School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs
We live in an increasingly interconnected global environment where people, goods, ideas, and conflicts traverse borders with rising frequency. Leaders in the activist, policy, and academic spheres must learn not only how to critically analyze these phenomena but also to envisage harnessing their constructive potential. The Master of Arts in International Affairs is an interdisciplinary graduate program dedicated to preparing tomorrow’s global citizens.
A holistic approach to enhancing our understanding of the world must span the limits of any one academic field and embrace cross-disciplinary analytical competencies. Spanning several social sciences and humanities, our courses are taught by leading scholars who research democratization, gender, globalization, ethnic conflict and cooperation, human rights and international law, international relations, social activism, social justice, and many other topics. Through its core courses, its two thematic emphases—globalization, development, and social justice and international public policy—as well as global, policy, and methodological electives, this graduate program allows students to pursue a variety of themes.
The master's program offers an optional cooperative education experience (“co-op”) to eligible students. Cooperative education is central to both the Northeastern experience and to the College of Social Sciences and Humanities experiential liberal arts framework. Northeastern’s signature co-op ecosystem provides qualified master's students with six-month work experiences in businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies in Boston and across the United States. Graduate students take their work from campus learning spaces, apply their knowledge outside of the classroom, and then bring knowledge and skills gained in community learning spaces back to our campus learning spaces during the cocurricular experiential integration course.
Please review the tuition and fee page as credit costs differ depending on the College in which the course is located.
Sustainability and Climate Change Policy Concentration
This graduate concentration is available to students in the Master of International Affairs (MIAF) program in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. It is designed to enable MIAF students to develop deeper insights into the policy dimensions of these intertwined but conceptually distinct realms of inquiry and action, and in both domestic and international domains. The concentration is comprised of three courses.
CSSH Graduate Programs General Regulations
Academic Standing/Progress
Students in the program are monitored for academic progress. Those students whose grade-point average (GPA) falls below a 3.000 are notified by and meet with the director of academic programs. They are counseled that if their GPA does not rise to a 3.000 or higher, they run the risk of not graduating and are advised on strategies for improvement.
Complete all courses and requirements listed below unless otherwise indicated.
Core Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Political Economy | ||
| Complete 8 semester hours from the following: | 8 | |
| Global Governance | ||
| International Environmental Policy | ||
| Globalization, Development, and Social Justice | ||
| Social Science Methods | ||
| Complete 4 semester hours from the following: | 4 | |
| Microeconomic Theory | ||
| Macroeconomic Theory | ||
| International Finance | ||
| Research Methods in the Social Sciences | ||
| Statistical Analysis | ||
| Qualitative Methods | ||
| Public Policy | ||
| Complete 4 semester hours from the following: | 4 | |
| Economic Analysis for Policy and Planning | ||
| Techniques of Policy Analysis | ||
| Institutional Leadership and the Public Manager | ||
| Techniques of Program Evaluation | ||
| Nonprofit Organizations and Social Change | ||
Concentration Option or Elective Option
Sustainability and Climate Change Policy Concentration
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete 12 semester hours from the following course list: | 12 | |
| Food Security and Sustainability | ||
| Cities, Sustainability, and Climate Change | ||
| Climate and Development | ||
| Transportation Policy | ||
| Land Use and Urban Growth Policy | ||
| Climate Change and Global Urbanization | ||
| Sustainable Urban Coastal Policy | ||
| Ecological Economics | ||
| Dynamic Modeling for Environmental Decision Making | ||
| Energy Democracy and Climate Resilience: Technology, Policy, and Social Change | ||
| International Environmental Policy | ||
| Food Systems and Public Policy | ||
| Environmental Science and Policy Seminar 1 | ||
| Complete 8 semester hours of elective courses from the list below: | 8 | |
Electives Option
Selected in consultation with faculty advisor.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete 20 semester hours from the following list of courses: | 20 | |
| Thesis | ||
LPSC 5000 to LPSC 7999 | ||
PPUA 5000 to PPUA 7999 | ||
CRIM 5000 to CRIM 7999 (by advisement only) | ||
ECON 5000 to ECON 7999 (by advisement only) | ||
ENGL 5000 to ENGL 7999 (by advisement only) | ||
HIST 5000 to HIST 7999 (by advisement only) | ||
POLS 5000 to POLS 7999 (by advisement only) | ||
SOCL 5000 to SOCL 7999 (by advisement only) | ||
Optional Co-op Experience
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Requires two consecutive semesters of Co-op Work Experience and Experiential Integration. Each of the following courses must be taken twice. | 2 | |
| Co-op Work Experience and Experiential Integration | ||
Program Credit/GPA Requirements
36 total semester hours required (38 with optional co-op)
Minimum 3.000 GPA required