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Developed in partnership with Universidad San Francisco de Quito and as part of the Jeb E. Brooks School’s Global Policy Exchange Lab, this 4-credit collaborative online international learning (COIL) and community-based global learning (CBGL) course allows a unique bilateral exchange as highlighted in our overview of the Spring 2024 program. The program invites Cornell students to explore the complexities of education policy and practice in the United States and Ecuador with students and faculty from Universidad San Francisco de Quito as well as with teachers, administrators, and policy makers in both contexts.

The Spring 2025 course, Sustainability Education Policy in the US and Ecuador meets once per week for 75 minutes throughout the full Spring 2025 semester. During our in-class meetings, we will engage in close readings of theoretical texts, policy documents and reports, and discuss contemporary research on education policy in both the US and Ecuadorian contexts. Students will form small working groups exploring a comparative education policy questions and engaging with relevant education practitioners and policy makers in both locations as they collaborate online with USFQ student partners.

During the Cornell Spring Break (March 29 - April 6) Cornell students will travel to Quito, Ecuador to further explore their comparative policy question in dialogue with local teachers, students, administrators and policy makers - including the former Minister of Education. We’ll visit schools in various parts of the city and learn more about how they operationalize global and national education policies and how they innovate to meet the needs of diverse students. At the end of the week Cornell students will return to NY to host their USFQ student colleagues as they learn about US education policy and spend time visiting area schools and meeting with local education policy makers. 

The remainder of the semester will be spent finalizing a White Paper addressing their topic of interest as an outcome of the Global Policy Exchange Lab.  

Travel Dates:

March 29 - April 6, 2025

This program is embedded as part of the spring course titled Comparative Sustainability Education Policy in the US and Ecuador. Students will receive one grade for the full course in spring semester, and travel is REQUIRED as part of this program:

• PUBPOL 3480/5480: Comparative Sustainability Education Policy in the US and Ecuador (4 credits)
  (Spring 2025, Wednesdays 8:00am - 9:55am, Required Travel: Spring Break 2025)

Faculty

Julie Ficarra, Associate Professor of the Practice, Department of Global Development, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Karla Díaz, Service-Learning Institute Director, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Paola Nascira Ramia Cardenas, Professor, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, College of Social Sciences and Humanities

*Some program information questions in 'Application Preview' below may not be applicable to this program. Course background will be asked if relevant to that particular short-term program.