MA in International Relations (Brussels)
Boston University is pleased to offer our MA in International Relations degree program at the BU campus in Brussels. As the center of European Union politics, Brussels is a unique and exciting place to study international affairs.
This program is intended primarily for part-time, mid-career students, but other students are welcome to apply as well. Students normally complete the program in one and a half years.
Requirements of the Program
Students must complete all IR Core Requirements, including the General Core Course, Foreign Language, Statistics, and MA Paper requirements. The program requires a total of eight courses (three core courses plus five elective courses) or the equivalent of 32 credits. Because the Brussels campus is much smaller than the Boston campus, the course offerings are necessarily more limited, as described below.
Core Courses
Students take the three following courses to fulfill their core course requirement.
CAS IR 550 West European Integration (Regional Studies)
CAS IR 589 North Atlantic/European Security Issues (Security Studies)
GRO IR 704 Global Economic and Development Policy (Political Economy)
Elective Courses
Students choose five of the following courses. Listed below are the regularly taught courses — course offerings may be expanded as student demand and faculty availability allow.
CAS IR 509 Islam in Middle East Politics
CAS IR 524 War and Statecraft
CAS IR 535 Diplomacy and Statecraft
CAS IR 577 Foreign Policy of the People’s Republic of China
GRO IR 701 Introduction to International Relations
GRO IR 760 The Political Economy of the European Union
MET AD 725B Negotiations and Organizational Conflict Resolution
MET AD 749B International Economics
Statistics Requirement
Students fulfill the statistics requirement as described on the IR Core Requirements page. For students who have not fulfilled the statistics requirement prior to matriculation to BU, the Brussels campus offers the course listed below. This course will fulfill the statistics requirement, but will not count as one of the eight courses required by the MA degree program.
MET OM 735 Statistical Analysis
Additional Information
More information about the Brussels Program can be found on the Brussels campus website.
Applications for the Brussels program are processed at the main campus in Boston. Prospective students interested in the Brussels program should follow the directions given in the How To Apply section and should also read the page of additional information for Brussels applicants.
Boston/Brussels Interchangeability
Students on our main campus are welcome to take courses in Brussels and vice versa. The courses will count toward the student’s degree just as if they had been taken at the student’s home campus.
Students planning to spend a semester or summer at the alternate campus will need to plan ahead. Of particular note, in some terms Brussels only offers two IR courses. Also, the Brussels term calendar is not the same as the Boston term calendar. See here for current information on the Brussels calendar and here for current information on the Boston calendar.