Since University President Lee Bollinger announced his initiative to make Columbia a global university five years ago, the School of International and Public Affairs has been among the most public faces of the effort. New initiatives in international education at SIPA and a commitment to maintaining its high percentage of international students have contributed to this image, but the school continues to lag when compared to what is, geographically—and perhaps qualitatively as well—its closest competitor: the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs and Princeton University.

Princeton, and specifically WWS, has been making its own attempt to increase its global focus. While it is difficult to quantify globalization, it is useful to study how SIPA has performed in comparison to the Wilson School since Anne-Marie Slaughter was named dean of the school in 2002.

Woodrow Wilson has undergone a dramatic shift. In 2001, WWS was at the bottom of a decline in reputation. Perhaps the most prominent sign of this was that the school emplyed just one international relations scholar due to retirements and departures, according to The Daily Princetonian.

“The Wilson School should be a school of public and international affairs, and somehow by various circumstances we have to a certain degree suffered in our national and international reputation, not in all areas, but especially the international relations section. It may take a lot more than naming faculty,” Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, a professor in the Wilson School, told the Princetonian upon Slaughter’s appointment.

Slaughter, who is widely recognized as an accomplished scholar and fundraiser, quickly worked to make changes. When she came in, she placed an emphasis on international relationships. “It’s critical now because as we know the line between international and domestic is disappearing,” Slaughter told the Princetonian, sounding very much like University President Lee C. Bollinger. Soon after her appointment, Slaughter hired at least six new international relations faculty members to the Wilson School.
Slaughter also came in placing a special emphasis on public service. “I believe that government service is the most important form of public service, and the School encourages our students to pursue careers in government,” she said to the Princetonian in 2006.

Fortunately, Slaughter had a wealth of resources to enact these changes. The major difference between SIPA and WWS in their ability to globalize is their financial standing. While SIPA has a $30 million endowment to support about 1200 students, the Woodrow Wilson School boasts a $558 million for 200 students. This not only allows Princeton to be more flexible and swift in making changes, but makes opportunities possible that Columbia cannot offer its students.

“Our financial aid policy tries to enable graduate students to earn a degree without incurring loan indebtedness,” John Templeton, WWS assistant dean for Graduate Admissions, said. “About 90 percent of our students receive financial aid, and that’s a much higher percentage than almost any other policy school.”

“This enables students to graduate with little or no loan debt, and then that enables them to pursue careers in the public and nonprofit sectors,” Templeton added. WWS prides itself on a mission of training for public service.

The result is that 85 percent of WWS graduates have taken employment in public service over the past three years, according to Templeton, though this statistic does not necessarily describe government service in isolation, which some have said is on the decline.

“We are at a distinct competitive disadvantage in the sense that we don’t have the resources to make it possible for all our students to have a free ride,” SIPA Acting Dean John Coatsworth said. At SIPA, only 10 percent of Master of International Affairs/Master of Public Administration first years and 70 percent of second years receive fellowships covering part of their tuition. New York City’s high cost of living creates a further hurdle for students.

“We’re not competitive in fellowships or financial aid, but we’re more than competitive in every other way,” said Coatsworth.

The two differ in other ways as well. Unlike SIPA, WWS offers an undergraduate program. The school accepts 90 Princeton sophomores each year, according to the program’s Web site. Students prepare their own interdisciplinary courses of study and participate in “policy task forces,” small groups of juniors who work “toward proposing solutions to current problems in public and international affairs. Each junior conducts a piece of research on a topic carefully chosen to shed light upon the larger problem that is central to the group.”

Another difference is that since 2005, SIPA has offered dual degree and study abroad programs with various schools around the world. Students at SIPA can take up to a year abroad, whereas WWS does not offer study abroad programs.

“We don’t have any formal agreements, so all the coursework is really done here,” Templeton said.

The curricular focuses of WWS and SIPA also differ. SIPA students complete a more substantial core curriculum, comprising about half of the total credits required to graduate, in addition to a six- to eight-course functional or regional concentration. This can leave students with as few as one free elective during their two years at SIPA, depending on each semester’s course load.

“While this is an international affairs school, it’s also a public policy school,” Coatsworth said. “If you’re interested in international affairs, but you want to be sure that you have training in management, statistics, economics, in policy-making—that will give you a skill set that will make you employable around the world.”

WWS’s two-year MPA program consists of a core curriculum of five survey courses. Each student must concentrate in one of four fields—International Relations, Development Studies, Domestic Policy, or Economics and Public Policy. “We have four very broad fields, so you don’t have a situation like you do at SIPA ... where students take regional and functional concentrations and can be very specific,” Templeton said. “It’s just more difficult for our students to create a regional concentration because it isn’t set up that way.”

Columbia says it benefits from its location in New York City and the plethora of international experiences and organizations located here. “We have the enormous advantage of being in New York, rather than an hour away,” Coatsworth said. “So many students come here—even at a financial sacrifice—because they want to live in New York.”

“There are people coming in and out of New York all the time from all around the world, which provides a lot of information and truly important knowledge that helps to strengthen scholarship with SIPA. That can’t be replicated,” said University spokeswoman Tanya Domi.

In contrast, WWS draws on its more remote location to create a closer group of students. “The downside is that basically we’re not in New York,” Templeton said. “But on the other hand, students are a closer group because they have to turn to each other to engage with other people.” According to Templeton, “people are attracted to WWS partly because of its small size, which allows for small classes, increased attention from faculty, and little competition for employment.”

The reporters of this article can be reached at news@columbiaspectator.com.