Master of Science Degree

The Master of Science degree in International Studies is designed to prepare candidates to cope with the international responsibilities that confront individuals working in the public and private sectors around the world. The program is multi-disciplinary, allowing students the freedom to focus on the area of study which they choose. At the same time the core courses provide students with a broader understanding of theory, history, world politics and culture. The program also allows for a wide range of international experiences through internships, work on global research projects, and interaction with a diverse consortium of students and faculty.

Course Requirements:

Candidates for the master’s degree are required to complete 30 credit hours of course work with a thesis option, of 33 hours with a creative component option. The program is designed to allow most fulltime students to complete the requirements in three semesters. These requirements include core courses, focus area courses, electives and foreign language proficiency. A thesis or creative component is also required.

(Persons without a background in focus areas of International Studies may need to take undergraduate prerequisite courses in addition to graduate course requirements.)

For a Plan of Study with Thesis, the graduate credit requirements are:

For a Plan of Study with Creative Component, the graduate credit requirements are:

* Students are restricted to not more than 12 credit hours of Business courses beyond INTL 5233 including INTL 5010 and the courses under the following course designations: ACCT, BADM, BCOM, BHON, BUSAD, FIN, LSB, MGMT, MSIS, AND TCOM. Economics courses are excluded from the restrictions.

Foreign Language Requirement

In order to fulfill the foreign language requirement, native speakers of English must have accomplished one of the following:

1. Complete 15 semester hours of a second language or five semester hours of intermediate or advanced modern foreign language courses with a minimum grade of C; or
2. Obtain an Intermediate level rating on the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). For more information about the OPI, see the website at www.actfl.org. Note: No waivers for the foreign language requirement will be permitted, and the 15 hours of language courses cannot be counted towards the 33 hours necessary to complete the masters degree.

International Experience Requirement

Students from the U.S. must have an international experience to qualify for the M.S. in International Studies degree. The time outside the U.S. must be a minimum of 3 to 6 weeks, involve a structured program of course work or internship and have occurred during the student's undergraduate or graduate programs. Due to the great variety of opportunities, the experience must be approved by the Director.

Transfer of Credits

Students in the master's degree program may apply to transfer up to nine hours from another college or university. The following conditions must be met for the courses to be accepted.

• The student must have received a grade of B or above.
• The student was formally admitted to the graduate college at another accredited institution and the course(s) was certified as graduate credit by that institution.
• The transfer of credit must be recommended by the student's advisory committee.
• The transfer must also be approved by the dean of the Graduate College at the time a program of study is planned.

GRE/GMAT

All entering students must take either the GRE or the GMAT.