International Studies

This course explores how the current global framework of sustainable development, particularly within the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian Aggression in Ukraine as well as other conflicts in the world, play on the implementation of SDGs. It also studies how sustainable development has evolved in the global development discussion. The course aims to instruct students on various aspects of sustainable development and key global environmental issues, including how to work towards a more sustainable society.

The International Internship course develops vital business skills employers are actively seeking in job candidates. This course is comprised of two parts: an internship, and a hybrid academic seminar. Students are placed in an internship within a sector related to their professional ambitions. The hybrid academic seminar, conducted both online and in-person, analyzes and evaluates the workplace culture and the daily working environment students experience. The course is divided into eight career readiness competency modules as set out by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which guide the course’s learning objectives. During the academic seminar, students reflect weekly on their internship experience within the context of their host culture by comparing and contrasting their experiences with their global internship placement with that of their home culture. Students reflect on their experiences in their internship, the role they have played in the evolution of their experience in their internship placement, and the experiences of their peers in their internship placements. Students develop a greater awareness of their strengths relative to the career readiness competencies, the subtleties and complexities of integrating into a cross-cultural work environment, and how to build and maintain a career search portfolio.

The course provides an introduction to the phenomenon of globalization from archaeological and historical perspectives. Topics covered include conditions and driving forces for the globalizing processes, the exchange patterns of the “pre-European” world, the European expansion from the 15th century, cultural encounters and hybridity, merchant capitalism and the East India trade, slavery and plantations, and the life of the non-articulate groups of humanity. Special emphasis is on ecological globalization and the threat to the global heritage caused by climate change.

This course introduces the international regime of refugee protection and acquaints students with its origins and historical development. It provides an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The course highlights limitations of international refugee law, drawing on international human rights law and international humanitarian law as complementary bodies of law. It explores the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and sheds light on contemporary challenges to refugee protection.