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International Studies

Bachelor

The Bachelor of Arts in International Studies provides students with the tools to investigate globalisation, and its regional effects, from a humanities perspective. They study these effects through the prism of four disciplinary perspectives: culture, history, politics and economics, coupled with in-depth knowledge of one of eight world regions. The humanities perspective is ensured by placing an understanding of the historic and cultural context central in the programme, and linking this directly to the political and economic conditions. Students learn to apply the acquired knowledge of the four disciplinary approaches in the analysis of a geographical area of their choice with the aid of a language native to that area.

The programme’s combination of multidisciplinary knowledge, geographical specialisation, language training, and a global perspective, provides students with a unique understanding of the interactions of global, transnational, national, and subnational conditions and developments. Disciplinary understanding is introduced in three stages. The programme starts with a general introduction of the relevant theoretical and methodological approaches. It goes on to provide students with practical knowledge of the historical, cultural, political and economic conditions in a specific geographical area, and completes the disciplinary understanding by placing these conditions in their international context.

The areas offered in the degree, and their corresponding languages are:

Area Foreign Language
Africa Arabic, French, Portuguese, Swahili
East Asia Japanese, Korean, Mandarin
Europe Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish
Latin America Portuguese, Spanish
Middle East Arabic, Modern Hebrew, Persian, Turkish
North America French, Spanish
Russia and Eurasia Russian
South Asia and Southeast Asia Hindi, Indonesian
  • First Year
  • Second Year
  • Third Year
  • Additional Information
  • Transitional Arrangements
  • Career Preparation
Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

First semester

Academic Reading and Writing 5
Cultural Studies 5
Global History 5
Introduction to International Studies 5
Principles of Economics 5
Sociolinguistics 5

Second semester

Foundations of Political Economy 5
Politics 5

Culture

Choose one of the following courses:

Culture and Language: Africa 5
Culture and Language: East Asia 5
Culture and Language: Europe 5
Culture and Language: Latin America 5
Culture and Language: Middle East 5
Culture and Language: North America 5
Culture and Language: Russia and Eurasia 5
Culture and Language: South and South-East Asia 5

History

Choose one of the following courses:

History: Africa 5
History: East Asia 5
History: Europe 5
History: Latin America 5
History: Middle East 5
History: North America 5
History: Russia and Eurasia 5
History: South and South-East Asia 5

Foreign Language 1

Choose one of the following courses:

Arabic 1 Beginners 10
Arabic 1 Pre-Intermediate 10
Dutch 1 Beginners 10
French 1 Beginners 10
French 1 Intermediate 10
German 1 Beginners 10
German 1 Intermediate 10
Hindi 1 Beginners 10
Indonesian 1 Beginners 10
Japanese 1 Beginners 10
Korean 1 Beginners 10
Mandarin 1 Beginners 10
Mandarin 1 Pre-Intermediate 10
Modern Hebrew 1 Beginners 10
Persian 1 Beginners 10
Portuguese 1 Beginners 10
Russian 1 Beginners 10
Russian 1 Pre-Intermediate 10
Spanish 1 Beginners 10
Spanish 1 Intermediate 10
Swahili 1 Beginners 10