The Global Studies Program brings together courses across the curriculum that focus on, or provide means to, understanding and analyzing: global processes, systems, and phenomena, the relationship between the local and the global, and trans-border connections between people and events.
Global Studies emphasizes processes and phenomena common across borders with a particular attention to differences in the global-local connection. It offers students an opportunity to more strongly command an understanding of their place in the world and an awareness and appreciation of differences through cross-cultural competence as well as a greater ability to mediate these differences. The Global Studies program complements and strengthens Swarthmore's efforts to shape engaged citizens, not just with a local or a national conscience, but also with a global one.
The Global Studies minor requires a total of five credits plus Foreign Language study to create a cohesive pathway to an interdisciplinary understanding of the global. One of these five credits must come from the Introduction to Global Studies course. The remaining four credits need to come from the list of eligible courses, which include core courses and paired courses. While core courses offer a global view of a particular subject, paired courses predominantly study one part of the world or an issue, area, topic, or theme through a part of the world. In this respect, paired courses provide a global view through comparative analysis. One GLBL-eligible paired course needs to be combined with another GLBL-eligible paired course for the student to receive credit for each paired course. The rationale for the pairing should be outlined in the student's Sophomore Pathway. Further, graduating seniors complete a Senior Reflection Exercise.
Those interested in a special major in Global Studies can work with the program coordinators to develop a plan. A special major will include the requirements of the minor plus additional credits.