International Studies

This broad-based, multidisciplinary major helps you to understand and analyze problems in an international context. The program leads to a degree with special designation: the Bachelor of Arts in International Studies.

Program Strengths

Global context: Many other universities specialize in one region of the world, but Miami's program is broad-based, giving you an overall world view.

Undergraduate focus: This is strictly an undergraduate program, so you don't compete with graduate students for resources.

Multidisciplinary: Because the world's problems don't fall neatly into historical or political areas, Miami's program encompasses those disciplines as well as others.

Your Program of Study

The major includes multidisciplinary study in international politics, economics, marketing, diplomatic history, political and regional geography, foreign culture, and foreign language.

In addition, you choose one area of the globe for a special emphasis. You can select Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, East and Southeast Asia, or Africa.

Miami's program also requires four years of college-level foreign language study. We encourage students to study abroad in a location where that language is spoken.

In your first year, you'll complete much of your Miami Plan for Liberal Education requirements, courses in the humanities, social sciences, fine arts, and formal reasoning.

You then choose an area of concentration, normally in connection to the foreign language you're studying. Areas include Europe, Latin America, Middle East, East and South Asia, or Africa. You'll take courses about those areas in three of the following fields: geography, history, political science, sociology/anthropology, and humanities.

Because this major is relatively flexible, many students choose to take another major along with it (a "double major") in a related field, such as economics, a foreign language, history, geography, political science, or diplomacy and foreign affairs. Others take a minor, which requires fewer hours than a major, to provide specialization.

Study Abroad

Study abroad is highly recommended for international studies majors, and in fact about half of the students in this major participate in a study abroad program. We encourage students to study abroad in a foreign language (i.e., German in Germany, Spanish in Mexico, etc.). If you are interested in any area of the world, we can help you choose an overseas program that will allow you to have the credit transferred to Miami.

Student Life and Culture

You don't even have to leave Miami's campus to experience other cultures. You could get to know some of the more than 375 international students from 70 countries who are enrolled at Miami each year. As a freshman, you can live in the Clawson Hall International Living/Learning Center where you can take part in cross-cultural programming with international students as well as other students interested in global affairs.

Or you could experience the culture of Germany by living in the German language corridor of Wells Hall, where you can improve your conversational German, watch international television from Germany via satellite, read German periodicals, and help host the annual Oktoberfest Karneval. The French language corridor offers similar opportunities.

You can view important events from around the world on SCOLA, the international news programming network which is part of Miami's academic cable television system. You also have access to international E-mail networks and bulletin boards.

You can also get involved, or form a student organization, that focuses on another culture. Some of these at Miami include the Asian American Association, Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (AIESEC), the Association of Latin and American Students, Black Student Action Association (BSAA), Chinese Student and Scholar Friendship Association, Foreign Language Education Association, Greek Club, Indian Students Association, International Club, Italian Club, Japanese Culture and Language Club, Korean Club, Luxembourg Club, and Russian Club. 

Graduate Study

Many of our graduates, usually between 30 and 40 percent, go on to graduate or professional school. Some continue in international studies, while others choose law, business, education, or another field.

Careers to Consider

The most common areas of employment for international studies graduates are in public service (non-profit organizations and government), business (marketing, banking, and transportation), and education and language (translation and teaching). Those who want to work abroad usually spend several years in U.S. assignments before working overseas.

A recent survey of alumni shows job titles including director and marketing manager for a U.S./Japan joint venture company, director of an international school in West Africa, Peace Corps volunteer, director of travel services for NBC in New York, senior counterterrorist analyst for the F.B.I., chief of the translations branch of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and director of international student services at Xavier University.

Other Overseas Programs

The Office of International Education maintains a well-equipped library of resources on overseas study opportunities. A full-time study abroad adviser is available to help you make plans.

Summer Study Abroad

Going abroad in the summer is a popular way to experience foreign cultures. Each summer, Miami offers intensive advanced French language and culture in Dijon, France; intermediate and advanced German in Heidelberg, Germany; Japanese in Mishima, Japan; Portuguese in Brazil; Italian at the Summer Language Institute in Urbino, Italy; and Spanish in Puebla, Mexico.

These programs enable you to accomplish a full year of language study in one summer.

Many of our academic departments offer summer programs overseas in several countries of Western and East/Central Europe, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Africa, South Asia, and the countries of the Caribbean and Central America. Summer workshops involving overseas study include Gothic architecture in France; international advertising in London; archaeology in Crannog, Ireland; tropical flora of the Bahamas; and anthropology in Nepal.

Exchange Programs

Through a special arrangement between Miami and the Kansai University of Foreign Studies in Osaka, Japan, you can spend a year studying and living in Japan, exchanging places with a Japanese student who comes to Miami. Similar exchange agreements are held with the University of Glasgow in Scotland, the Vienna School of Economics and Business Administration in Austria, Aarhus University in Denmark, and the University of the Americas-Puebla in Mexico.

In addition, Miami's membership in the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) provides an opportunity for Miami students to attend any one of 120 institutions in more than 30 countries.

In all of these exchanges, you pay regular Miami tuition and fees and continue your registration at Miami to maintain scholarship eligibility.

Student Teaching Abroad

A very popular option at Miami is our Student Teaching in Europe Program. You teach in English with an American-style curriculum. Programs are available from kindergarten through high school in Department of Defense Dependents Schools, which serve children of U.S. military and civilian personnel stationed in Germany.

An international school in Luxembourg is also used for placements. This is a private school serving children of English-speaking and international communities living in the Luxembourg area.

Recognizing the importance of diverse settings and cultural experiences, Miami recently has expanded its international student teaching opportunities to include sites in Guadalajara, Mexico; Ghana, Africa; and Perth, Australia.

In all our international teaching programs, you receive the same quality of supervision as you would student teaching in the United States. A university faculty member supervises you, and you work under the guidance of a cooperating teacher at your school.

Honors Program Abroad

The Selwyn College, Cambridge England program allows you to conduct independent study under the supervision of British faculty through Miami's Honors Program.

Programs sponsored by other institutions:
You may enroll as a visiting student in other institutions' programs worldwide and earn Miami University transfer credit.

For More Information

For general information about Miami University, please contact:

Office of Admission
301 S. Campus Ave.
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056-3434
513-529-2531 (v/t)
www.muohio.edu/requestinfo

For specific information on the International Studies major, please contact:

Dr. Jeanne Hey
Director of International Studies
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio 45056
513-529-5333
heyja@muohio.edu
www.cas.muohio.edu/itsweb

For more information on exchange programs or other study abroad opportunities, please contact:

Marcia Waller, Study Abroad Adviser
Office of International Education
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio 45056
513-529-5985
wallermb@muohio.edu