Of course, this degree inflation would not be possible without the significant proliferation of the number of programs from which to obtain a graduate degree. The sea of opportunities is daunting. Graduate school is a serious investment of time and money, and you want to get it right. Most people are quite familiar with some professional degrees such as the MBA or JD. However, within this family of professional degrees lies the professional Masters degree in international affairs about which there is often less clarity. For starters, there is no standardized name for Masters degrees in international affairs - MIA (Master of International Affairs); MALD (Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy); MSFS (Master of Science in Foreign Service); MA in International Relations, to name a few. Nor is there an official accrediting body for schools of international affairs like there is for law schools, business schools and public policy schools. Professional international affairs degrees can be found in autonomous schools, within a university department, or as a cross-disciplinary program housed in a university institute.
A professional degree in international affairs is a relatively new genre. As late as the mid 1980s there were only roughly a dozen professional graduate schools of international affairs in the U.S. Most of these schools were established, or propelled forward, generally as a response to World War II and the recognition that the United States needed to have a cadre of citizens who were educated in history, area studies, political systems, law, and economics and could thus manage the U.S.’s new global pre-eminence and fight the Cold War. Today, there are over 30 schools of international affairs and over 40 additional degree programs in the United States alone. There has been a similar dramatic growth outside the US as well in schools or distinct degree programs in international affairs. Many of these also use English as the main language of instruction and have student bodies that are on average 50 percent international. The growth in interest in this type of degree among Millennials often can be attributed to the defining event of their generation to date – the attacks of September 11, 2001.
So what are the hallmarks of a professional graduate degree in international affairs? First and foremost, these are interdisciplinary degrees that pull from a range of academic disciplines. The most well-rounded programs will provide students with a solid foundation of knowledge of the international political system, economics, language and area studies, policy analysis and international history. These degrees are characterized by the breadth of knowledge they impart. The overall goal is for students to walk away with a clear understanding of the major forces affecting the workings of the international political, economic and social systems. Students develop the knowledge and tools to see the big picture and analyze large amounts of often disparate information about the facts on the ground and the theoretical underpinnings influencing decision-makers.
The strongest programs in international affairs not only provide a significant breadth of knowledge, they are also structured to ensure students develop specialized depth in a particular functional area. The specializations can cover such traditional topics as foreign policy, international security, intelligence studies, international finance/trade, and international development to relatively newer fields such as human rights, energy security, public diplomacy, human security and global health to name a few. While the core subject areas that define an international affairs degree remain fairly consistent, the growth of functional specialties and sub-fields has significantly expanded.
As more subject areas become increasingly impacted by global events or policy decisions taken at the international level, new specializations emerge. This trend is leading to the increasing globalization of schools of public policy and causing some of them to fall into the category of an international affairs degree. Likewise, the private sector has also increasingly recognized the value of an international affairs education beyond the traditional international trade and finance specialties. Such areas as political risk assessment, corporate social responsibility, emerging markets and social entrepreneurship are a few growing areas which benefit from the expertise of international affairs graduates. As one graduate recently explained to me, he works as an "interpreter" between the renewable energy private sector which competes in a global market place and the government policy makers who heavily regulate the environmental and energy fields within a given country. He can speak business and policy and explain to each side how their actions will impact one another and not just locally, but at the global level.
Just as there is no official accrediting body for professional degrees in international affairs, there is also no serious ranking of this type of degree. While many in academia generally take issue with the methodologies used to rank universities and specialized degree programs (like those done by U.S News and World Report or The Times of London), prospective students are eager to have some guidance as to overall quality as they assess their options. Foreign Policy magazine has published a ranking a few times of the top 20 graduate programs in international relations. The last such ranking was released in February 2009 and based on the results of a survey sent to international relations faculty members in the United States. However, this ranking really does nothing to illuminate why faculty members consider these programs to be the "best." In addition, while this ranking tells you what the academic community of one particular discipline within the panoply of disciplines represented in an international affairs degree (international relations is a subfield of the political science discipline and one specialty within the larger international affairs genre), it does not provide insight into the varying strengths of programs in the wide range of functional specialties that fall under the international affairs rubric. Finally, this list is U.S.-centric and only includes one non-U.S. program despite there being exceptional options around the world.
