Contemporary International System Students initiate their program with courses from the Concepts and Methods group. In their last years, students take courses from the Contemporary International Systems group. Courses taken from each core area group are selected from two disciplines. Students take a minimum of 18 hours of course work in one concentration, with courses selected from three or more disciplines. Concentrations include international development, global economic systems, international cultural studies, international ecology or a regional concentration in Russia and Central Eurasia, Western Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia or Latin America.
Students take six or more hours of elective courses from the program course guide.
A course cannot simultaneously fulfill more than one requirement as a core area, concentration and elective course. INST 4950 may count either in the concentration or as an elective. Courses not listed on the program guide may be accepted to fulfill degree requirements based on a successful petition by the student to the director of the program. These may be topical seminars or occasionally offered courses appropriate to international studies. Students are encouraged to obtain foreign experience by working, studying or traveling outside the United States.