Lauder Institute


The Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies offers a joint degree program at the University of Pennsylvania, combining an MA in International Studies from the School of Arts & Sciences with an MBA from The Wharton School or JD from the Law School. Students pursue one of six focused on five regional areas or the Global Program. Within the regional Programs of Concentration, students must attain superior language proficiency based upon an oral proficiency interview certified by in either Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish.
Each year 60-70 students from around the world join the Lauder Program in May starting in Philadelphia before departing on an to their respective regions of study. Students return to campus in August to join the MBA or JD program and then graduate with their class two years later. In the most recent incoming class, 60% of the class were US Citizens and 40% were international or dual citizens.

History

The Lauder Institute was founded in 1983 by Leonard A. Lauder and Ronald S. Lauder in memory of their father, Joseph H. Lauder. Leonard A. Lauder was awarded the Foreign Language Advocacy Award in 1990 by the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of Mr. Lauder's support for the requirement that MBA students in the Institute attain superior levels of linguistic proficiency and engage in immersion experiences to attain cultural proficiency.