Being fixated on such a ranking or even thinking there are only a handful of "best" programs could do you a great disservice. Undertaking a professional degree in international affairs is about preparing yourself for a career. Ultimately, programs must be evaluated on the merits of how they could fulfill your individual needs and career goals. To be successful professionally requires more than just rigorous academic courses. Choosing the right program requires you to take a very hard look at your current knowledge and skill sets, personality type, areas of interest, and career goals. You must make the investment of time to fully research available programs. The strongest programs will have an even mix of both traditional academics and practitioner scholars, core curricula that provide the breadth of knowledge discussed above and offer a selection of functional specialties; have dedicated career development professionals (who are very knowledgeable about the many career options in the international affairs field) available specifically for students of the school; and have a strong alumni network to tap into when searching for internships and jobs. Professional development activities and career networking should be as important to you as a student as performing well academically. As such, you will want a school that recognizes the necessity of putting serious resources into its career services office. Finally, each school of international affairs often has a few niche programs that separate it from the others. It is essential to assess schools based on the depth of focus they provide in your functional and regional areas of interest.
As the global interconnectedness of the public, private and non-profit sectors continue to proliferate, the applicability of a degree in international affairs grows. Gradates of these programs work across all sectors – private, public, and non-profit – and in a wide range of fields. If there is one word to remember about this type of degree, it is flexibility. I have seen among the careers of international affairs practitioners the fluidity with which their career paths can navigate among various sectors. A person might leave graduate school for a position within the government, then move on to a private sector company to later find themselves with an NGO. I have seen any combination of cross-sector career paths, and it is this wide variety of options that makes a professional education in international affairs so valuable.
Leigh Morris Sloane serves as the Executive Director of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), managing programs and services and developing new initiatives for APSIA's 60 plus full and affiliate member schools from around the world. Leigh has over 15 years of experience in the higher education and non-profit realms.
a global affairs media network
International Education and the Millennials
November 10, 2011
Of course, this degree inflation would not be possible without the significant proliferation of the number of programs from which to obtain a graduate degree. The sea of opportunities is daunting. Graduate school is a serious investment of time and money, and you want to get it right. Most people are quite familiar with some professional degrees such as the MBA or JD. However, within this family of professional degrees lies the professional Masters degree in international affairs about which there is often less clarity. For starters, there is no standardized name for Masters degrees in international affairs - MIA (Master of International Affairs); MALD (Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy); MSFS (Master of Science in Foreign Service); MA in International Relations, to name a few. Nor is there an official accrediting body for schools of international affairs like there is for law schools, business schools and public policy schools. Professional international affairs degrees can be found in autonomous schools, within a university department, or as a cross-disciplinary program housed in a university institute.
A professional degree in international affairs is a relatively new genre. As late as the mid 1980s there were only roughly a dozen professional graduate schools of international affairs in the U.S. Most of these schools were established, or propelled forward, generally as a response to World War II and the recognition that the United States needed to have a cadre of citizens who were educated in history, area studies, political systems, law, and economics and could thus manage the U.S.’s new global pre-eminence and fight the Cold War. Today, there are over 30 schools of international affairs and over 40 additional degree programs in the United States alone. There has been a similar dramatic growth outside the US as well in schools or distinct degree programs in international affairs. Many of these also use English as the main language of instruction and have student bodies that are on average 50 percent international. The growth in interest in this type of degree among Millennials often can be attributed to the defining event of their generation to date – the attacks of September 11, 2001.
So what are the hallmarks of a professional graduate degree in international affairs? First and foremost, these are interdisciplinary degrees that pull from a range of academic disciplines. The most well-rounded programs will provide students with a solid foundation of knowledge of the international political system, economics, language and area studies, policy analysis and international history. These degrees are characterized by the breadth of knowledge they impart. The overall goal is for students to walk away with a clear understanding of the major forces affecting the workings of the international political, economic and social systems. Students develop the knowledge and tools to see the big picture and analyze large amounts of often disparate information about the facts on the ground and the theoretical underpinnings influencing decision-makers.
