The MIA curriculum has been designed to develop international affairs experts, consultants, and executives who understand the increasingly complex issues that transcend national boundaries. The Core Curriculum accounts for 30 of the 54 credit points required for completion of the MIA degree. While some students arrive at SIPA with specific career goals in mind, others find the focus of their professional goals during their first year's studies here. Courses supporting the concentration total 18 to 24 credit points. Foreign Language Requirement Facility with at least one foreign language is a requirement for completion of the MIA degree.
Regional institutes have their own language requirements.
Instruction is available in 37 languages at Columbia. Electives may be taken within SIPA or at any school within Columbia. During your first two semesters at SIPA, you will choose from a wide array of core curriculum courses while deciding on the concentration you will pursue. In the course of developing your career specialty at SIPA, you will have access not only to a distinguished roster of scholars and courses, but also to the regional institutes and the research institutes and centers that have been called the soul of the MIA program. The institutes, which provide a forum for specialized study of global regions, now represent most areas of the world.