The School of Intercultural Studies offers two distinctly different master's degree programs: the Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies, and the Master of Arts in Global Leadership.

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MASTER OF ARTS IN INTERCULTURAL STUDIES 

The need for innovative missiologists who can effectively communicate the Gospel in crosscultural contexts and understand human needs is vital in our rapidly changing world. The Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies (MAICS) is designed to prepare students for various types of crosscultural ministry, enabling them to view current global trends through the lens of missiology. This degree is intended for students with varied levels of crosscultural exposure, and emphasizes both scholarship and praxis. MAICS students gain the foundational skills to pursue further studies or research opportunities, or to serve those in need through practical ministries around the world.

The two-year program provides a foundational set of integrated courses from the Schools of Theology, Intercultural Studies, and Psychology. MAICS students also pursue a second set of courses that provide a solid framework of missiological disciplines: anthropology, globalization, mission history, spirituality, and theology of mission. With this foundation, students may then use remaining units to take a variety of relevant elective classes, or to pursue a specific area of emphasis in greater depth. Elective classes are available in the areas of mission history, mission theology, ethnomusicology, international development, children at risk, urban ministry, anthropology, and missional church.

By thinking critically and creatively about contemporary global issues, MAICS graduates are able to demonstrate in word and deed the transforming work of Christ.

Learning Outcomes 

• Graduates will participate in the mission of God and the ministries of the global Church from an evangelical missiological perspective.
• Graduates will demonstrate critical thinking and integration skills in order to foster individual and social transformation.
• Graduates will demonstrate sensitivity to cultural and ethnic diversity for building relationships and for communicating the Gospel in context.
• Graduates will have skills and knowledge and networks of relationships to pursue vocations that engage the mission of God globally.
• Graduates will value the importance of spiritual formation in both its personal and communal dimensions.

Admission Requirements 

General standards of admission to Fuller Theological Seminary may be found in the Admissions section of this catalog. To be admitted to the MA in Intercultural Studies program, applicants must have been awarded either a bachelor's or master's degree from an accredited institution before the starting date of the desired quarter of entry. Regular admission requires at least a 2.7 cumulative cumulative grade point average in all postsecondary work; students with a lower GPA may be considered for admission on probation. Applicants without an accredited bachelor's degree must meet special requirements and will be considered for admission on probation on an individual basis.  Students admitted on probation are subject to certain limitations during their first 48 units of course work at Fuller.

Korean Language Program 

The Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies is also available entirely in the Korean language. For more information, contact the School of Intercultural Studies Korean Studies Office at 626-584-5574, by fax at 626-584-5275, or by e-mail at sisks-admissions@fuller.edu. An English language test score is not required for students enrolling in the program. However, students may not attend courses in the English language program unless the TOEFL/IELTS requirement has been met.

Curriculum 

The Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies requires the successful completion of 96 quarter units. The courses in the curriculum consist of All-Seminary Core Requirements (28 Units), MAICS Core Requirements (24 units), Practicum (8 units), and Electives (36 units). A typical class is 4 units. Students can complete this degree in two years of full-time study, or may extend the program over a longer period of part-time study.

Areas of Emphasis 

At Fuller, an emphasis consists of a minimum of five elective courses grouped around a particular area of interest. By choosing an emphasis, students will be guided to courses in the three schools taught by faculty doing research on topics relevant to the emphasis area. Please note that an area of emphases is a suggested guideline for selecting courses, not a curricular requirement, and is not officially recorded or identified on transcripts or diplomas.

Areas of emphasis recommended for the MA in Intercultural Studies include:

• Children at Risk
• International and Urban Development
• Islamic Studies

Distance Learning 

Up to 50 percent of the Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies (including transfer credit) may be taken by distributed learning. Distributed learning includes correspondence courses, online courses, directed study courses, and practicum.

Practicum 

Included in the curriculum is the opportunity to complete a crosscultural practicum that combines coursework with practical ministry. The practicum experience challenges students to discern their calling, grow spiritually, and apply what they are learning to a crosscultural context. Alternatively, students with extensive crosscultural ministry experience or who are interested in pursuing doctoral work may choose to complete a writing project. The writing project involves research within a chosen academic discipline, reflection on a particular crosscultural experience, and application of research findings to future service.

Residency Requirements 

At least 48 units must be earned at Fuller Seminary on the Pasadena campus.

Transfer Credit 

Students may potentially transfer up to 40 units of graduate-level courses in missiology or theology from an accredited institution into the program.