The strongest programs in international affairs not only provide a significant breadth of knowledge, they are also structured to ensure students develop specialized depth in a particular functional area. The specializations can cover such traditional topics as foreign policy, international security, intelligence studies, international finance/trade, and international development to relatively newer fields such as human rights, energy security, public diplomacy, human security and global health to name a few. While the core subject areas that define an international affairs degree remain fairly consistent, the growth of functional specialties and sub-fields has significantly expanded.
As more subject areas become increasingly impacted by global events or policy decisions taken at the international level, new specializations emerge. This trend is leading to the increasing globalization of schools of public policy and causing some of them to fall into the category of an international affairs degree. Likewise, the private sector has also increasingly recognized the value of an international affairs education beyond the traditional international trade and finance specialties. Such areas as political risk assessment, corporate social responsibility, emerging markets and social entrepreneurship are a few growing areas which benefit from the expertise of international affairs graduates. As one graduate recently explained to me, he works as an "interpreter" between the renewable energy private sector which competes in a global market place and the government policy makers who heavily regulate the environmental and energy fields within a given country. He can speak business and policy and explain to each side how their actions will impact one another and not just locally, but at the global level.
Just as there is no official accrediting body for professional degrees in international affairs, there is also no serious ranking of this type of degree. While many in academia generally take issue with the methodologies used to rank universities and specialized degree programs (like those done by U.S News and World Report or The Times of London), prospective students are eager to have some guidance as to overall quality as they assess their options. Foreign Policy magazine has published a ranking a few times of the top 20 graduate programs in international relations. The last such ranking was released in February 2009 and based on the results of a survey sent to international relations faculty members in the United States. However, this ranking really does nothing to illuminate why faculty members consider these programs to be the "best." In addition, while this ranking tells you what the academic community of one particular discipline within the panoply of disciplines represented in an international affairs degree (international relations is a subfield of the political science discipline and one specialty within the larger international affairs genre), it does not provide insight into the varying strengths of programs in the wide range of functional specialties that fall under the international affairs rubric. Finally, this list is U.S.-centric and only includes one non-U.S. program despite there being exceptional options around the world.
Being fixated on such a ranking or even thinking there are only a handful of "best" programs could do you a great disservice. Undertaking a professional degree in international affairs is about preparing yourself for a career. Ultimately, programs must be evaluated on the merits of how they could fulfill your individual needs and career goals. To be successful professionally requires more than just rigorous academic courses. Choosing the right program requires you to take a very hard look at your current knowledge and skill sets, personality type, areas of interest, and career goals. You must make the investment of time to fully research available programs. The strongest programs will have an even mix of both traditional academics and practitioner scholars, core curricula that provide the breadth of knowledge discussed above and offer a selection of functional specialties; have dedicated career development professionals (who are very knowledgeable about the many career options in the international affairs field) available specifically for students of the school; and have a strong alumni network to tap into when searching for internships and jobs. Professional development activities and career networking should be as important to you as a student as performing well academically. As such, you will want a school that recognizes the necessity of putting serious resources into its career services office. Finally, each school of international affairs often has a few niche programs that separate it from the others. It is essential to assess schools based on the depth of focus they provide in your functional and regional areas of interest.
As the global interconnectedness of the public, private and non-profit sectors continue to proliferate, the applicability of a degree in international affairs grows. Gradates of these programs work across all sectors – private, public, and non-profit – and in a wide range of fields. If there is one word to remember about this type of degree, it is flexibility. I have seen among the careers of international affairs practitioners the fluidity with which their career paths can navigate among various sectors. A person might leave graduate school for a position within the government, then move on to a private sector company to later find themselves with an NGO. I have seen any combination of cross-sector career paths, and it is this wide variety of options that makes a professional education in international affairs so valuable.
Leigh Morris Sloane serves as the Executive Director of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), managing programs and services and developing new initiatives for APSIA's 60 plus full and affiliate member schools from around the world. Leigh has over 15 years of experience in the higher education and non-profit realms.
