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International Studies

Degree

Bachelor of Arts in International Studies | College of Arts and Science

What is International Studies?

This broad-based, multidisciplinary major helps you to understand and analyze important issues within an international and multicultural context.

What are the features of Miami's program?

Global context

Many other universities specialize in one region of the world, but Miami's program is broad-based, giving you an overall world view.

Study abroad

Overseas study is required as part of this major. We also encourage students to study abroad in a foreign language (i.e., German in Germany, Spanish in Mexico, etc.). If you are interested in any area of the world, we can help you choose an overseas program that will allow you to have the credit transferred to Miami.

Live in the culture

You don't even have to leave Miami's campus to experience other cultures. You could get to know some of the more than 375 international students from 70 countries who are enrolled at Miami each year. As a freshman, you can live in the Clawson Hall International Living/Learning Center where you can take part in cross-cultural programming with international students as well as other students interested in global affairs.

Exchange programs

Through a special arrangement between Miami and the Kansai University of Foreign Studies in Osaka, Japan, you can spend a year studying and living in Japan, exchanging places with a Japanese student who comes to Miami. Similar exchange agreements are held with the University of Glasgow in Scotland, the Vienna School of Economics and Business Administration in Austria, Aarhus University in Denmark, and the University of the Americas-Puebla in Mexico.

Student teaching abroad

A very popular option at Miami is our Student Teaching in Europe Program. You teach in English with an American-style curriculum. Programs are available from kindergarten through high school in Department of Defense Dependents Schools, which serve children of U.S. military and civilian personnel stationed in Germany.

Honors program

The Selwyn College, Cambridge England program allows you to conduct independent study under the supervision of British faculty through Miami's Honors Program.

Are there special admission requirements?

There are no additional admission requirements for this program.

What courses would I take?

The major includes multidisciplinary study in international politics, economics, marketing, diplomatic history, political and regional geography, foreign culture, and foreign language.

In addition, you choose one area of the globe for a special emphasis. You can select Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, East and Southeast Asia, or Africa.

Miami's program also requires four years of college-level foreign language study. We encourage students to study abroad in a location where that language is spoken.

In your first year, you'll complete much of your Global Miami Plan for Liberal Education requirements, courses in the humanities, social sciences, fine arts, and formal reasoning.

You then choose an area of concentration, normally in connection to the foreign language you're studying. Areas include Europe, Latin America, Middle East, East and South Asia, or Africa. You'll take courses about those areas in three of the following fields: geography, history, political science, sociology/anthropology, and humanities.

Because this major is relatively flexible, many students choose to take another major along with it in a related field, such as economics, a foreign language, history, geography, political science, or diplomacy and foreign affairs. Others take a minor, which requires fewer hours than a major, to provide specialization.

What can I do with this major?

The most common areas of employment for international studies graduates are in public service (non-profit organizations and government), business (marketing, banking, and transportation), and education and language (translation and teaching). Those who want to work abroad usually spend several years in U.S. assignments before working overseas.

A recent survey of alumni shows job titles including director and marketing manager for a U.S./Japan joint venture company, director of an international school in West Africa, Peace Corps volunteer, director of travel services for NBC in New York, senior counterterrorist analyst for the F.B.I., chief of the translations branch of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and director of international student services at Xavier University.

Who can I contact for more information?