Some of its constituent units offer degrees in area studies. The Institute complements those efforts with support for pre-dissertation fieldwork and internships abroad. It organizes fellowship programs, notably around Fulbright fellowships. It organizes a graduate board to enhance recruiting in international studies, and to extend the reach of the Institute to underrepresented students. The Institute's educational mission has focused on graduate students in its initial years, but it is turning its attention more to those with less educational attainment.
Some constituent units have their own undergraduate degrees.
The constituent units of the Institute have a strong tradition of public outreach, especially to teachers. The Institute thus provides direct support, through its constituent units and border crossing programs, to those international engagements that emphasize contextual expertise and linguistic accomplishment. Its mission to facilitate collaboration brings it in direct association, however, with a number of units across campus whose principal engagements beyond the United States are through networks formed in professional or disciplinary expertise. The Ford Foundation has provided funding to support this collaborative initiative over 1999-2002. The Institute has no tenure lines, and has no degree granting or curricular rights.