CURRICULUM
The two-year M.A. program combines courses from the social sciences and humanities with practical training and real-world experience. Students typically spend the summer of their first year and fall quarter of their second year abroad, taking courses and doing internships with non-governmental organizations, governmental bodies, or businesses. The program is developing partnerships with other globally-oriented educational institutions abroad, and a range of international NGOs, for study and intern placements. Students will also take two policy-oriented workshops designed to simulate real-life decision-making situations. Non-credit workshops will also be available for interested students, providing opportunities to learn about such practical matters as grant writing and foundation funding, tracking organizational finances, information management, and computer-based technologies.
The curriculum consists of three courses per quarter. The first year includes required courses on Organizational Policy and Management, Micro/Macro Economics, International Economics, Global Trade and Finance, Transnational Forces and Political Systems, Global Governance and World Order, Theories of Intercultural Understanding, and Global Organizations and Civil Society. Students are also required to take a course on Research Methods in Global & International Affairs, participate in a policy analysis and exercise seminar, and attend a one-unit seminar that focuses on contemporary issues and internship preparation.
The second year allows students to choose courses that provide background in particular cultural/geographic regions, and focus on a career emphasis in either Global Social and Economic Development or Global Culture and Human Rights. Students are also required to take courses in an area specialization of their choice: East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, or Europe. A course on Managing Development Organizations, Non-Profits and Other NGOs: Theory and Practice is also offered as an elective. The second year culminates with a required policy workshop.
In consultation with their advisors, students can elect either Master’s Plan I (thesis) or Master’s Plan II (project). It is expected that most students will choose the former.