Time Limit 

In order to ensure that a degree, when granted, represents education that is current and reasonably focused (not acquired a little at a time over an unreasonably long period), all credit applied to the degree must be earned within a certain period of time. For the Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies degree at Fuller, this period has been set at ten years. This includes all credit earned elsewhere and applied to the degree, as well as all credit earned at Fuller.

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MASTER OF ARTS IN GLOBAL LEADERSHIP 

The Master of Arts in Global Leadership allows men and women in Christian leadership to stay fully engaged in their ministries while studying for a Fuller Seminary School of Intercultural Studies degree primarily online. The Master of Arts in Global Leadership (MAGL) boasts a unique cohort design, which draws servant leaders together as students in a combination of distance learning courses and two on-campus seminars in Pasadena. Each cohort of MAGL students forms a cooperative learning community, exploring issues of mission, theology, spiritual leadership, and disciplemaking across cultures.

Distinctives of the Program 

• Women and men with at least four years of leadership experience can earn a Master of Arts in Global Leadership degree primarily through online distance education.
• Students in the MA in Global Leadership enhance their leadership skills as they immediately apply what they learn in class to their ministries.
• The 72-unit MAGL degree program encourages interaction and collaboration among students and faculty through a cohort model of education. On admission, each MAGL student is assigned to a cohort with approximately 25 other students. In these groups, students take half of their courses together during the first two years of the program, getting to know one another and learning from each other as peer leaders. The remaining courses of the MAGL degree program may be taken at each student's own pace in a combination of Fuller Online, Individualized Distance Learning, Extended Education, or Pasadena campus coursework.
• A core missional focus brings each cohort to a clearer understanding of local and global mission and leadership through sharing one another's ministry experience, while the flexibility offered in the second half of the program enables each student to explore areas of personal interest related to their context and ministry gifts.
• Students can complete the MAGL degree in two years. However, in keeping with the program's philosophy of being an in-service degree, most choose to spread their study over four to five years. The maximum time allowed to complete the MAGL program is ten years.
• The MAGL serves as a prerequisite degree for the Doctor of Missiology degree at Fuller Seminary.

The Master of Arts in Global Leadership program enhances the development of leaders who minister in diverse situations in an increasingly globalized world. As many effective leaders choose their ministry settings as the primary focus of their study, the MAGL provides them with the interactive, innovative education that they require.

Program Outcomes 

In accordance with our commitment to provide the highest level of educational effectiveness possible through a healthy culture of assessment, and in alignment with the Fuller Institutional Student Learning Outcomes, this program offers the following outcomes.

Mission, Vision, and Values 

Mission 

We come alongside and equip in-service leaders from all parts of the world with transformational graduate education for leadership in their contexts.

Vision 

To see more and better missional leaders committed to lifelong learning and biblically-informed communities of practice.

Values 

• We will be characterized as global.
  As much as possible, we will deliver our program globally. Our students will study with others around the world and, in these learning communities, be exposed to global trends and cultural, contextual analysis.
• We nurture missional commitment.
  We desire our students to embrace their role in missio Dei and become missional change agents in their communities.
• We serve in-service leaders who are adult learners.
  We come alongside identified leaders in their communities. Adult learning philosophy and praxis typify our program design-providing opportunities for reflecting, learning, and doing.
• We create biblical learning communities of practice.
  We understand that transformation best happens in safe, peer-oriented environments. Therefore, we create space for dialogue and support.

Program Goals, Objectives, and Achievement-Based Outcomes 

To accomplish our mission, the MAGL has established six broad goals (bold) each with a specific objective (numbered) to be accomplished by several program achievement-based objectives (bullets):

Biblically Informed Practice – the Origin and Objective of Leadership 

1. Graduates will integrate theology and praxis to develop informed responses to situations encountered in their ministry/mission.
   By the end of the program, students will have:
• Examined and critiqued a variety of contemporary and historical paradigms of mission
• Developed a practical missions application based on a biblical theology of mission

Missional Church – the Goal of Leadership 

2. Graduates will make plans for their church's missional engagement with their cultural context(s) to promote transformation.
   By the end of the program, students will have:
• Contrasted traditional and missional forms of church life
• Assessed their congregations or ministries from the perspective of a holistic missional ecclesiology
• Developed a leadership strategy, including theological, methodological, and behavioral dimensions, for personal and congregational missional renewal

