In today's increasingly globalized world, Latin America is a region of key concern to business leaders, health-care professionals, policy makers, and academics, and an MA in Latin American Studies will help you stand out no matter what your future plans are As an interdisciplinary field, our students not only gain a deep understanding of Latin America as a region, but they develop the tool kit necessary to be successful in a variety of exciting and dynamic fields.<br>Our MA students go on to compete very successfully in the academic and job markets. The majority of our graduates continue onto PhD programs at top tier schools such as the University of Chicago, MIT, Brown, and Rutgers among others. Another 18% of our graduates go into jobs in higher education while 14% find jobs in the private sector, with the law and healthcare industries being our two biggest employers. The rest of our alumni are evenly split between K-12 education, government work, and non-profits.<br>Candidates for the master's degree who elect a specialization in Latin American and Caribbean Studies must complete 8 graduate hours from the courses prescribed by the center. Doctoral candidates who elect a specialization in this area must complete 16 graduate hours for one specialization or 8 graduate hours for a split specialization. Courses must be taken in at least two departments, a list of courses fulfilling the specialization is available from the center. A specialization in agricultural economics and foreign areas studies (in this case, Latin American and Caribbean Studies) is also available. A high level of proficiency in one or more languages of the region (Spanish, Portuguese, and Amerindian Indian languages) is required. For course information, requirements, and methods used to establish the level of proficiency, contact the center's academic programs coordinator.Students in technical and professional colleges and schools of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who seek knowledge of the Latin American and Caribbean region and languages are invited to consult with the director of the center or with their adviser in order to develop programs suited to their individual needs. Such a program may often be adopted as a specialization under existing regulations if the student so desires. These courses are of particular value to students who intend to undertake technical or professional work in the Latin American and Caribbean area for government, private business, publishing, or religious organizations.