Ohio University’s academic calendar is based on the quarter system. Students are normally registered for 15-17 credit hours per 10 week quarter. Most graduate courses are 5 credit hours. A minimum of 70 credit hours (approximately five quarters of course work) is necessary to complete the Master of Arts in International Affairs with specialization in Latin American Studies. The requireme nts include:

1. 40 credit hours in core courses (courses with at least 25 percent Latin American content).  To promote the program’s multi-disciplinary goal, the 40 hours must be distributed among at least three academic disciplines. 
    
2. 25 credit hours in a minor. (These should not overlap with core courses). The minor is a professional skills development area which could be a discipline (e.g. history, geography, political science, anthropology, international economics, journalism, etc.) or a theme (environment and development, development, communications, development, population and the environment, etc.). The mi nor must be approved by the director.
    
3. Two Latin American-content graduate seminars. The seminar requirement can be met by taking two seminars on Latin America offered in the individual disciplines  (HIST, POLS, SPAN, TCOM, etc.) with the director’s approval. The seminar requirement is p art of the 40-hour LA-content requirement mentioned above; courses taken to fulfill the seminar requirement count toward the Latin American studies coursework requirement (core courses). The INST 610B seminar is also an option and may be required any given year.
    
4. 5 hours of methodology coursework related to the student's minor. Students can choose from a number of qualitative or quantitative courses. Examples include: Statistics in any appropriate discipline, Life History (ANTH), Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing, Field Research in Developing Countries, or another course, subject to the director’s approval.
    
5. Written Comprehensive Examination: Students pursuing the non-thesis track will culminate his/her program by taking a written comprehensive exam in three subject areas. The exam is normally given on the Friday of the seventh week of each quarter.
    
6. Thesis: (INST 695) Students pursuing the thesis track will not be required to take the Comprehensive Exam. However it is highly recommended that all students complete the “Required Reading List” for LAS for a comprehensive view of the program. With successful completion of the thesis and oral defense, a maximum of ten credit hours may be used to satisfy the degree requirements listed in sections 1 and 2 above (a CR will be rewarded to these credits). Students interested in writing a thesis must consult with the director early in the program so that appropriate course work and research methods courses can be planned. As part of the thesis requirement, students must develop a committee of three professors (from at least two disciplines), write a research proposal and defend it to the committee’s satisfaction. The research proposal must be approved by the committee by the end of the third quarter of the student’s participation in the program. All thesis writing students will follow a strict timeline in order to graduate in a timely manner and must follow all university guidelines: www.ohio.edu/graduate/etd.cfm. See “Thesis requirements” for specific guidelines and expectations.
    
7. Project: (INST 696) Students may pursue the project track and complete an extended Research Project. However it is highly recommended that all students complete the “Required Reading List” for LAS for a comprehensive view of the program. Project students will follow the timeline proposed for students writing a thesis, but will propose an interdisciplinary project that may be less academically research oriented than a thesis and will not follow the same written guidelines as required of a thesis. The scope of a project is wide and may include: grant writing, article publication, video, film, photography project, etc. Each project will be accompanied by an extended research paper and bibliography and will be presented in a public forum. The project proposal must be approved by the committee by the end of the third quarter of the student’s participation in the program. Students may apply 10 credits of their project preparation towards the 70 program hours. Only 1-5 credits may be taken any one quarter. All project proposals must be pre-approved by the director of LAS.
    
8. Language Requirement: All LAS candidates must have or attain knowledge of one of Latin America's languages (normally Spanish or Portuguese). This requirement may be fulfilled through native proficiency, testing (FSI, ACTFL, Spanish Section of DML, etc.) or the successful completion of at least two years of college course work with a grade of “B” or better (here or elsewhere). Attaining knowledge of one Latin American language does not fulfill the credit hour requirements listed above (#s 1, 2).
    
9. The "Enhanced Language" option: Students entering the program with proficiency in Portuguese or Spanish are encouraged to obtain intermediate skills in the other of these two languages. Advanced Spanish-speakers may enroll in Portuguese (PORT 501-503), for three credits per quarter. These courses will only count towards the proficiency requirement if a student completes all 3 courses with a “B” or better and passes the proficiency exam at the end of the academic year. Likewise, native Portuguese speakers may earn proficiency in Spanish by completing the second year (SPAN 211-213) of Spanish with a “B” or higher and passing a proficiency exam. Credits for intermediate language courses will not count towards core courses; however, a total of 5 credits may count towards the "skills" minor if so desired. Five credits of second year PORT (504-506, 611-613) may count towards core courses.