International information and communication is a critical component of international relations and diplomacy and is at the heart of how people of different nations perceive each other. This field is interdisciplinary by its nature, and the curriculum at Fletcher emphasizes the policy perspective, while also providing a strong analytic and business background. It provides students with a strong background to confront the new policy and business challenges they will encounter in their careers from an informed, analytic perspective.
Students also learn about the industry, policy and technology forces that both enable and constrain different forms of communication. These include issues of governance, regulation, industry structure, equity and technology policy. All students receive a foundational knowledge around the governance and policy issues of international communication and explore the relationship between media and the state. Students may then choose to pursue specialized areas of interest such as telecommunications policy, the societal impact of new technologies, public diplomacy, privatization and deregulation.
The International Information and Communication field of study requires the completion of a minimum of three courses.