Consulting to Global Families

By “global families,” I mean those who are not necessarily committed to one country or educational system. For instance, I’ve recently done a substantial amount of work for a family based in France, headed by a French father and a Russian mother. They wanted to explore options around the globe for their multi-talented daughter, who was considering a career in law, business, or science. After substantial discussion and evaluation of options, she is now pursuing a joint-degree program, with one university in the UK and the other a Parisian grande école. 

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Of course, much of the work I do for global families is similar to the work I perform for others: helping their children prepare to become good university or graduate school candidates, helping them select, get into, and make the most of their chosen programs, and so on. 

 

However, there are some important differences as well. In addition to basic considerations—such as the expense, the quality of education and the nature of the experience a program offers, etc.—these families may also wish to take additional factors into account, such as:

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• Is the degree (or other credential) globally recognized? Will it be valued in the family’s home country and elsewhere?

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• How difficult will it be to return to the home country (or a third country) to work? What steps can be taken to ease the return?

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• Will it be possible to work in the country in which the program is located after graduation?

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• How important is the opportunity to add or perfect a language, or develop additional cultural competence?

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• Is the child sufficiently mature to handle education far from home? If not, are there appropriate ways to compensate for this—perhaps, for instance, a well-designed gap year?​

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Often a portfolio approach will be attractive. In some cases, this might be a joint-degree program offered by universities in different locations. In others, it might be appropriate for the student to pursue an undergraduate degree in one location and master’s degree in another.​​​​

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