Becoming a Participating Major

Adding the International Plan to your major program provides your students an added edge in the competitive and interconnected world.

The process to give your students this advantage is simple, and the International Plan office is here to help guide you though it. At the bottom of this page are samples of approved plans from participating schools that you may use to model your plan.

Some schools and colleges have had to modify their existing major slightly to make the International Plan work but most have not. (For example, engineering majors had to choose one economics course from a list. This requirement had to be modified to include a global economics course that is a requirement of the International Plan.)

The Office of International Education has partnered with Education Abroad, the Global Internship Program, and the School of Modern Languages to facilitate overseas experiences and language requirements. Thus, Georgia Tech provides strong support to make participation in the International Plan workable and worthwhile for your major.

A number of Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and administrators worked for over two years to bring about the International Plan. This plan, offering students an important and relevant option for becoming globally competent, has the following significant features:

1. It is a coherent, degree-long program that is integrated into the student's major.
2. There is a general template that students in any major must follow:
   • Students must take one course from each of three categories (see the catalog website for a list of approved courses):
     1. International relations
     2. Global Economics
     3. A course about a specific country or region
   • Students must become proficient in a second language.
   • Students must complete a two-term period of international experience lasting not less than six months and consisting of any combination of terms of study abroad, international internship, or research.
   • During or following the international experience, students take a capstone course that is designed by the student's academic unit or in collaboration with other academic units to integrate the international experience and study into the student's major. (See capstone guidelines here.)
3. The International Plan is tailored by each academic unit to meet the particular needs of its students. For this reason, each academic unit wishing to participate is expected to develop a specific version of the International Plan that is approved by its faculty, the school chair, the dean of the relevant college, the IUCC, Faculty Senate, and the provost. Please contact the International Plan in the Office of International Education for additional information.

The process to give your students this advantage is simple, and the International Plan office is here to help guide you though it. Here are samples of approved plans from participating schools that you may use to model your plan.

• Aerospace Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Economics
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• History, Technology and Society