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Home―Academics―Master Degrees―Master of Arts in International Affairs (MAIA)―Curriculum

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Curriculum | MAIA

The MAIA combines international relations, regional studies, international economics, and language studies with a research focus and gives you flexibility to design your curriculum based on the wide variety of courses.

Students spending one year at SAIS Europe through a cooperative degree program may complete six courses plus a thesis at SAIS Europe or complete eight courses and submit the thesis completed at their home institution to fulfill the MAIA thesis requirement.

This is where your ideas come together. With a research methods course to ground your approach and close guidance from your supervisor, you’ll craft an original thesis that reflects your interests and your voice as an emerging professional. Along the way, structured checkpoints, research design courses, writing workshops, and one-to-one feedback help you sharpen your question, gather and analyze evidence, and present clear, persuasive conclusions. The result is a substantial, polished piece of work you’ll be proud to share with faculty, peers, and future employers.
Students in the MAIA program must choose one course from each of the two groups below.

Group One
  • International Economics I
  • Essentials of International Economics I

Group Two
  • International Economics II
  • Essentials of International Economics II
The Economics I track covers topics in Microeconomics and International Trade Theory and the Economics II track covers topics in Macroeconomics and International Finance. The Essentials courses are more conceptual in nature and require only basic math skills.

All SAIS Europe students are strongly advised to take the Online Precalculus course over the summer in order to refresh their math skills in preparation for the SAIS economics curriculum.

Open doors to new professional possibilities through the study of a language. Our robust language studies program, emphasizing current political and economic topics, trains you to achieve proficiency in a non-native language.

Native English-speakers are required to pass a proficiency exam in one of the modern foreign languages offered at SAIS Europe—Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian, or Spanish—prior to graduation. Non-native English-speakers are required to take a proficiency exam in English, including a writing exam, upon entry at SAIS Europe.

The following chart describes the minimum levels that MAIA students must attain in order to fulfill their language graduation requirement

Native English-speakers
Native English-speakers are required to pass a proficiency exam in one of the modern foreign languages offered at SAIS Europe prior to graduation from SAIS. The modern foreign languages offered at SAIS Europe are Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.

Native English-speakers who join SAIS from a cooperative program should have reached a full CEFR A2 or ACTFL Intermediate-Low level in any of these languages before beginning their year of study in Bologna.

Non-native English-speakers
Non-native English-speakers must pass the English proficiency exam prior to graduation.

At SAIS, a native English-speaker is a person who meets at least TWO of the following criteria:
  • English is the main language of communication between you and one of your caregivers
  • English is an official language in the community where you grew up (before high school)
  • English is the language of instruction in the high school you attended
During the application process, non-native English speakers will be required to submit a score from one of the following English Language Exams: TOEFL, IELTS, or Cambridge C2. To see our English Language Examination policy, please click here. However, at the start of the academic year, all non-native English speakers at SAIS Europe will have to take the diagnostic English Proficiency Exam, regardless of previous test results, to ensure an adequate level in all skills.