Language Requirements

Only students pursuing the Master of Arts in Statecraft and International Affairs must complete the language requirement.

Students must possess by their final semester of study a professional reading knowledge of one of the following strategically important and widely used foreign languages: Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Farsi, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish or Urdu. Occasional substitutions to this list may be allowed. The Statecraft and World Politics degree will not be awarded until the candidate passes a proficiency examination, which will test the student on reading, writing, and conversation. Since the Institute does not have an in-house language program, students needing training are referred to area language centers such as theDepartment of Agriculture, the Middle East Institute, or those used by the State Department. 

Students need to achieve at least a 3+ level in writing, speaking and reading. This 3+ can be described as General Professional Proficiency, Plus according to the ILR Scale, which we use. If you would like more detailed information about the scoring, you can go to this link:

http://www.govtilr.org/Skills/ILRscale1.htm  

Students will take the exams at a testing center (International Center for Language Studies) or at the Graduate School (formerly the USDA Grad School).

Please contact the Director of Student Affairs for more about the language requirement and a list of approved language centers.

Non-native speakers of English who are fluent in English (or have a TOEFL score of 600 or higher) are considered to possess this requirement and are not required to take the language proficiency exam.