Graduate Certificate Requirements

1. A total of 15 credit hours of undergraduate course work with a grade of B or higher. Courses must come from the approved Latin American and Caribbean Studies course listing or be approved by the certificate advisor. Courses may include those in the student’s departmental major, but must also be selected from at least two disciplines outside the student’s departmental major.
2. A country, regional, topical or disciplinary area of concentration may be declared for the graduate certificate if desired.  At least three courses with significant Latin American or Caribbean content must be completed to obtain a concentration.  Students may also petition to create their own concentration, provided there are sufficient courses.  
3. Each student is required to demonstrate reading proficiency in either Spanish or Portuguese, or in another regional language such as French, Haitian Creole, or Dutch when justified by research interests.  Proficiency is demonstrated by scoring at least ‘intermediate-high’ on the ACTFL/ETS exam for Spanish, Portuguese, or French.  For other languages, corresponding tests of proficiency and levels of achievement will be required. Note: Intermediate-high on the ACTFL/ETS exam (1-plus on the US government scale) can normally be attained by students with two undergraduate semesters of basic language instruction and at least one undergraduate semester of intermediate (3000/4000) instruction.  Attainment of the required language proficiency is the responsibility of the student and extra courses to achieve the required proficiency level must be taken outside the certificate curriculum.

Courses Approved for the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Certificate

All LACC approved courses are posted above on the Graduate Course List, or by semester on the FIU class schedule at https://my.fiu.edu (click on "My Menu,", then click on "Class Schedule," under "Special Programs and Certificates," select "Latin American & Carib. St. Cert."). All courses listed from 5000 through 7000 series may be applied to the certificate.

Students interested in pursuing a Latin American and Caribbean Studies Certificate should contact the certificate advisor, Dr. Astrid Arrarás at (305) 348-2894 for an appointment or email lacccert@fiu.edu or Program Assistant Maria Ferrer-Young at youngm@fiu.edu.

Graduate Course List