Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies

See also SAIS international campuses in Bologna, Italy and Nanjing, China
The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

SAIS Logo
Established 1943
Type Private
Parent institution
 Johns Hopkins University
Dean Vali R. Nasr
Postgraduates 950
Location Washington, D.C., USA
Bologna, Italy
Nanjing, China
Affiliations APSIA
Website SAIS Website

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a division of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., United States, with campuses in Bologna, Italy and Nanjing, China. It is generally considered one of the top graduate schools for international relations in the world. The institution is devoted to the study of international affairs, economics, diplomacy, and policy research and education.[1]

The school is regarded as a major center of political debate as it served as a base for a number of prominent political scientists and economists. Among them are political economy scholar Francis Fukuyama; former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and military historian and former Counselor of the U.S. Department of State Eliot Cohen. Its students are selected from a large pool of applicants from all parts of the world.[2]

The SAIS main campus is located on Massachusetts Avenue's Embassy Row, just off Dupont Circle and across from the Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and next to the Center for Global Development and the Peterson Institute.

History

SAIS was founded in 1943 by Paul H. Nitze and Christian Herter and became part of The Johns Hopkins University in 1950. The school was established during World War II by a group of statesmen who sought new methods of preparing men and women to cope with the international responsibilities that would be thrust upon the United States in the postwar world.

The founders assembled a faculty of scholars and professionals (often borrowed from other universities) to teach international relations, international economics, and foreign languages to a small group of students. The curriculum was designed to be both scholarly and practical. The natural choice for the location of the school was Washington, D.C., a city where international resources are abundant and where American foreign policy is shaped and set in motion. When the school opened in 1944, 15 students were enrolled.[3]

In 1955, the school created the Bologna Center in Italy, the first full-time graduate school located in Europe under an American higher-education system. By 1963, SAIS outgrew its first quarters on Florida Avenue and moved to one of its present buildings on Massachusetts Avenue. In 1986, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center was created in Nanjing, China, completing the school's global presence.

Organization and academic programs

SAIS - Washington, D.C.

SAIS is a global school with campuses in three continents. It has nearly 600 full-time students in Washington, D.C., 190 full-time students in Bologna, Italy and about 160 full-time students in Nanjing, China. Of these, 60% come from the United States and 37% from more than 70 other countries.[4] Around 50% are women and 22% are from U.S. minority groups. The SAIS Bologna Center is the only full-time international relations graduate program in Europe that operates under an American higher-education system, and the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, which teaches courses in both Chinese and English, is jointly administered by SAIS and Nanjing University.

SAIS offers multi-disciplinary instruction leading to the degrees of Master of Arts, Master of International Economics and Finance (MIEF - 11 months), Master of International Public Policy (MIPP, a mid-career full-time degree), and Doctor of Philosophy. Approximately 300 students graduate from SAIS Washington, D.C. campus each year from the 2-year Master of Arts program in International Relations and International Economics. Unlike most other international affairs graduate schools that offer professional Master degrees, SAIS requires its Master of Arts candidates to fulfill the International Economics program along with their chosen functional or regional concentration; to complete a foreign language proficiency examination; and in lieu of a customary Master thesis, to pass a 1-hour capstone oral examination synthesizing and integrating knowledge from the student's regional or functional concentration and International Economics.[5] The Oral Examination and International Economics requirements of the SAIS Master of Arts curriculum have been the signature aspects of the school's education.

Courses are taught in 20 programs, including International Economics, International Relations (IR/Conflict Management, IR/Energy, Resources and Environment, IR/Global Theory & History, IR/International Law and Organizations, IR/Strategic Studies), International Development, African Studies, American Foreign Policy, Asian Studies (Asia/China Studies, Asia/Japan Studies, Asia/Korea Studies, Asia/Southeast Asia Studies, Asia/South Asia Studies), European Studies, Middle East Studies, Russia & Eurasia Studies, Western Hemisphere Studies (Western Hemisphere/Canada Studies, Western Hemisphere/Latin America Studies), and 15 foreign languages.[5]

SAIS also maintains formal joint-degree programs with the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, INSEAD, the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia Law School, Stanford Law School, University of Virginia School of Law, Nanjing University, and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Reputation

A study conducted by the Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations[1] at the College of William & Mary examined graduate international relations programs throughout the United States, interviewing over 1,000 professionals in the field, with the results subsequently published in the November/December 2005 issue of Foreign Policy magazine. One of study's questions asked: "What do you consider the top five terminal masters programs in international relations for students looking to pursue a policy career?" From the study, 65% of respondents named Johns Hopkins University-SAIS as being among the top-ranked programs. SAIS received the most votes, followed by Georgetown University (Walsh), Harvard University (Kennedy), Tufts University (Fletcher), and Columbia University (SIPA). In 2007, Foreign Policy magazine produced the same study, and while SAIS remained one of the top-ranked programs, it moved to second position as Georgetown (Walsh) received the most votes.

Since 1990, SAIS and the Fletcher School have been the only non-law schools in the United States to participate in the prestigious Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Competing against full-time law students, SAIS generalists have performed very well. SAIS has twice placed second overall out of 12 schools and advanced to the "final four" in its region. In head-to-head competitions, SAIS has defeated law schools such as Georgetown University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Maryland.

