Modern Foreign Language Requirement
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One year of a modern foreign language completed in or outside Oberlin College. If completed outside the college, a certification by the Chair of the appropriate language department is required.
International Affairs Approved Electives
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With the help of an International Affairs Integrative Concentration advisor, the student will develop a program of courses from the list. These will include at least two social science courses in addition to the two core courses.
Experiential Component
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An off-campus internship that deals with global affairs in any area.
To meet this requirement, students are encouraged to participate in on-campus career communities, made available by the Career Development Center. Students could choose a community that offers them skills and expertise necessary for a career in global affairs. Career communities that are suitable for the International Affairs Integrative Concentration are located in the areas of Law & Public Policy; Non-Profit and the Public Sector; Medical, Public, and Global Health; Education; and more. See below for an additional list of potential internship opportunities. The minimum length for the internship is four weeks. Students may also gain permission from the IA advisor to count a winter term internship experience.
Internship opportunities are accessible at:
Council on Foreign Relations, Washington D.C.
Carnegie Endowment’s Middle East Center, Washington D.C.
Brookings Institution, Washington D.C.
The United Nations
UN Environment Program
UN Women, Peace, and Security
U.S. Department of State
Foreign Policy for America
USAID
IMF & World Bank
Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program
The Atlantic Council, Washington D.C.
World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C.
Human Rights Watch
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
National Council on US Arab Relations, Washington, DC
W.E.B. DuBois Centre, Ghana
International Crisis Group, Morocco
American Institute for Maghreb Studies, Tunisia & Morocco
Learning Portfolio
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Students will be required to maintain a learning portfolio which will include signature course work as well as pre- and post-internship reflection. The portfolio is a means for students to draw together the theory from the curricular component with the practice from the experiential component. It also works to support students’ appreciation of global expertise as an area of rich intellectual engagement, as well as, how to launch from college to career. Vital to this integration is the student’s understanding of how the range of skills acquired through liberal arts learning are transferable to the workplace. The integrative component will be overseen by the student’s faculty advisor for the integrative concentration.
