Experiential Learning

Through study trips, practicums, staff rides, crisis simulations, career treks, and internships, Johns Hopkins SAIS students gain practical, hands-on experience outside the classroom.

Study Trips

Each year, the school offers a variety of courses that include study trips, providing valuable opportunities for students to conduct research and gain new perspectives on major global issues. All of the school’s three campuses offer such trips, including Washington D.C.-based trips such as the 2024 Japan study trip and the 2024 International Human Rights Law Clinic Namibia trip, trips from SAIS Europe like such as the 2024 trip to Georgia, and the Hopkins Nanjing Center’s trip to Southeast Asia. In addition, the Master of Arts in Global Policy runs a Global Residency every year.

Practicums

Practicum courses provide students with extensive, in-depth experience working on consulting projects addressing real-world challenges for outside client organizations. Recent projects have focused on green infrastructure in Indonesia, universal health care in Kenya, and the digital economy in Malaysia. Previous projects have addressed marketing strategies for small farmers in India, and renewable energy in Puerto Rico.

Staff Rides

A staff ride is an immersive educational experience in which a group travels to the location of a historical battle to study strategic decision-making and leadership within the larger operational context.  Every year, the Washington, D.C. campus runs domestic staff rides within the United States and one International Staff Ride, planned by a team of students in Washington, D.C. who lead other members of the SAIS community overseas during the spring break. SAIS Europe also runs annual staff rides.

Seminar in Crisis Simulation  

Students enrolled in this course design and execute the Crisis Simulation, inviting their peers from the larger SAIS community to participate in a weekend-long exploration of a hypothetical foreign policy scenario. Student teams play any number of roles – from acting as various nations and international organizations to non-state actors and media – as they attempt to respond to and resolve the simulation’s proposed situation. This is a valuable opportunity for students to hone their skills in policy analysis, critical thinking, and decision-making.

Career Treks

Through company visits and alumni networking receptions facilitated by the Office of Global Careers, students gain an insider’s perspective on working in different sectors. The school hosts career treks around the world to help students learn about career paths in such fields as asset management, consulting, energy and environment, finance, international development, nonprofits, multilateral organizations, political risk, think tanks, and more.

Internships

The school’s global career counselors and degree programs have a strong track record of connecting talented students with alumni and organizations to secure rewarding internship opportunities.  
 
Approximately 75% of students in the Master of Arts in International Relations program augment their studies with an internship during the summer between their first and second years to gain practical, hands-on experience. Nearly half of the second-year class seeks exciting part-time internships in the final year of their studies.