NY State Program Code: 44887
HEGIS Code: 0805.00
CIP Code: 13.0406
Program effective Fall 2026
The Ph.D. in Global Higher Education Leadership prepares higher education leaders or emerging leaders to serve effectively in higher education organizations across the world and to implement systemic change within them. Notably, the global focus of this program recognizes the changingenvironment for both higher education and leadership and capitalizes on the contributory value that an in-depth global examination brings.
The overarching purpose of this program is to develop higher education leaders with an equity, social justice, and global perspective. Accordingly, the goals of this program are to offer students who are interested in higher education and an intentionally designed, global program to:
1. explore a core body of knowledge about global higher education leadership practice and research,
2. gain real-world professional experience that connects to theories and policies, and
3. develop new knowledge through contributions of original research and practice recommendations.
The Ph.D. in Global Higher Education Leadership is a 66-credit hour curriculum in which students may apply up to 18 credit hours of graduate study from the masters-level to the degree as fulfilling the cognate area. Thus, the degree has a minimum of 48-credit hours at the doctoral level to fulfill the degree requirements.
Total Ph.D. Requirement: 66 credit hours
ï‚· Post-masters, 48 credits (note: 42 credits of coursework)
Higher Education Core: 21 credits
Research: 21 credits (including two 3 credit educational technology and learning sciences research electives)
Dissertation Research: 6 credits
ï‚· Masters or Specialty Area
Cognate: 18 credits (may be transferred from masters-level coursework or taken as an advanced specialty area from among existing offerings at Adelphi University)
The program is delivered online with asynchronous and synchronous sessions along with two in-person experiences each year.