Undergraduate Program

Offering nine B.A. degree options, a combined B.A./M.I.A., and a minor, the International Studies Program challenges students to explore the processes and consequences of interactions among institutions and individuals at the international and national, and global and local levels.  The curriculum provides students with both a firm grounding in academic disciplines and the intellectual flexibility to reason through the diversity of interests behind human actions.

International Studies Major

The International Studies major provides students with both a firm grounding in a discipline and the flexibility to explore alternative perspectives. The focus chosen by each student contains the disciplinary foundations of the major. This is complemented with three required electives taken in departments outside that of the student’s chosen primary track. International Studies majors also complete two core courses that serve as gateways to the multi-disciplinary approach and to central international and comparative issues that cut across the ISP curriculum. Among the topics are cultural boundaries and identities, economic and social development, international and regional integration and their effects, the evolution of political and social institutions, and forms of communication and language. A required capstone seminar permits the completion of a research paper in close association with a member of the faculty.

International Studies - Anthropology
International Studies - Economics
International Studies - History
International Studies - International Business
International Studies - Linguistics
International Studies - Literature
International Studies - Philosophy
International Studies - Political Science
International Studies - Sociology

International Studies Minor

The International Studies minor is designed to offer students an introduction to the interdisciplinary investigation of other societies and the forces of global integration and conflict.

Bachelor/Master Program

The International Studies Program and the School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS) have collaborated to create a combined five-year Bachelor of Arts / Master of International Affairs program. The combined program is designed specifically for selected UCSD undergraduate majors in International Studies who seek advanced training for leadership positions in the Pacific Rim community.