Master of Arts in International Relations & Master of Business Administration

This dual degree program is offered to meet the needs of students seeking careers in administrative management, international affairs, consulting, international banking or finance.

Admission into this dual degree Master of Arts in International Relations & Master of Business Administration (IR/MBA) program requires separate admissions decisions by the Department of International Relations and the Graduate School of Management (GSM). These decisions are based on one complete application to GSM. Students who are admitted by GSM but not IR have the option to pursue an MBA degree. Applicants not admitted by GSM will not be considered by IR. See admissions information on this website or go to the Graduate School of Management admissions page.

Requirements

Completion of this dual degree program requires a total of 80 credits. Students must complete all of the core requirements for the MA in International Relations. This includes a core of three classes (12 credits), a language requirement, a statistics requirement, and an MA Paper and Oral Defense thereof. Students also take five IR elective courses (20 credits), for a total of 32 credits of IR classes. Full-time IR/MBA students will fulfill the IR statistics requirement with the GSM core class QM 716, so there is no need to take any other class to fulfill that component of the degree.

Students complete at least 40 credits in GSM, including the core MBA courses (34 credits) and at least six credits of elective coursework. The remaining eight credits required for the degree are free electives and can be chosen from the graduate level course offerings of either the IR Department or GSM. To see a progress report for IR/MBA students, click here.

Students spend their first semester, and most or all of their second semester, taking management courses. The Graduate School of Management Advising Office can help students to understand which courses should be taken during those two semesters.

Students may undertake the IR/MBA program in either full-time or part-time status. The requirements indicated below are for full-time students; part-time students have similar, but significantly different, requirements for the MBA portion of the degree (the IR portion remains the same). Click here for information on requirements for part-time students.

Core MBA Course Requirement

All IR/MBA students must complete the 32 credit MBA core course requirement. The course list that follows details the 32 credit core for full-time students. Part-time IR/MBA students complete a similar, but distinct, course list. These courses must be completed in a specific order; students should talk with the GSM advising office when choosing their course schedule.

Full-time students must take at least six credits of elective coursework through the Graduate School of Management in order to fulfill the 40 credit residency requirement for GSM.

Free Electives

Students choose eight credits worth of courses from the graduate level offerings of either the IR Department or GSM.

IR Elective Coursework

A total of twenty credits of IR elective coursework is required for the degree. Of this twenty, twelve must be fulfilled through courses in the IR Department. Up to eight credits may be fulfilled through GSM classes that have an international orientation. These courses may be selected from the following list.

• FE 827 International Financial Management
• FE 882 Analysis of Political Economies
• IM 830 International Business Environment
• IM 848 Fundamental Business Functions in International Operations
• IM 849 Fundamental Business Functions in International Operations II
• IM 859 International Strategic Alliance
• IM 860 International Business Strategies
• MK 853 Global Strategic Marketing
• SP 856 International Entrepreneurship

The course offerings of GSM are continually evolving. If there is a GSM course with an international orientation that is not on this list, students are welcome to petition the IR Director of Graduate Studies for approval to take it for IR credit.

Please note that because GSM electives are normally worth three credits, students can not simply take two GSM courses in place of two IR courses. The student must still take a total of at least twenty credits of IR Elective coursework. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. One option that may assist students in reaching this credit requirement is to take a two credit IR Directed Study (e.g., 2 three-credit GSM electives plus 1 two-credit IR Directed Study would amount to eight credits total). Students are also welcome to take more than twenty credits worth of coursework.

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