The Dikran Izmrlian Program in Business and Global Affairs (BGA) is a joint degree designed and delivered by the McDonough School of Business (MSB) and the School of Foreign Service (SFS). First-year students enrolled in MSB and SFS are eligible to apply to pursue the B.S. in Business and Global Affairs.
The BGA program features a four-year sequence of signature courses with multiple off-campus experiences in Washington, D.C. and around the world. The first BGA signature course, offered in the spring of the first year, is a degree requirement and is open to all first-year students. Eligible first-year students apply in April to pursue the BGA and, if selected, the program of study continues in the sophomore through senior years.
Students pursuing the B.S. in Business and Global Affairs remain students of their home schools (MSB or SFS) but no longer pursue the BSBA or the BSFS. Students will fulfill the degree requirements of the BGA program and are subject to the policies and procedures of their home schools except as provided in this section. Specific BGA curricular requirements, policies, and procedures outlined below supersede those of the home schools.
The diploma will indicate that the B.S. in Business and Global Affairs was delivered jointly by two schools, the McDonough School of Business and the Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Advising
For students pursuing the B.S. in Business and Global Affairs, specialized academic advising is provided by a joint MSB-SFS advising team. A BGA advisor is assigned to each student upon acceptance to the program during the summer before the sophomore year. Advisors in the Business and Global Affairs program provide specific information about the proper sequencing of courses required for the degree, give formal approval to students’ proposed course selection for each upcoming semester, and serve as a sounding board for exploring various academic options. One of the advisor’s primary responsibilities is to help students work out an academic program that will enable them to complete their studies on schedule while also pursuing elective courses and other interests. For first-year students, the BGA advising team will supplement the usual first-year advisor resources and assignments within the students’ home schools.
Academic Policies and Procedures
Eligibility for the Izmirlian BGA Program
The B.S. in Business and Global Affairs is a limited-enrollment degree program delivered jointly by the McDonough School of Business and the School of Foreign Service. Students must be enrolled in the McDonough School of Business or the School of Foreign Service to pursue the B.S. in Business and Global Affairs. Interested first-year students from Georgetown College, School of Nursing and School of Health Studies must first submit an internal transfer application to MSB or SFS at the end of their first year to be eligible to apply to pursue the B.S. in Business and Global Affairs.
Applicable Policies and Procedures
Students pursuing the B.S. in Business and Global Affairs are subject to the academic policies and procedures of this Bulletin as set forth in the Academic Regulations section as well as the policies set forth by their home schools in the MSB and SFS sections of this Bulletin. Specific BGA requirements, policies, and procedures set forth in this section of the Bulletin supersede those of the home schools.
All students are required to comply with the University Academic Regulations. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with these regulations, and no student can claim that unfamiliarity with these regulations warrants an exception to them.
For more information about the B.S. in Business and Global Affairs please visit the Izmirlian BGA program.
Business and Global Affairs Curriculum
The B.S. in Business and Global Affairs curriculum consists of the Georgetown Core Curriculum, Business and Global Affairs core requirements, major study, modern foreign language proficiency, and elective courses. See below for additional information regarding the degree requirements specific to the BGA program.
Business and Global Affairs Core Requirements
In addition to BGAF 1001, Global Markets and Politics (Signature Course 1), it is recommended that the following BGA Core requirements be met before the beginning of the sophomore year: MATH 1350: Calculus I or ECON 1357: Essential Math for Econ; ECON 1001: Microeconomic Principles; ECON 1002: Macroeconomic Principles; and quantitative methods.
It is also recommended that the following BGA Core requirements be completed before or during the sophomore year: ACCT 1101: Accounting I; FINC 2101: Business Financial Management; and ECON 2542 International Economics or ECON 2543: International Trade.
Courses designed and delivered by the BGA program are labeled “Business and Global Affairs” (prefix “BGAF”). The coursework for the Core and for the major also draws on the offerings of MSB, SFS, and College departments. Upon enrollment in the BGA degree program, all BGA students have the same eligibility and opportunity to enroll in courses offered by both their home school and MSB or SFS as applicable.
Business and Global Affairs Major Requirements
The Business and Global Affairs major is distinguished by an innovative and integrated approach to identifying and solving problems that lie at the intersection of business and international affairs. The jointly delivered Signature Course sequence includes three integrated on-location international experiences within Signature courses 2, 3, and 4.
- Signature Course 2, BGAF 2020: Global Organizations and Culture
- Signature Courses 3, BGAF 3031, BGAF 3032: Global Business and Operations
- Signature Courses 4, BGAF 4040, BGAF 4041: Business, Policy, and Society
- Washington, Business, and the World, BGAF 2000
- History of globalization (select from list)
- International law, policy, and governance (select from list)
- Quantitative analysis (select from list)
There is one major within the BGA joint degree program. Along with the BGA major, students are eligible, schedules permitting, to pursue minors or certificates consistent with their home school policies (either MSB or SFS as applicable). Students are not eligible to double major with a major delivered through a different program.
Modern Language Proficiency Requirement
The B.S. in Business and Global Affairs incorporates the School of Foreign Service modern language proficiency requirement.
