• International Studies (ITS) is at its heart an interdisciplinary approach to studying the world. Miami university believes that most global problems and issues are too complex to be understood through a single disciplinary perspective. Students, therefore, take a series of courses from many academic departments including economics, anthropology, geography, history, and political science.
  • ITS students lead the university in receiving highly competitive scholarships such as Fulbright English Language Fellowships, Boren Awards, and Critical Language Scholarships and the major consistently sends its graduates to top graduate programs in security studies, international relations, law, and international business.
  • Overseas study is required for the major. Many students choose a foreign university program that includes a homestay for a deeper experience in a foreign culture. Miami university encourages students to study abroad in a country that is consistent with their foreign language requirements.
  • The major includes an interdisciplinary core of study in world politics, international economics, world history, political geography, intercultural relations (anthropology), and foreign language.
  • In addition, students choose a concentration requirement. Functional concentrations include Conflict, Peace and Diplomacy, Global Cultural Relations, Global Environment, Global Human Rights and Justice, International Development, or Women in the World. Regional concentrations include Latin America, the Middle East, East, and South Asia, Africa, Western Europe or Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Students will take courses about those areas in three different disciplines.
  • 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. Many students earn concentration credits while studying abroad.