Master of Science in Foreign Service

About MSFS

Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service conferred the first graduate degree in international affairs in 1922, pre-dating the US State Department's adoption of the term "foreign service." Since that initial class, over 3,000 students have completed the Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) Program. Graduates have attained notable success in careers with national governments, international organizations, private businesses and civil society groups.

Today MSFS is recognized as one of the most selective programs in the world. As reported in the March, 2009 issue of Foreign Policy, a recent survey of international relations faculty ranked Georgetown first among the field's professionally-oriented masters degrees.

Attention to the individual student is a hallmark of the MSFS Program, with small classes, faculty-student interaction, and life-long friendships cited regularly in post-graduation surveys. Other attractions include the Program's distinguished faculty, the Washington, DC location, and a curriculum that integrates multidisciplinary core requirements with skills training, internships and field experience.

Curriculum and Faculty

International careers increasingly require knowledge and skills that transcend the confines of traditional academic disciplines. The MSFS Program addresses this with a multidisciplinary course of study that integrates theory and practice. The curriculum offers:

• a full-time, two-year, 48-credit program
• small classes with interactive teaching and learning
• required core courses that provide cross-disciplinary insights into the dynamic international system
• advanced courses in economics, history, politics and business as well as quantitative methods, analytical skills and foreign languages
• a choice of five professional concentration areas: international relations and security, international development, international commerce and business
• specializations that integrate classes, skills training, internship opportunities and unique, practitioner-taught workshops

The MSFS faculty encompasses scholar-teachers and practitioners. Faculty teaching MSFS students include Charles Kupchan, Victor Cha, Kathleen McNamara, John McNeill, Carol Lancaster and Theodore Moran. Among the more notable practitioners are Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Georgetown alumnus Andrew Natsios (Director, US Agency for International Development). Adjunct faculty include executives from the World Bank, Citigroup, Exxon, ITT, McKinsey, Sidley Austin, FINCA and Knight Ridder Newspapers.

Practitioners serve as Concentration Coordinators for each field of study. Their applied professional insights complement the full-time faculty's role in advising on course selection, internships, career preparation, and employment opportunities. Practitioners also offer optional one or two-day skills clinics; recent examples include global strategy concepts and approaches, international development project design and evaluation, and business risk assessment and management techniques.

The Versatile International Affairs Professional

Graduates of MSFS find that the curriculum and faculty prepare them - not for a specific job - but rather, for evolving careers that often span all three international sectors: public, private and non-profit. Business concentrators serve as government officials in economic ministries; conflict management concentrators work with international development agencies in post-conflict regions; foreign policy concentrators achieve success in private financial institutions. MSFS graduates are versatile international affairs professionals who will confront unanticipated challenges and opportunities in the constantly changing global environment.

The core identity for both the School of Foreign Service and its MSFS Program were aptly described by Professor Seth Tillman on the School's 75th anniversary:

The basic mission of the School was and remains to synthesize practical training with liberal education in the field of international relations, to root technique in values and method in philosophy, with a view to producing international affairs professionals who will do well in their careers while doing good for their own societies and for the global community. [1]

The MSFS Program's vision and mission aim to identify, educate and motivate a new group of young leaders, providing them with both the fundamental understanding and practical skills necessary for careers as international "foreign service" professionals.

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MSFS Staff

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