The concentration in International Migration will provide interdisciplinary training to students who are particularly interested in migratory movements involving Latin American populations. UCSD is the first school in the United States to offer the opportunity to specialize in International Migration within a Latin American Studies Master's program.

The concentration has been developed in collaboration with the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (CCIS). CCIS was established in 1999 as a research and training program focused on international migration and refugees. It conducts research in immigrant-receiving and sending countries, holds conferences, workshops and seminars, publishes research materials, hosts visiting research fellows, and trains students to gather data among immigrants and refugees. Latin America is a research priority for CCIS: ten of its current twenty in-residence visiting scholars are working on the region.

In addition to the general requirements for all candidates applying for admission to the Master of Arts in Latin American Studies, applicants to the concentration in International Migration must submit a statement explaining their intellectual and career interests in this field.

Applications from new students are considered for the Fall Quarter. Current students in the Latin American Studies Master's program may apply to the concentration in International Migration in the Spring Quarter of their first year by submitting a written admission request, a statement of purpose that includes a proposed thesis topic, a plan of courses to complete the requirements of the concentration, a current UCSD transcript, and letters of recommendation from two UCSD professors. The decisions on admission to the concentration in International Migration will be made by the Latin American Studies Admissions Committee.

To receive the Master of Arts degree in Latin American Studies with a concentration in International Migration a student must:

1. Demonstrate foreign language competence in Spanish or Portuguese.
2. Maintain a 3.0 grade point average in 40 units of course work (about ten courses), to be completed as follows:
   1. Latin American Studies Basic Seminar Sequence: Like all other LAS MA students, those students in the cultural studies concentration must take 12 units in the three required graduate seminars (LATI 200, methodology seminar, and theory seminar). Migration Studies Concentration: 16 additional units must be taken in the Migration Studies thematic concentration, as follows:
      1. One course focused on Economic and Social Factors in International Migration (4 units in any of the following: POLI 248, IRGN 490, ETHN 118, ETHN 134, SOC 282);
      2. One course focused on Immigration Policy (4 units in any of the following: POLI 236, IRGN 490, POLI 150);
      3. One course focused on Latin American International Migration (4 units in any of the following: ANGN 100 (approval on special topics ),COHI 175, ETHN 189, ETHN 189, ETHN 189, HIUS 180, HIUS 186, IRGN 490, LTSP 177);
      4. One course of Directed Reading (4 units in a 298 course, focused on a topic relevant to Latin American migratory movements).
   2. General Electives: The remaining 12 units must be taken as follows: courses from the Approved List of Courses on Latin America (8 units of additional approved Latin American units), and LATI 299 (4 units)
3. Successfully complete a master's thesis on a topic relevant to Latin American International Migration.

All the Migration Studies units, and at least 50 percent of the General Elective units must be taken at graduate level (200 level). Within the International Migration Concentration, a maximum of two undergraduate level courses (100 level) may be upgraded to graduate level 298 courses. To convert an undergraduate level course (100 level) into a 298 graduate-level course, a student must attend all of the course meetings and incorporate a component of additional, graduate-level research work, upon arrangement with the faculty member teaching the course (a special form describing the supplementary work must be filled by the student and approved by the instructor and CILAS' Academic Coordinator). In all such cases, the supplementary work should, (a) increase the amount of reading to match the regular reading expectations of a graduate seminar, (b) include additional meeting time with the professor for a graduate-level discussion of the material, and (c) require the student to write a research paper (which would generally be on the order of 15-20 pages).

M.A. students who were previously enrolled as undergraduates at UCSD will not be allowed to repeat courses for credit toward the concentration. In all cases there are alternatives, and those students will be expected to take other classes to fulfill the requirements.