SIPA: School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University

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IFP Curriculum

All students in the concentration must take either the MIA core course Economic Analysis for International Affairs (INAF U4600 and INAF U4601) or the MPA core course Microeconomics and Policy Analysis I (PUAF U8213), and pass with a grade of B- or better.  During their first term at SIPA, IFP concentrators must satisfy Accounting and Statistics requirements with the following courses:

  • Accounting  (INAF U6014) - Students who have a CPA qualification are not required to take this class.  Others with a strong background in accounting can take a test to fulfill their accounting requirement.
  • Statistics (INAF U4310 or PUAF U8213) – A proficiency test is also available to allow students to fulfill the statistics requirement.

The following courses are also required. See course descriptions for details.

  1. Economics of Finance (INAF U6022).  Students may substitute Corporate Finance (INAF U6301) Must be taken in the first year.
  2. International Capital Markets (INAF U6045) Must be taken in the first year.
  3. International Banking (INAF U6039)
  4. Any one of the following three classes: Emerging Financial Markets  Finance (INAF U8682), Investment Strategies in Developing Countries  (INAF 8454) or Emerging Financial Markets: Theory and Practice (INAF  U8675)
  5. International Finance and Monetary Theory (INAF U6018)

Finally, students are required to take any two of the following electives:

Cost Benefit Analysis (U6016)
International Trade (U6017)
Compliance Management (U6100)
Advanced Structured Credit (INAF 8080)
International Financial Decisions (INAF U8105)
Microfinance: Building Inclusive Financial Sectors (U8352)
Microfinance and the Developing World (U8350)
China's New Marketplace (U8600)
Globalization: the Corporate View (U8628)
Emerging Financial Markets (U8675)
IFP Workshop (U9001)

If you take both Corporate Finance (U6022) and Economics of Finance (U6301), one counts as an elective.

If you take two of the three courses, U8682, U8454 or U8675, one  count as an elective.  If you take all three, two count as electives

Any finance course from the Business School or Law School will count as an elective.  Note: this does not guarantee that any specific course will be available for SIPA students.