BGA students are expected to enroll in a modern language class each semester, for a letter grade, until they have met the proficiency requirement. Students cannot take a language course pass/fail. Language classes occupy elective slots in the academic schedule. The full modern language proficiency requirement can be found on the SFS requirements page.
Integrated Writing
Integrated Writing is embedded within the requirements of the BGA major. The Integrated Writing coursework prepares students to think critically and communicate effectively through writing formats, styles, and conventions relevant for business, international affairs, and the intersection of business and global affairs.
Georgetown Core Curriculum
The Georgetown Core Curriculum (Georgetown Core) is a distinctive expression of Georgetown University’s identity as a student-centered research university rooted in the Jesuit and Catholic tradition. The Georgetown Core is a two-tiered program. The first tier – the “shared core” – has been created and approved by the Main Campus Core Curriculum Committee and is shared by all undergraduates as a common core experience. The second tier of the requirement – the “school-specific core” – is designed and determined by each of the undergraduate schools, embodying the shared learning goals of the university Core while furthering the specific mission and tradition of each school. Both the shared and school-specific cores change over time, balancing the traditional ethos of a liberal arts education with the changing needs of our students in a changing world. Ultimately, it is the hope that the entirety of a Georgetown education – the cores, majors and minors, and electives – will lead students to embody as life-long habits the goals described in the Georgetown Core Curriculum Learning Goals.
More information about the Georgetown Core Curriculum can be found on the Provost’s Core Curriculum website.
Georgetown Shared Core Requirements
The core requirements that form the first tier, the common experience across the University, are outlined below. Georgetown courses fulfilling each of these requirements are designated “Core: [specific requirement]” in the Attributes in the Schedule of Classes.
Philosophy – 2 Courses
Through the Core, the Philosophy Department is committed to providing courses that promote students’ personal growth as human beings in search of meaningful lives, foster their development as responsible citizens, and offer effective introductions to the discipline of philosophy. The learning goals shared by courses in the Philosophy Core are:
- Understand what philosophy is, how it differs from other academic disciplines, and what its primary areas of inquiry are.
- Understand and construct arguments.
- Describe and analyze complex problems.
- Read, write and speak effectively.
- Engage critically and constructively with moral problems and decisions.
- Apply philosophical analysis, argumentation, and critical reflection to the study of other disciplines.
Please refer to each school/college curriculum for specific courses that will fulfill this requirement.
Theology and Religious Studies – 2 Courses
Through the Core, the Theology and Religious Studies Department is committed to fostering in students a critically appreciative awareness of the religious dimension of human existence, and to assisting students in reflecting upon their own experience and understanding in that enlarged context. The first course provides this foundation while the second course allows students to develop their critical awareness by applying it to a particular area of interest in religion or theology.
The learning goals shared by courses in the Theology and Religious Studies Core are:
- To consider reflectively your relationship to the world, your fellow humans, and God.
- To foster a critically appreciative awareness of the religious dimension of human existence.
- To assist you in reflecting upon your own experience and understanding in that enlarged context.
- To develop your critical awareness by applying it to a particular area of interest in religion or theology.
Problem of God1 (THEO 1000) and one Theology and Religious Studies elective fulfill the Theology and Religious Studies requirement. Introduction to Biblical Literature (THEO 1100) may be substituted for Problem of God or may be used as an intermediate level elective.
Writing – 2 Courses
The writing requirement provides students with opportunities to connect their writing with critical reading and thinking, inquiry, and analysis. The Writing and Culture Seminar, WRIT 1150, approaches writing through three interrelated frameworks: writing as a tool for inquiry, writing as a process, and practice writing in different rhetorical situations. Each section focuses on a cultural theme, with readings and assignments that engage students with compelling questions and problems. Seminar readings provide texts for analysis as well as models and motives for student writing. Students are encouraged to complete this course during their first year at Georgetown. The learning goals shared by different sections in the Writing and Culture Seminar are:
- Experiment with diverse strategies for planning, drafting, and revising writing.
- Adapt writing to respond to, engage, and persuade audiences.
- Employ rhetorical strategies for analyzing, designing, and communicating in writing and other forms of media.
- Engage in writing as a form of thinking, inquiry, and learning.
The second half of the Writing Core is an intensive writing experience located within the student’s chosen major, embedded within the requirements as determined by that program. Each major’s Integrated Writing requirement is established by the department or program in order to express the unique conventions and practices of the discipline. The learning goals shared by courses in the Integrated Writing Core are:
- To prepare students to use the relevant forms, styles, and conventions of writing within their chosen major(s).
- To employ writing as a method to enhance students’ learning of concepts, materials, and methods in their major.
Courses fulfilling this requirement are identified within each major.
Humanities: Art, Literature, Music, and Media (HALM) – 1 Course
(Formerly Humanities: Art, Literature and Culture (HALC))
The Humanities: Art, Literature, Music, and Media (HALM) requirement serves to deepen students’ understanding and experience of a range of creative media representing cultural expressions from various historical periods and world regions, from the local to the global.