SAIS students have also demonstrated their versatility by successfully competing in the Sustainable Innovation Summit Challenge hosted by the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. Two different SAIS teams won first place in both 2007 and 2008, besting teams of MBA students from some of the world's top business schools.[6][7]

A joint team from SAIS and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business received second place in the first "Global Challenge" competition, a first-of-its-kind competition that challenged teams of MBA and other graduate students to develop a public-private venture to support development and the tourism industry in Asia. The competition was organized in 2010 by the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).[8]

Annual themes

Since 2005, SAIS has dedicated a substantive theme for each academic year in order to encourage its students, faculty, academic programs, policy centers, and alumni to examine the role of the particular theme within international affairs. These specific themes provide opportunities for the school to review scholarship and exchange views through special lectures, conferences, and guest speakers. The annual themes also allow SAIS to enhance its fundraising with high-profile public events such as the lecture delivered by then Vice President of BP, Nick Butler, during "The Year of Energy at SAIS" in 2005.[9]

Child Protection Project

In June 2009, The Protection Project at SAIS partnered with the Koons Family Institute of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), creating the Child Protection Project, to draft a model law focusing on the issues of child protection; in particular: "neglect, abuse, maltreatment, and exploitation".[11] The primary objectives of the Child Protection Project are to: “research existing child protection laws in the 193 member states of the United Nations (UN); convene a series of regional expert working group meetings to establish a common definition for 'child protection;' create a database of national legislation and case law on child protection issues from around the world; and draft, publish, and globally disseminate model child protection legislation."[12]

The drafting process included six expert group meetings, held in Singapore, Egypt, Costa Rica, Spain, Turkey, and the US.[11] The final version of the Child Protection Model Law was published in January 2013. It was presented to the members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child during its 62nd Session in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2013.[11][13] It was also presented before the 129th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva in October 2013.[11][14][15] Accompanying the Child Protection Model Law, ICMEC and The Protection Project published a companion "100 Best Practices in Child Protection" guide in 2013.[16]

Research centers

  • Institute for International Research (China)
  • International Energy, Resources and Environment Program (ERE)
  • International Reporting Project
  • Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies
  • The Protection Project
  • Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies
  • Bernard L. Schwartz Forum on Constructive Capitalism
  • SME Institute
  • Swiss Foundation for World Affairs
  • U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS
  • Global Energy and Environment Initiative
  • Global Health and Foreign Policy Initiative

Publications

In addition to the different books and periodicals edited by SAIS programs or research centers, several school-wide publications are to be mentioned:

Notable alumni

SAIS has over 15,000 alumni working in approximately 140 countries.[10] Over 130 SAIS graduates have become ambassadors for various countries.[17]

Past and present faculty

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations | Home". Irtheoryandpractice.wm.edu 1. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  2. ↑ "SAIS Office of Career Services | For Employers". Sais-jhu.edu. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  3. ↑ Gutner, Tammi L. "The Story of SAIS". Washington, D.C.: School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, 1987.
  4. ↑ SAIS Prepare to Lead Brochure, released Summer 2009
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Johns Hopkins SAIS Academics | MA Program | Requirements". Sais-jhu.edu. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  6. ↑ "Thunderbird Names Sustainable Innovation Summit Winners – Press Releases on". Csrwire.com. 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  7. ↑ "Sustainable Innovation Summit winners announced - Thunderbird School of Global Management". Thunderbird.edu. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  8. ↑ "Robert H. Smith School of Business - University of Maryland, College Park". Rhsmith.umd.edu. 2010-04-27. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  9. ↑ "Johns Hopkins SAIS | Press Room | SAIS Reports". Sais-jhu.edu. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Johns Hopkins SAIS | Year of Religion". Sais-jhu.edu. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 "Drafting Human Rights Legislation Expert Group". The Protection Project.
  12. ↑ Katai de Mello Dantas (August 1, 2011) “Protecting Children from Exploitation: Discussions on Creating a Model Law and a Parliamentary Guide”, Peace & Collaborative Development Network
  13. ↑ "Speeches". The Protection Project.
  14. ↑ "Panel Discussion (Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights) (Geneva, 7–9 October 2013); The Role of Parliaments in Protecting the Rights of Children, in Particular Unaccompanied Migrant Children, and in Preventing their Exploitation in Situations of War and Conflict", Inter-Parliamentary Union
  15. ↑ "129th IPU Assembly; Overview of Main Events and Decisions (Geneva, 7–9 October 2013)", Inter-Parliamentary Union
  16. ↑ "100 Best Practices in Child Protection". The Chronicle of Social Change 3. 2013.
  17. ↑ http://www.sais-jhu.edu/pubaffairs/PDF/Fact%20Sheet_7_07.pdf
  18. ↑ U.S. Embassy press release
  19. ↑ State department
  20. ↑ Popkin, Jim. Ana Montes did much harm spying for Cuba. Chances are, you haven’t heard of her. Washington Post Magazine, April 18, 2013.
  21. ↑ Government Printing Office Web Division. "USCC Commissioners Page:Honorable William A. Reinsch". Uscc.gov. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  22. ↑ "Biography of Ambassador WANG Guangya". Fmprc.gov.cn. 2003-11-10. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  23. ↑ "Osgood Center for International Studies". Osgoodcenter.org. Retrieved 2011-08-10.

Coordinates: 38°54′29″N 77°02′25″W / 38.908°N 77.0403°W