Curriculum

SIPA’s commitment to excellence demands ongoing evaluation of the education we provide and we continuously assess our ability to prepare students for the professional path they choose. 

Our new curriculum provides students with SIPA’s core foundational coursework, but adds flexibility to meet students’ varied interests and aspirations. The curriculum emphasizes global immersion, quantitative analysis, and interdisciplinary learning—all modeled after policy landscape trends. 

Students entering in the fall 2025 semester will take the new curriculum. Students entering in January 2025 (j-term) will have a choice to pursue the current curriculum or transition to the revised curriculum. 

1. SIPA’s MIA and MPA have become more differentiated from each other as degree programs. 

• The STEM-designated MPA is now more data-driven and quantitative-focused, with an emphasis on practical, career-ready skills in policymaking. 
• The MIA is more globally immersive than ever, equipping students with skills and competencies to work across national boundaries.

 2. The core was updated with a more explicit focus on skills-based training and is more flexible and customizable through a new modular format. 

3. Newly reorganized and reframed concentrations better represent the key contemporary policy domains. 

4. The revised curriculum removes the specialization requirement, so that students can have more freedom of choice with electives, with the option to pursue prescribed combinations as a minor.

The MPA and MIA degrees are two sides of the same exceptional public policy education at Columbia SIPA.

Consider whether your career aspirations are more aligned with the rigorous quantitative and data-driven aspects of public policy (MPA) or with a more qualitative approach to international issues and diplomacy which harnesses language skills and regional expertise (MIA). 

Masters of International Affairs
Designed for students looking to facilitate and lead international cooperation, the MIA will provide an enhanced global education equipping students to understand international political and legal institutions, and develop the skills of conflict resolution, diplomacy, and inter-cultural competency necessary to achieve change on the worldwide stage.

Masters of Public Administration
Developed for students looking to lead the policymaking process, the MPA will provide an enhanced data-rich analytical education, equipping students to understand policy challenges and to develop, implement, and evaluate policy solutions. The revised MPA is STEM-designated so that students in all policy domains will be eligible to apply for OPT extensions where relevant.

SIPA’s new curriculum represents a natural evolution of our previous academic offerings, making a Columbia SIPA degree sharper and more contemporary given the world’s evolving challenges and opportunities. The changes build on our rigorous academic foundations that have prepared generations of alumni to make the world a better place. SIPA remains committed to the same intellectual principles that have guided generations of students and restructured existing offerings to provide students with more choices as well as additional pathways for study in particular policy domains.