International Comparative Studies (AB)

Program Code: U-ICS-AB
Degree Designation: Bachelor of Arts
Department: International Comparative Studies
Website: internationalcomparative.duke.edu/academics 

Program Summary

The International Comparative Studies Program offers a bachelor of arts degree to students interested in an interdisciplinary individualized major focused on global and transnational studies. The ICS Program mission is to prepare lifelong learners who can live, work, and engage with people and problems in a complex, diverse, and interconnected world. ICS majors gain knowledge in the culture(s), history, politics, and language of one geographic region of the world through region-focused and language coursework. This multidimensional study of a particular part of the world is complemented by coursework with global breadth. Well over 75 percent of ICS majors complete some of their coursework in study away programs. Core courses, individualized advising, and research mentoring encourage ICS students to formulate and address questions through a combination of disciplinary approaches.

The most up-to-date listings of approved global, regional, and research methods courses is available on the ICS website at internationalcomparative.duke.edu/courses.

The ICS major is divided into five course categories: (1) Core courses are taught by ICS faculty members and include the required gateway course (taken in first or second year), the required capstone seminar (taken in senior year), and the selective two-semester senior year honors thesis sequence. (2) Region courses focus on a particular geographic area of the world. (3) Global courses focus on global and transnational studies. (4) ICS language requirement courses build expertise in a language related to a student’s region focus. (Note: the ICS language requirement is distinct from Trinity College’s foreign language requirement, and in some cases may not be fulfilled exclusively by the courses ICS students take for the major.) (5) Research Methods courses teach key ways of constructing knowledge in the humanities and social sciences, ethical and political issues in research design, and ways of co-designing, presenting, and sharing research with different communities.

Grants and Awards

Duke students who are not graduating seniors are eligible to apply for research funding provided by several units on campus. For more information, visit the Undergraduate Research Support Office website at undergraduateresearch.duke.edu. In addition, rising seniors accepted into the ICS Distinction Program may apply for a summer travel grant to advance language learning and/or to conduct field research, funded by the Scott Lee Stephenson Memorial Fund. The author of an exceptional distinction project is recognized with the ICS Distinguished Thesis Award. Additionally, up to four Capstone Research (Book) Prizes are awarded to seniors who produce superb research in an ICS capstone seminar.

Academic Requirements

At least 14 units total to complete the major. At least 34 units total to earn a degree.

• Core (2 units)

  • ICS 195

  • ICS 489S (ICS 495S may also count for students participating in the Honors program)

• Region Courses (4 units)

  • At least 4 courses from any one region: Africa, China and East Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East, Russia and Central Asia, South Asia

  • A comprehensive list of courses is available to students in the degree audit system.

• Global Courses (4 units)

  • A comprehensive list of courses is available to students in the degree audit system.

• Language Courses (4 units)

  • At least 4 courses from one non-English language used by a group in part or all of the geographic region concentration

  • May substitute 1 research methods course for a language course

Further information can be found at internationalcomparative.duke.edu/academics/requirements.

Graduation with Distinction in ICS

ICS offers a two-semester seminar sequence to support ICS majors wishing to graduate with distinction in the major. Students complete this work in our honors program via a two-semester seminar sequence (International Comparative Studies 495S and International Comparative Studies 496S), taken fall and spring of senior year. Each student chooses a qualified Duke faculty member  to serve as a research supervisor.  Each student is also guided by the seminar instructor and a graduate student writing “coach” through a multi-stage writing process . Under most circumstances, the product is a completed thesis of seventy to one hundred pages on a topic relevant to ICS’s focus in global and transnational studies. Students may work in, with, and through different mediums, but all are required to complete a research-based and interdisciplinary piece of writing and to submit the final project in electronic form. Further details on the application process, including specific deadlines, are available on the ICS website.

Successful completion of International Comparative Studies 495S in fall term fulfills the major requirement for International Comparative Studies 489S, the senior capstone course. Students must complete eleven non-Foreign Language courses to graduate with distinction in the major instead of the standard ten. A student who has completed and done satisfactory work in ICS 495, but whose thesis is not completed or is denied distinction will receive graded credit for coursework. 

Further details on deadlines, schedules, and expectations for Graduation with Distinction in ICS are available on the ICS website at internationalcomparative.duke.edu/academics/honors