April 10, 2008

Columbia Graduate Schools Forge New Dual-Degree Programs
with London School of Economics and France's Sciences Po

Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and Graduate Department of History have teamed up with France's Sciences Po and the London School of Economics to offer graduate students an international perspective in journalism and history.

Columbia Provost Alan Brinkley and London School of Economics Director Sir Howard Davies sign the partnership agreement earlier this year in London. Photo courtesy of the London School of Economics

The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism announced a dual-degree with Sciences Po in Paris to offer students top-tier training from both an American and a European perspective, and encourages mastery of journalistic techniques, bilingual training, and the opportunity to develop a career with a unique international background. This new dual degree is the first such journalism degree offered by both a French and American universities. The School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia also has a partnership with Sciences Po, together offering a dual-degree program in international affairs.

The Columbia Graduate Department of History and the London School of Economics announced a dual master’s program in international and world history, which experts believe is one of only two master of arts in history operated jointly by a U.S. and foreign university. Students who complete the program will earn graduate degrees from both institutions. The title of the program, “international and world history,” reflects a dual emphasis on the relationships between individual countries, and the historical movements—such as climate change, epidemic disease, trade and migration—that have shaped the world as a whole.

Dual-Degree Program with Sciences Po

Columbia Journalism School students at Sciences Po will study subjects such as international affairs, French and European history, economics and social dynamics, and a wide range of journalism courses, and, while enrolled at Sciences Po, they will also be placed in internships with Paris-based news and media organizations. Sciences Po’s journalism school will oversee the placement of these internships. Students from Sciences Po who are admitted to Columbia will enroll in Columbia’s Master of Science program, the cornerstone program offered by the Journalism School.

“The journalism profession is reinventing itself to adapt to technological changes along with the globalization of higher education,” said Bruno Patino, dean of the Sciences Po School of Journalism. “We will face these challenges with a historical partner, Columbia University, through our first dual degree program in journalism which we consider to be unique in that it is fully international. Taking the global dimension into account has become a necessity today in journalism.”

Two-Year Program with London School of Economics

The two-year program in international and world history, which opens this fall, comes in response to a growing call by U.S. historians and academic organizations—including the American Historical Association—for more terminal master’s degree programs in history, an academic field traditionally populated by doctoral students. The program was built with a practical application: to give graduates a deep understanding of globalization so they might use it within professional fields such as government, business, journalism and the nonprofit sector.

The new program will “set the standard” for the training of master’s-level international historians, said Arne Westad, director of LSE’s Center for Diplomacy for International Affairs and former chair of its international history department. “By combining the history faculties of Columbia and LSE, students will get access to some of the most exciting and innovative research that is going on in the field today.”

“Our country has clearly suffered from a lack of historical knowledge,” said Matthew Connelly, Columbia associate professor of history and director of the program. “This program is meant to educate historians for the 21st century, to be a boot camp for the newest fields of research.”

The program combines emphases on political, social, economic, cultural and intellectual history. Students will study in New York and in London in successive years. Students will be required to become fluent in a foreign language, correspond with government officials and notable policymakers, and conduct research at the United Nations archives, the British Library and the British National Archives.

— Story by John Tucker and Clare Oh