University of Notre Dame
Keough School of Global Affairs
Snapshot
- Enrollment:
- 80 (40 new students entering annually)
- % International:
- 50+ %
- Work Experience (in years):
- 2-4 (average)
- Employment sectors:
- Government; NGO and Civil Society Organizations; Private Sector
- Degrees offered
- Master of Global Affairs with three concentrations: International Peace Studies, Sustainable Development, or Global Affairs with options to specialize in areas such as economic development, human rights, international law, global religion, or regional or national culture or history.
- Tuition:
- All qualified applicants are considered for generous financial support. Scholarships range from half-tuition up to full-tuition plus stipend for living expenses. More than 75% of Keough School MGA students receive significant financial support, and 100% of Keough School MGA students receive financial support for field placements.
All the resources of a major research university with global connections and small, diverse, engaging classes. At the University of Notre Dame’s new Keough School of Global Affairs, students find fellowship and inspiration among a diverse group of scholars, practitioners, and visionaries who are driven by compassion and hope.
Prepare for a Global Employment Landscape
The Keough School’s Master of Global Affairs is a two-year professional degree that prepares students for skilled, effective leadership in government, nongovernmental and civil society organizations, and the private sector.
The program combines rigorous coursework with hands-on projects and immersive field experiences that provide on-the-job training. All students participate in global fieldwork, research, and development practice as part of the curriculum.
Integration labs organized around real-world problems draw together theory and practice in partnership with international organizations. Working in teams, students spend extended time working with leading organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, or Washington, D.C.
Customize Your Curriculum
MGA students can choose from one of three concentrations:
- International Peace Studies
- Sustainable Development
- Global Affairs (with various options for specialization)
By offering concentrations instead of separate degrees, the Master of Global Affairs program allows students in different areas of study to take classes together and connect perspectives from across their chosen disciplines. In addition, an extensive list of University classes allows students to pursue their personal interests and develop a toolbox of integrated skills to serve their professional pursuits.
Join a Global Community
The Keough School is committed to diversity, with a student body that includes many international, linguistic, and disciplinary backgrounds. The Master of Global Affairs Class of 2020 includes 34 students from 18 different countries.
A similarly diverse, multidisciplinary faculty of scholars, practitioners, and policy experts teaches, advises, and mentors students over the course of their two years of study, field work experience, and professional development. A global network of University of Notre Dame alumni, scholar-practitioners, and partner organizations provides students with unparalleled opportunities to make career connections and collaborate on global solutions.
Graduates benefit from Notre Dame’s impressive alumni network, which extends across 11 international centers and over 270 alumni clubs worldwide.
To receive information directly from the Admissions Department, click here.
Notre Dame’s New Keough School of Global Affairs Focuses on Integration and Partnership
How does the Keough School meet the new challenges in international affairs?
Today, in the era of artificial intelligence and the internet of things, power—the ability to envision constructive change and leverage resources to foster it—must come from below and from across. On a given day, a young thirty-something innovator—or hacker—may wield more power than a head of state, and the architects of new technology think and act beyond territorial and political boundaries. How can this emerging dynamism be directed to serve the common good?
At the Keough School, our focus is forging effective partnerships with various state and non-state actors—including NGOs, private organizations, and local communities—to respond to cross-border crises and threats to human flourishing.
While mastery of new technologies is critical, it must be matched by appreciation of the diverse global communities bearing the brunt of rapid and often chaotic change; these peoples, the vulnerable of the world, are our stakeholders.
That is why we study cultures, history, and religions as well as treaties; social values as well as demographics; effective development practices and policies as well as geopolitics. Our mission is to advance integral human development: the flourishing of whole communities and the whole person.
How does the structure of the new school reflect the new international order?
Contemporary challenges to human development are interrelated: climate change may lead to food shortages, trigger mass migration, and incite resource wars. Health crises follow all of these traumas. Governments fail to deliver essential services.
In this environment, no single discipline acts in isolation. Accordingly, the Keough School is structured to encourage integration of multiple disciplines and practices, with nine multi- and interdisciplinary institutes, each focusing on several dimensions of a problem and in conversation with the other units.
Tell us about the Keough School community.
Our second graduating Master of Global Affairs (MGA) cohort includes thirty-four students from eighteen different countries. Similarly, our faculty come from a diverse range of backgrounds and disciplines. This rich array of voices animates everything we do at the Keough School.
How does the MGA program prepare graduates to lead?
We combine rigorous coursework with hands-on projects and immersive field experiences that provide on-the-job training. All students in the MGA program participate in global fieldwork, research, and development practice as part of our curriculum.
Students interact with prominent campus visitors, such as CEOs of nonprofits, diplomats, and world leaders. They also take full advantage of the Keough School’s center in Washington, DC, where they work with policymakers, government officials, and international organizations.
What does the future look like for graduates?
Graduates are prepared to compete for positions of influence, having held prestigious placements with the United Nations, U.S. Department of State, Brookings Institution, and Oxfam. Notre Dame’s impressive alumni network, which extends across eleven international centers and over two hundred and seventy alumni clubs worldwide, helps graduates succeed.
The Keough School is committed to ensuring that our students are not burdened by student debt following graduation. Generous funding packages and fellowships are available to all accepted into the MGA program.