Wednesday, February 29, 2012

SAIS Bologna signs accord with French "grande école"

SAIS Bologna has reached a partnership with a leading French university that will enable students to receive two master's degrees in as many years, adding to the growing list of dual degree programs offered to SAIS students.

The cooperative degree options allow students to receive two advanced degrees in less time than it would take if they tackled the programs separately. That can accelerate participants' careers, broaden students' horizons and save them money.

Tuesday's signing ceremony in Lille, France
The latest agreement, signed on Tuesday, links SAIS Bologna with Sciences Po Lille, one of France's grandes écoles specializing in political science, international relations and economics.

Both SAIS Bologna and Sciences Po Lille are confident the agreement will stimulate the movement of outstanding students between the two institutions and deepen the already diverse makeup of their student bodies.

The linkup follows an agreement reached last year that allows SAIS students who are admitted to the INSEAD business school outside of Paris to earn both an MA and an MBA in five semesters.

SAIS Bologna has a longstanding dual degree agreement with the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. More recently it reached similar accords with the University of Bologna.

In the case of SAIS Bologna's agreements with Sciences Po Lille and the University of Bologna, a student can study for one year at either of the partner institutions and one year at the Bologna Center and receive master's degrees from both programs.

In the United States, SAIS has dual degree agreements leading to an MA in combination with:

  • an MBA from either the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania or the Tuck School at Dartmouth;
  • a Master of Science in Public Health from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health;
  • a Juris Doctorate degree from either Stanford University Law School or the University of Virginia Law School;
  • a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University.

I traveled to Lille, France on Tuesday to sign the agreement with Sciences Po Lille Director Pierre Mathiot and Patrick Mardellat, director of international relations at Sciences Po Lille, part of the network of nine publicly owned instituts d'études politiques spread throughout France.

We signed the agreement at the regional prefecture in the presence of U.S. Embassy Minister Counselor Philip Breeden and several hundred high school students aspiring to attend Sciences Po Lille -- and perhaps one day SAIS.

Nelson Graves

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