Top Schools for International Relations

Planning to study in International Relations? Looking for the best schools and universities where you can study politics & international studies? If you are planning a career in this renowned field then we can help you.

To determine the best schools to study International Relations in the world, we have compiled a list of 2018 Top Schools for International Relations. In this list, all mentioned institutes provide excellent undergraduate, graduate and master programs in this illustrious major.

IR majors pursue study in world politics, including courses in Political Science, Economics, History, languages, and other fields focusing on issues such as international security, political economy, economic development, and democratization.

Start out by studying at one of the world’s best institutions for international relations, studies, and affairs, as highlighted in the given list of the best international relations schools in the world for 2018.

Ranking: Undergraduate Institutions to Study International Relations

Harvard University

GSAS connects the work of the most groundbreaking students, faculty, and alumni with Harvard’s long tradition of excellence. If you are interested in graduate study in political science, Harvard University’s Department of Government offers exceptional resources. Their dedication to excellence in all fields of political science and our encouragement of diverse approaches are evident in both their faculty and our curriculum. The department requires the submission of a writing sample. This should be a recent scholarly or critical paper double-spaced and no more than 20 pages.

Ranking: 1st
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $33,000
Contact Information: Tel: 617-495-5315. Fax: 617-495-2928, gsas@fas.harvard.edu
Website: https://gsas.harvard.edu/programs-of-study/all/international-relations

Princeton University

The international relations faculty is tightly connected with scholars in other areas of political science and other disciplines, and it encourages graduate students to develop such connections as well. The International Relations group in the Politics Department also teaches within the Woodrow Wilson School, where many international relations faculty are jointly appointed. The Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies houses fellows, funds conferences and speakers, and supports courses and student research.

Ranking: 2nd
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $48,940
Contact Information: Tel: (609) 258-4760, Fax: (609) 258-1110
Website: https://www.princeton.edu/politics/fields/international/

Stanford University

The Program in International Relations (IR) offers an interdisciplinary undergraduate major, minor, and an honors program allowing students to explore how global, regional and domestic factors influence relations between actors on the world stage. In the undergraduate major program, students focus on political, economic, and cultural relations among peoples and states in the modern world. Students majoring in IR will pursue a course of study that includes classes in Political Science, Economics, History, languages and other fields.

Ranking: 3rd
Tuition & Fees Approximately: NA
Contact Information: (650) 725-0715, internationalrelations@stanford.edu
Website: http://exploredegrees.stanford.edu/schoolofhumanitiesandsciences/internationalrelations/

Georgetown University

With the unparalleled resources of Washington, D.C., Georgetown University is one of the world’s foremost institutions for the study of international affairs and cultural diplomacy. Domestically and internationally recognized academic excellence, intercultural understanding, and Jesuit ideals of service are some of the hallmarks of studying international relations at Georgetown. The total cost of attendance for the 2018-2019 school year is $79,100: $52,962 for tuition and mandatory fees and $26,138 for living expenses and other indirect costs

Ranking: 4th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $52,962
Contact Information: (202) 687-0100
Website: https://www.georgetown.edu/academics/international-affairs

Columbia University

The Department of Political Science at Columbia University offers the major and concentration in political science to students in Columbia College and the School of General Studies. The department also offers interdepartmental majors with the Departments of Economics and Statistics. Its graduates are leaders in global and domestic private and public sector organizations and professors in world-class colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. Today it is one of the largest departments in the university, serving one of the largest undergraduate majors on campus and annually attracting an elite group of graduate students.

Ranking: 5th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $55,212
Contact Information: 212-854-3646
Website: https://polisci.columbia.edu/content/undergraduate-program

Yale University

The Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, which opened in fall 2010, is the home of the university’s master’s degree in Global Affairs and an undergraduate major in Global Affairs. The collection’s primary function is to support research and teaching programs in international relations, international affairs, and international studies at Yale University. The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale encourages and coordinates teaching and research in these fields. The MacMillan Center offers seven undergraduate majors (six focused on world regions) and three regionally-focused master’s degree programs.

