these ways, the Department makes an important contribution through innovative programming that has enabled hundreds of working teachers in the province to pursue graduate education at the University of Saskatchewan. Recently, through a series of initiatives for which the Department is most proud, more than 100 students have been provided the opportunity to engage in graduate education in their own communities (including one First Nation), with their own school-division colleague cohorts, and tailored to the specific needs of their school communities.

The Department of Educational Administration is a welcoming and energetic environment, where faculty are available to meet with students; where faculty teach courses on Saturdays (both in Saskatoon and in communities around the province) to ensure access to graduate studies for students who work full-time, live outside of Saskatoon, or both; and where flexibility to address student needs runs parallel to scholarly rigour.

In recent years, graduate programmes in the Department of Educational Administration frequently engage and incorporate students whose field is not within our historical base of K-12 education (including nurses, physicians, those in policy studies, business administration, and higher education administration). Furthermore, the Department is increasingly home to international students, particularly from China, and has yearly offered international experience programming. In welcoming this diversity of background and knowledge-base, and by engaging international opportunities for our graduate students, the Department continues to grow through its commitments to innovation, internationalization, and inter-disciplinarity.

Programmes Available