Why apply?

The International Relations Department offers highly competitive programs that provide an enriching environment that generates research on relevant topics in a globalizing world. A multidisciplinary faculty (including scholars from international relations, history, law, economics, political science, and political geography) and a broad scope of course offerings attract top-level graduate students from around the world. The student/faculty ratio for the Department of International Relations is 6:1.

CEU is ranked in the top 50 in the world in the subject of politics and international studies, which is represented at CEU by the Department of International Relations, the Department of Political Science, and the School of Public Policy by Quacquarelli Symonds' (QS) annual survey 2019 and one of the best in Europe receiving an 'excellence' ranking from the prestigious Center for Higher Education Development in their latest survey.

CEU has students from more than 120 countries and faculty from more than 30. Representing a comprehensive range of academic approaches and expertise, the department’s faculty research address relevant topics in a globalizing world. All this with regional expertise in the European Union and the wider European neighborhood, Central and East Asia, and the Middle East. Attention is paid to the evolving role of the EU, Russia, China, and the US in international affairs, the rise of new powers and the role of non-state actors in world politics and the global economy. The department combines international relations theory, international political economy and security studies with multidisciplinary approaches to the study of transnational, national and sub-national politics.

The program invites students who wish to develop the analytical skills necessary to achieve excellence in their areas of study. With an original scholarship, basic and applied research, and creative instructors constituting an essential core from which to draw, graduate work at the department attracts an outstanding selection of uniquely qualified students. We are inviting students from all over the world to take part in our programs. We are proud that most of our MA students receive some kind of financial aid from the department that ranges from full or partial scholarship to tuition waiver.

The department currently offers four degree programs, a one-year Master of Arts in International Relations, a two-year Master of Arts program in International relations,  and the International Relations track of the Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science.