Through reading, listening, viewing, analyzing, writing, and/or creative practice, students acquire the intellectual and practical tools to interpret human experiences portrayed in the arts, literature, music, and media.
HALM Learning Goals:
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Understand how art, literature, music and/or media have historically shaped and been shaped by cultures.
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Develop generative habits of mind and exercise critical thinking skills for a world in flux: openness, resilience, curiosity, creativity, imagination.
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Activate knowledge through creative, analytical, and/or critical approaches in individual, collaborative, and/or public-facing projects.
HALM courses must be Georgetown University courses and cannot be fulfilled by transfer credits; they must be 3-credit courses. Courses that can fulfill other Core requirements (such as HIST, PHIL, THEO) are ineligible.
In 2026-27, the older “HALC” designation (Humanities: Arts, Literature, and Culture) will be replaced with HALM (Humanities: Arts, Literature, Music and Media). For this academic year, courses with the designation will be tagged with both HALC and HALM. In Fall 2027, the tag HALC will be retired in favor of HALM.
Science For All – 1 Course
The natural sciences, and the technologies that they enable, are woven deeply into the fabric of our lives and are central to many of the important political and social challenges that we face. They are also pinnacles of intellectual accomplishment in humanity’s ancient and ongoing quest to understand the world in which we live. Thus we believe that to function as liberally educated, ethically responsible citizens, as stewards of the planet, and as effective leaders, all Georgetown students should understand scientific modes of thought and concepts, both in the abstract and as they are exemplified in at least one major area of scientific inquiry. The Science For All (SFA) Core requirement is grounded in these beliefs. The learning goals shared by courses in the Science for All Core are:
- To understand the basic principles and some current research challenges of one or more areas of science.
- To understand science as a set of methods of inquiry that involve forming and testing hypotheses through the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data.
- To consume and interpret scientific information with critical understanding of the balance of certainty and uncertainty that research findings inevitably reflect.
Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy – 1 Course
This requirement applies only to students in the class of 2028 and later.
The Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy (QRDL) requirement will help students learn to understand how real-world interpretation of data progresses from a set of numbers, frequently incomplete and with measurement errors, to a visual distillation that clearly conveys meaning. While mathematics and statistics provide a necessary foundation for quantitative reasoning and data literacy, the power of pure mathematics lies in its abstraction. In contrast, QRDL emphasizes a distinctive variety of concrete contexts and applications. The learning goals shared by courses in the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy Core are:
- To build a quantitative toolbox that allows students to become comfortable performing and/or evaluating quantitative analyses.
- To translate and make meaning of data and quantitative analyses as they apply to complex problems.
- To effectively communicate statistical methods and results both visually and textually to a diversity of audiences with considerations to contextual, social, or ethical issues.
Engaging Diversity/Pathways to Social Justice
For students in the class of 2025, 2026, or 2027
Engaging Diversity (2 courses)
All Georgetown students are required to take two Engaging Diversity courses as overlays, meaning that the courses may count toward another degree requirement (Core, major, or minor). One of these courses must be labeled with a “Core: Diversity Domestic” attribute and one must be labeled with a “Core: Diversity Global” attribute.
In courses designated as fulfilling a diversity requirement, students will engage with different cultures, beliefs, and ideas. These courses will explore conditions that contribute to unequal access and influence. Finally, these courses should enable students to reflect on their own identities as they also deepen their understanding of the experience of others. The learning goals shared by courses in the Engaging Diversity Core are:
- To prepare students to be responsible, reflective, self-aware and respectful global citizens through recognizing the plurality of human experience and engaging with different cultures, beliefs, and ideas.
- To be better able to appreciate and reflect upon how human diversity and human identities shape our experience and understanding of the world.
For students in the class of 2028 and later
Pathways to Social Justice (3 courses)
Georgetown’s Pathways to Social Justice (PSJ) curriculum prepares students to critically analyze historical and contemporary power differentials. By fulfilling the Pathways to Social Justice requirement, students will gain a better understanding of how social, political, geographic, economic, and other cultural factors shape experiences of the world, as well as how these factors contribute to marginalization and inequality. PSJ courses will also explore how communities have resisted marginalization, and will focus on axes of identity that have formed the basis for historical and contemporary marginalization and oppression, including race, gender, class, caste, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
A cornerstone of this requirement is the one-credit University Seminar in Race, Power, and Justice which is designed to ensure that every student at Georgetown develops a baseline vocabulary for discussing racial difference and marginalization. This seminar will provide the foundation for each student’s engagement with other PSJ-attributed “overlay” courses offered across Georgetown’s Main Campus and should be taken in the first year.
In addition to the required one-credit University Seminar in Race, Power, and Justice, the requirement also requires students to take two overlay courses (meaning that these courses may count toward another degree requirement, whether core, major, or minor). Eligible courses have the “Core: PSJ” attribute.
Each course in the Pathways to Social Justice Core works toward at least three of these shared priorities:
- Inclusive Scholarship
- Intersectional Approaches to Identity
- Historical Legacies of Inequality and Their Contemporary Impacts
- National, Regional, and Global Comparisons
- Imagining Justice