Global Diversity – the Context of Leadership 

3. Graduates will demonstrate familiarity with the diversity of theories, practices, and global contexts of missional leadership.
   By the end of the program, students will have:
• Distinguished issues of modernity/postmodernity impacting their local ministries/missions
• Identified the effects of globalization on their local contexts and churches
• Developed missiological plans of engagement that reflect both local and global dimensions

Lifelong Learning in a Diverse Community – the Continuing Development of Leadership 

4. Graduates will employ a lifelong learning posture that values peer learning with diverse persons as well as reflection on practice.
   By the end of the program, students will have:
• Developed and fulfilled personal learning plans
• Investigated adult learning principles
• Participated in a diverse community of learning that incorporated peer learning and reflection on practice

Organizational Dynamics – the Implementation of Leadership 

5. Graduates will examine various organizational dynamics and apply selected administrative tools.
   By the end of the program, students will have:
• Observed their churches/organizations through a variety of organizational development theories
• Evaluated their churches/organizations in order to diagnose health and offer prescriptives if necessary

• Leadership Development and Character – the Heart of Leadership 

6. Graduates will implement a developmental perspective that prioritizes personal spiritual formation
   By the end of the program, students will have:
• Described and evaluated their personal and ministry character/spiritual development
• Designed and implemented plans for character/spiritual development and mentoring
• Identified leadership emergence concepts to facilitate lifelong development as leaders

Curriculum 

The Master of Arts in Global Leadership (MAGL) requires the successful completion of 72 quarter units in a cohort model. A typical class is 4 units.

Cohort Sequence Courses (40 units of cohort study) 

• ML581 Developing Your learning Plan (Online) 
• ML582 Character, Community, and Leadership (Pasadena intensive) 
• MT520 Biblical Foundations for Mission (Pasadena intensive) 
• ML530 Lifelong Development (Online) 
• ML523 Mentoring (Online) 
• MP520 Transforming Contemporary Culture(Online) 
• MC506 Leading a Missional Church (Online) 
• ML565 Understanding Organizational Dynamics (Pasadena intensive) 
• ML583 Global Leadership: Implications for Ministry (Pasadena intensive) 
• ML540 Leadership Training Models (Online) 

Ministry Focus Studies (Electives, 32 units) 

Based on their learning plans, students may take any combination of courses in biblical studies, theology, or missiology from the School of Theology or School of Intercultural Studies.

Admission Requirements. Students entering the Master of Arts programs of the seminary must normally hold an undergraduate degree (BA or equivalent) from an accredited institution with a cumulative grade point average of 2.7 or above. In addition, to ensure the formation of cohorts with significant leadership and academic qualifications, admission to the MA in Global Leadership program is competitively based upon the following minimum qualifications:

• have at least four years of ministry leadership experience
• be actively engaged in a significant leadership role in a church, parachurch organization, or agency
• submit a letter of reference from a mission or pastoral leader
• submit a one-page statement of purpose, explaining why they believe that the MAGL program will benefit them and their ministry
• submit a one-page resume of their leadership experience over the past five years.

Students in the MAGL program must also be prepared to adhere to the timetable for cohort study and are required to maintain an online portfolio of class work, which costs $30 per year.

Due to the high level of interactivity required in Fuller Online classes for the Master of Arts in Global Leadership, applicants for the program whose first language is not English must submit an official score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) of at least 250 on the computer test, 600 on the paper test, or 100 on the Internet-based test. The IELTS with a minimum score of 7.0 is an acceptable alternative. The score must be no more than two years old.

Residency Requirements. At least 36 units must be earned at Fuller Seminary. As part of the cohort portion of the program, attendance at two two-week seminars in Pasadena is required. The remainder of the program may be taken through any combination of distance learning or coursework (including intensives) on the Pasadena campus or other Fuller locations.

Transfer Credit. Students may transfer up to 32 units of graduate-level courses in missiology or theology from an accredited institution into the program (provided the courses are under ten years old and have a grade of B- or better).

Distance Learning. Except for two two-week intensive seminars taken on the Pasadena campus, all of the coursework for the MAGL program may be taken by distance learning. MAGL students may complete their degree with online courses, or by taking up to four Individualized Distance Learning and/or directed study courses.

Time Limit. In order to ensure that a degree, when granted, represents education that is current and reasonably focused (not acquired a little at a time over an unreasonably long period), all credit applied to the degree must be earned within a certain period of time. For the MA in Global Leadership degree at Fuller, this period has been set at ten years. This includes all credit earned elsewhere and applied to the degree, as well as all credit earned at Fuller.