Combined J.D./Collaborative M.A. in International Relations

Please note that the MAIR program will not be accepting applications for fall 2010. Please see the School of Global Affairs website for more information on the new Master of Global Affairs Program. http://www.globalaffairs.utoronto.ca.

Director: Professor Jutta Brunnée 

• Requirements
• Admissions
• Contacts

International perspectives are becoming increasingly important in the practice of the law, and the Combined J.D./Collaborative M.A. in International Relations provides students with an opportunity to integrate an international approach into their study of the law.  Students who successfully complete the program receive both a J.D. and a Master of Arts in Political Science (Collaborative program in International Relations).

The program enables the students to complete the two degrees in three years of academic study rather than the four years required to receive the two degrees separately. The first year of the program consists of the first year law curriculum. In the following two years, the students complete the compulsory requirements of the upper years of the J.D. and the course requirements for the combined  program.

The structure and Requirements of this program are as follows:

As a combined degree, the J.D. and M.A. are awarded simultaneously. Students must therefore have satisfied both the J.D. and M.A. requirements before either degree may be conferred.

1. In the first year of the program, students must complete all first year courses in the J.D. program at the Faculty of Law. 

M.A. Requirements:

2.  In the second and third years of the program, students must:

a)  successfully complete two of the six core half-course electives for the specialization
     M.A. in  International Relations, which are:

•  
  • Conflict and Conflict Management
  • Dynamics of the Global Trading System 
  • International Governance
  • The Geopolitics of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
  • Topics in International Relations
  • Social Ecology: Food in a Global Context
  • Reading Course (with permission of International Relations and Political Science)

b) Successfully complete the three mandatory half-courses of the specialization M.A. in
    International Relations. Which are:

•  
  • Public International Law, which is taught at the Faculty of Law as part of the J.D. curriculum
  •  International Economics - A specially-designed course 
  • The History and Philosophy of International Relations

c) Successfully complete three graduate half-courses in Political Science; and

d) meet the graduate language requirement (being competence in a second language equivalent
    to or better than a 200 level (second year/intermediate) university language course).

J.D. Requirements:

3.  In addition to the above M.A. requirements, students must successfully complete 41 credits at the Faculty of Law in courses approved by the Combined Program Director. These credits may be Faculty of Law courses graded on either a letter scale or an honours/pass/fail basis.

4.  As part of the course load in requirement #3, students must successfully complete at least two Faculty of law courses in international law subjects other than Public International Law. These courses must be graded on a letter scale and carry three or more credits.

5. Students must satisfy the requirements for all J.D. candidates (see Academic Program,
Upper Years, Academic Requirements), including the moot, a perspective course and a Supervised Upper Year Research Paper. Where a Faculty of Law course is cross-listed with Political Science and is
taken as a graduate half-course in Political Science toward satisfying requirement #2(c), the
course may nonetheless be used to satisfy the perspectives course or extended paper
requirement provided that the course is so designated by the Faculty of Law.

6.  To be eligible for standing in the J.D. program, students must satisfy the standing
requirements for students in combined programs (see Academic Program, Upper Years,
Standing Requirements). Only Faculty of Law courses graded on a letter scale and taken as
Faculty of Law courses count toward the required number of credits for standing in the J.D.
program. By way of exception, although students in the combined J.D./Collaborative M.A. in
International Relations program must take Public International Law as an M.A. requirement, the
course counts toward their eligibility for standing in the J.D. program because such students in the course are graded to the Faculty of Law average.

7. Students may not take more than two intensive courses in the Faculty of Law per term.

Notes:

• Course Selection Checklist Form (Word)

Notwithstanding the Department of Political Science course selection process, students must meet the Faculty of Law course selection deadline.

For the second and third years of the combined J.D./Collaborative M.A. in International Relations program, students must have their course selection approved by the Assistant Dean, Students, prior to the course selection deadline in the Faculty of Law or the Department of Political Science, as the case may be.  Any change must also be approved by the Assistant Dean, Students.

To participate in a law approved exchange program, students in the combined J.D./Collaborative M.A. in International Relations program must obtain approval in advance from both the Faculty of Law and the Department of Political Science. Students must take a minimum of 14 law credits while away on exchange regardless of the number of credits required.

Some upper year courses in the J.D. program have places reserved for political science students. J.D./M.A.I.R. combined course students have dual status. They may take these courses for credit towards either the J.D. degree or the M.A.I.R. degree. A student who opts to take the course for credit towards their M.A.I.R degree will not be permitted, after the end of the add/drop period, to have the course credited toward their JD degree instead. The concern is to prevent queue-jumping in courses for which there is a wait-list of JD students.

Students enrolled in joint programs MUST complete the requirements of both programs in order to graduate in a joint program. No diplomas will be awarded until all the requirements for a joint program are fulfilled.

Admissions

Please note that the MAIR program will not be accepting applications for fall 2010. Please see the School of Global Affairs website for more information on the new Master of Global Affairs Program. http://www.globalaffairs.utoronto.ca.

Admission decisions to the combined  program are made at three separate locations:

• the Faculty of Law
  
• the Department of Political Science
  
• the Collaborative M.A. in International Relations at the Munk Centre for International Studies

Applicants to the Combined J.D./Collaborative M.A. in International Relations must apply for admission to all three departments independently, and students must meet the full admission requirements of all three departments. Applications for all three departments are due by the Law School application deadline. Students are admitted into the  program upon successful admission into the three departments.

Contact

To apply for the M.A. in Political Science contact:

Graduate Department of Political Science
University of Toronto
Room 3025, 100 St. George Street
Toronto, ON M5S 3G3
Tel: (416) 978-2017
Fax: (416) 978-5566
Email: cbranton@artsci.utoronto.ca

To apply to the Collaborative MA in International Relations please apply online at https://apply.sgs.utoronto.ca/. Once you have completed the online application, print off a copy and return along with a: statement of intent, writing sample, c.v., original transcripts and 3 sealed letters of reference to:

Program Administrator
Collaborative M.A. in International Relations
Munk Centre for International Studies
1 Devonshire Place
Toronto, ON M5S 3K7
Tel: (416) 946-8917
Fax: (416) 946-8915
Email: cis.mair@utoronto.ca
Web site: http://www.utoronto.ca/mair