Ranking: 6th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $42,100
Contact Information: (203) 432-3309
Website: https://web.library.yale.edu/collection-development/international-relations

University of Chicago

The Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago, the nation’s oldest graduate program in international affairs, combines intellectual diversity and analytical rigor to provide an especially stimulating environment for students. The Committee’s faculty includes members of the various departments in the Division of the Social Sciences, as well as the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, the Divinity School, and the Law School.

Their expertise extends over a broad range of subjects: international relations theory, security studies, international political economy, international history, history and conduct of U.S. foreign policy, human rights, international law and organization, international development, and regional international relations. Full-time MAPH students take three for-credit courses per quarter. Total tuition for a full-time MAPH student in the 2018-2019 school year is $57,996. Total fees and expenses are $30,627.

Ranking: 7th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $57,996
Contact Information: 773.702.3268, mjreese@uchicago.edu
Website: http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/internationalrelations/

George Washington University

When you major in International Affairs at the Elliott School you won’t just study it, you’ll experience it. The Elliott School at George Washington University offers bachelors of Arts degrees in international affairs, Asian studies, Latin American and hemispheric studies, and the Middle East studies. All students complete a core curriculum of courses in the liberal arts — humanities, social sciences, math, science and foreign languages — during the first two years of study. In the third and fourth years, students take coursework underscoring international issues within their chosen field. Their international affairs major allows students to study global issues through the disciplines of political science, history, economics, anthropology, and geography before they focus their studies on a functional or regional concentration.

Ranking: 8th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $1,825 per credit
Contact Information: 202-994-1000
Website: https://elliott.gwu.edu/undergraduate-academics

American University

At American University, the BA in International Studies affords an opportunity for students to find their truest vocations, to discover their passions, and to become active and engaged citizens in a complex global world that defies simple explanations or solutions. The sequencing of the BA in International Studies is designed to give students a firm grounding in the breadth of the international studies field, as well as solid research skills before they further develop their own research and substantive interests.

Ranking: 9th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $1,946 per credit hour
Contact Information: sisundergrad@american.edu
Website: https://www.american.edu/sis/undergrad/

University of California—Berkeley

International Relations at Berkeley focus on the study of contemporary and historical problems in world politics. Their faculty and graduate students work on an eclectic set of substantive issues that frequently cross over between international relations theory, security studies, and international political economy. In addition to resources in the political science department, their work is reflected and supported by various centers across campus: the Institute for International Studies (IIS), the Berkeley Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center (BASC), the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE), the Religion, Politics and Globalization Program (RPGP), and others.

Ranking: 10th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: In-state: $13,928 & Out-of-state: $41,942
Contact Information: (510) 642-3770, Fax (510) 642-9515
Website: http://polisci.berkeley.edu/research-and-teaching/subfields/international-relations

Ranking: Master Institutions to Study International Relations

If you are interested in studying International Relations at the master level then you may check these institutes for your studies.

Georgetown University

Georgetown offers a variety of institutional resources that support research and teaching that is of interest to their Ph.D. students. Georgetown’s Department of Government has a strong tradition in the major subfields of political science: American politics, political theory, international relations, comparative politics, and political economy. The department’s graduate program in international relations prepares students for successful careers by introducing them to cutting-edge research across the field and training them to be productive and professional scholars. They go on to become academics in the world’s leading colleges and universities as well as to positions of influence in government and global affairs. Their four master’s degrees offer to challenge, policy-oriented programs focused on such issues as democracy, conflict, development, and U.S. politics at the federal, state, and local levels. The total cost of attendance for the 2018-2019 school year is $79,100: $52,962 for tuition and mandatory fees and $26,138 for living expenses and other indirect costs.

Ranking: 1st
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $52,962
Contact Information: Phone: (202) 687-6130, Fax: (202) 687.5858
Website: https://government.georgetown.edu/page/1242700003100.html