Satisfaction, enjoyment, and innovation! These are the three keywords I would like to share with readers to describe the experience of the past semester with the first four students of the new MA in Education at the University of Liverpool.
The MA programme was launched for the first time in September 2025 as a face-to-face learning experience, with only one core module delivered online. As the lecturer for the module "Contemporary Issues in Global Education," I would like to share how much I enjoyed delivering a series of 12 seminars with these four brilliant and highly motivated students.
The students, now full-time UK residents, originated from Europe and Asia. Drawing on my previous experience as a lecturer in the international online EdD (Doctor of Education) programme, I reflect on the rich multicultural learning within this group and their diverse backgrounds. Such diversity added significant value to the module I was teaching, particularly considering my Italian background and what my previous experience within the EdD programme had taught me about working with adult professionals all over the world.
Throughout the module, students shared their experiences, knowledge, and personal stories, connecting them to the key themes of the course. These themes include inequalities, wars and conflicts, migration, and the impact these phenomena have on education in a global context.
What I particularly enjoyed was the relationships built with the students, which were not diminished by the online delivery of the seminars. On the contrary, it was enhanced by the creation of a safe and intimate two-hour online space, where everyone felt free to share ideas, perspectives, and reflections.
The master’s programme provides an innovative offering in the current educational landscape, not only because of its content—covering areas such as Foundations in Education, Research, Digital Technology, and Leadership in Education—but also because of its focus on Entrepreneurship Education, an approach that is still relatively uncommon in this field. At a time when much attention is directed towards coding, STEM, and technology, a programme centred on education can genuinely be considered innovative and refreshing.
Students are now continuing their journey in the master’s programme and will begin their second semester, which includes additional modules, and a final Capstone Project on a topic of their choice.
Now the master’s is currently attracting interest from other schools and faculties within the University, as well as from international students who have already applied to join the second cohort starting in September 2026.
As a member of the faculty and part of this academic team, I would like to wish both current and future students a meaningful educational and professional journey, one in which values, critical thinking, and human perspectives remain at the centre of their work—especially in a world constantly shaped by rapid change and technological advancement, where it is easy to forget who we are and where we come from.
Good luck!
Lucilla Crosta