Graduate School Forum: The Changing Face of International Affairs Education

Graduate School Forum:
The Changing Face of International Affairs Education

“International affairs” has traditionally carried the connotation of diplomacy, national security, and state-to-state engagement. After World War II, leaders in the public and private spheres in the United States recognized the need to educate more Americans about the world around them, prepare them for America’s new leadership role in the world, and successfully “fight” the Cold War. The fall of the Soviet Union, coupled with the technological revolution, has allowed for a rapid globalization of, well, everything. As a result, multidisciplinary programs in international affairs have exploded since 1989, and the difficult task has become to define the study of international affairs when today every discipline seems to have an international dimension.

At its core, despite all the changes, international affairs programs are still training “diplomats” and “translators”—professionals with broad knowledge of the world who see and can navigate the interconnectedness of the private, public, and NGO sectors. Today, international affairs schools must train their students to understand a far more complicated world—one in which we cannot shy away from studying the roles of science and technology, the global economy, or the role of governments’ policies to improve or hinder the environments in which we operate.

Click here for a PDF download of the section, or follow these links:

• Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA)
  

The Changing Face of International Affairs Education
Leigh Morris Sloane

• Harvard Kennedy School

Harvard Kennedy School has put the G in International Affairs: International & GLOBAL Affairs
Stephen Walt

• Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Vienna School of International Studies

Think Global, Act Global: International Environmental Management
Gerhard Loibl

• Tufts University, The Fletcher School

Preparing a Leader for How the World Really Works
Rachel Kyte

• Duquesne University, Graduate Program in Global Leadership

Preparing Global Leaders
Dorothy Bassett

• The Johns Hopkins University, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

Problem-Solving in the Era of Globalization
David J. Jhirad

• University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies

Study with Academics, Practitioners, and Policymakers
Roger Vickerman

• Brandeis University, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management

There Can Be No Development without Peace
Alain Lempereur

• The New School, Graduate Program in International A¬ffairs

Media and Education for Global Change
Sean Jacobs

• Ritsumeikan University, Graduate School of International Relations

Past and Present, Theory and Practice: Aiming for Interdisciplinarity in the Study of International Relations
Minoru Masuda

• University of San Francisco, Master of Arts in International Studies (MAIS) Program

Establishing a Global Community
Mary Zweifel

Back to Sponsored Section Index

Jump to the May/June 2011 Graduate School Forum
Jump to the Jan/Feb 2010 Graduate School Forum
Jump to the Sept/Oct 2010 Graduate School Forum