Offered at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC), this two-year program is the only master’s degree fully accredited in both China and the United States.
Students complete coursework and a thesis in Chinese, culminating in a degree jointly awarded by Johns Hopkins SAIS and Nanjing University. Advanced proficiency in Mandarin is required prior to beginning study.
Alumni of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center have played key roles in government, business, journalism, NGOs, and academia. As graduates of the only truly joint target-language US-China graduate school of its kind, HNC alumni are uniquely poised to understand and manage diverse facets of US-China commercial, academic, economic, and political relations.
Degree Requirements
Campus: Nanjing, China
Credits: 64
Duration: Two academic years, Full-Time
Course delivery: In-person
Curriculum and Concentrations
Students in the MAIS program elect to concentrate in one of the following concentration areas:
- Chinese Studies
- Comparative and International Law
- Energy, Resources, and Environment
- International Economics
- International Politics
Degree Program Requirements
During their two years (four semesters) of study, MAIS students must complete 64 credits of coursework for the degree. At least 32 credits (excluding MAIS Tutorial and MAIS Thesis Preparation courses) must be taken in Chinese. 24 credits must count towards their area of concentration.
In addition to the courses required for their concentration, students must pass 20 credits in at least two concentrations outside the specific concentration area. All MAIS students must take at least three Area Studies (Chinese and American Studies) courses in order to fulfill the requirement for the minor. Many courses are cross-listed between concentrations and may count for multiple requirements.
MAIS Tutorial - This bilingual course, taken in the fall of the first year, provides a common intellectual foundation for advanced social science work in an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural context. Through classic theoretical readings in English and Chinese, students tackle the animating questions of the disciplines represented at HNC and refine their ability to do sophisticated analysis of social phenomena.
MAIS Thesis Preparation – This bilingual course, taken in the spring of the first year, leads students into the practicalities of research design and writing for the second-year thesis project. While students narrow down their topics and seek thesis advisers, this course covers a variety of methods and the technical requirements of writing and citation in English and Chinese.