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Objectives
- Offer a flexible and wide education that enables students to emphasize their academic interests and plan their careers in a more personalized way.
- Allow students to choose and study, in depth, two areas within the discipline according to their preferences.
- Strengthen skills of the future political scientist in other areas of Social Sciences. This will be accomplished through the Basic Year in Social Sciences.
- Promote a comprehensive education and obtain knowledge in other disciplines as analysis and support tools for the future professional exercise of our students.
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As a result of previous Objectives, achieve a greater integration of the Department with the School and University. Not only by means of the Basic Uniandino Cycle (C.B.U) scheme, but also through Free Electives (C.L.E in Spanish).
- Offer students a more comprehensive vision of the discipline, integrating the methodology area with other areas and offering greater possibilities to apply their skills in the internship. We specially want to highlight the possibility that students will obtain a practical research experience, guided by Department professors.
Study Plan
Before refering to the part that strictly depends on the Political Science Department, we would like to highlight its interdisciplinary content and our intent to strenghten links with the rest of the University so as to expand the horizons of our students. For this purpose, we present the following five modalities:
- Basic Year in Social Sciences, which will provide students with a common vision for social problems that can later be focused from a political science standpoint
- Basic Uniandino Cycle (C.B.U) is included. General courses, non-professional, from diverse fields of knowledge.
- Free electives (C.L.E. in Spanish)
- Possibility of completing one semester of internship-including one research internship-.
Professional education in political science consists of three levels: Basic, advanced professional and the graduation modality. The basic cycle offers a series of courses designed to introduce students to the main areas of political scene.
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Methodology: In this area, students obtain research competencies, learn epistemological debates about the best ways to carry out research, learn about technique methods; differentiate and learn how to apply quantitative and qualitative tools; and most of all know how to pose a relevant research problem for the discipline as well as for the challenges faced by the country.
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Theory and political philosophy: Students are introduced to the study of the main authors and topics of political and social thought from ancient, modern and contemporary periods. Examines changes in concepts about human beings, society and political order, corresponding to said periods. In this way, students obtain an overview of the issues confronted by political, and social considerations throughout history.
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Colombian Politics: Offers students theoretical and conceptual elements, plus analytical tools to approach the study of topics such as: Creation of State and Nation in Colombia, democratic governance, political institutions, parties, Congress and electoral systems, democracy, citizenship and deliberation, violence and democracy.
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International relations: Offers students basic theoretical and conceptual elements necessary to understand the operation of the international system, power relations between states, international political economy and foreign policy. Other addressed topics are: International security, war and conflict, terrorism, foreign policy in Colombia and United States, global order, regional relations and environment.
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Compared Policy, intents to familiarize students with the comparative method which seeks to explain phenomena since differences and similarities between cases. During recent decades, compared policy has privileged the search for explanations of the variation between cases, for example, in terms of government models, political choices, social-economical results, and interaction between these three variables. It also studies differences between social actors in terms of efficiency, organizational capacity and political impact.
This initial cycle must provide students with the basic concepts of the discipline in general and with the specifics of each of its areas. Likewise, they will be aware about the interaction among them, while the methodological area remains as the common axis of all.
The advanced professional level consists of courses and seminars in the four mentioned areas. While the methodological cycle is mandatory for all of the students, at this moment in their career, the program enables students to have an insight in two of the four remaining areas. For example, once the mandatory basic courses in the different areas are completed, students may define their program and take courses concentrating in the area of Colombian Politics and taking Compared Policy in the complementary area.
Finally, the graduation option considers the following six modalities:
- Completion of a monograph about a topic chosen by the student.
- Completion of Academic Research.
- Completion of preparatory tests in three of the five areas of the program, where methodology is mandatory.
- Coterminal is the fourth graduation option and it is designed to meet a double objective: First to systematically link the undergraduate program with the graduate one and second to allow students, who are interested, to continue their studies in political science at a Magister level.
- Graduation internship.
- Teaching internship.
The above Study Plan must be completed, hopefully, in eight semesters and students must fulfill at least 120 credits.
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Model Program
Students may choose 2 of the following areas as an area of concentration and as a complimentary area
- Area of Colombian politics
- Area of compared politics
- Area of international relations
- Area of theory and political philosophy
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Third Semester
| CPOL-1200 | Introduccion a las Relaciones Internacionales | 3 |
| CPOL-1300 | Introduccion a la Politica Colombiana | 3 |
| MATE-1501 | Estadistica 1 (Ciencias Sociales) | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Fourth Semester
| MATE-1502 | Estadística II (Ciencias Sociales) | 3 |
| ANTR-1104 | Metodos Cualitativos de Investigacion | 3 |
Fifth Semester
| CPOL-1500 | Fundamentos de Metodologia | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 18 |
Sixth Semester
| CPOL-2501 | Taller Metodologia | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Seventh Semester
| CPOL-3500 | Seminario de Investigacion | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Eighth Semester
| - | CLE | |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Alumni Profile
Alumni are capable of working in different positions in public entities of the branches of government, private sector, multilateral organizations, teaching and research in Centers of Political Studies, Non-governmental Organizations, political journalism, consulting, advisory and representation of private interests.
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