Short-term university study abroad programs are the fastest growing form of study abroad for US students. Short-term programs offer a number of benefits for students including flexibility, affordability, and fit given that their home institution offers the programs. Short-term programs also offer unique learning opportunities along with tremendous responsibilities for faculty. From the standpoint of the University of Minnesota, they are considered the highest student safety risk type of study abroad program. In the spirit of offering students a rigorous academic experience as well as one that complies with University requirements, this proposal outlines a Short Term
University Study Abroad Policy for CEHSP programs. The UMD Study Abroad office developed tools such as the Short-Term Study Abroad Program Leader Handbook and Program Leader Checklist for faculty to use and this collegiate policy expands on that information.
Guiding principles
- To support existing successful short term programs
- To encourage and support new short term programs
- To recognize that short term programs are not substitutes for one another. In other words, students are not going to necessarily accept a program in Ireland as a substitute for a program in Peru if they really want the type of experience offered by the Peru program.
- Academic merit, program demand, and student affordability should be considered in supporting short-term programs.
Proposing Programs
Faculty should refer to Short-Term Study Abroad Program Leader Checklist 12-24 months before program is to be offered.
The Process
All short-term programs (existing and new programs) must be “proposed” each year through the UMD Study Abroad office. A proposal cannot be submitted to Study Abroad without a course proposal approved by EVCAA. Since the Short-term Program Proposal is due on November 1st, all study abroad course proposals need to be submitted by October 1 of the previous year. A new course proposal offered under some CEHSP course number must be submitted to CEHSP Academic Affairs Committee in time to meet EVCAA deadline of Oct. 1.
Along with the course proposal to CEHSP Academic Affairs Committee, the faculty leader(s) must submit a preliminary syllabus that demonstrates acceptable academic rationale for the program, as well as a budget that includes an estimate of the minimum number of students needed in order to break-even on the program. A budget template is available at Study Abroad. In addition, the faculty leader(s) must explain why the faculty leader(s) are qualified to lead this program from both an academic and travel/intercultural perspective.
Before submitting a proposal to Study Abroad, any new short-term study abroad program must have at least one faculty leader complete the Study Abroad Short term Leader workshop. In order to facilitate planning and implementation of the program, faculty are encouraged to apply for an international travel grant through the UM Global Programs and Strategy Alliance in order to complete the background and logistical legwork for the program.
Factors to be considered in the Proposal
Academic Component
Short-term study abroad is for credit academic programs. It needs to be clear to students that these are academic experiences, not a vacation. Academic requirements for the program should be appropriate for the level and number of credits fitted to course learning outcomes.
Faculty will develop opportunities to engage students in pre-departure learning activities and complete a variety of assignments, in addition to the minimal requirements for orientation, including examples:
- Syllabus with course objectives, outcomes, and assessments.
- Exams on course concepts, country background and culture.
- Papers on sites and organizations that will be visited in country (and that may be presented prior to visiting these sites while abroad).
- Writing personal academic goals that students will reflect upon while journaling during the program and at the end of the program.
Budgeting
The CEHSP Academic Affairs committee evaluates the academic component of the study abroad course proposal but budgeting is also an important consideration. Proposing faculty should work with the Study Abroad and Dean’s offices on budgeting.
Care should be taken in designing a program that is affordable for students. Price is a major concern and leaders should plan programs that consider both safety and cost. From a risk management perspective, the University prefers that all faculty leaders stay in the same housing as students.
Honoraria or other fees to international faculty should be explicitly identified in the preliminary budget for the program. These costs should be modest compared with the principal costs of housing or UMD faculty salary on a per student basis. If these costs are excessive, it raises questions about whether the program is in fact a university program or actually an exchange program where the UMD faculty member and salary is superfluous.
Approving Programs
When it is up to CEHSP to decide what programs to offer in a given year, existing short-term programs with specific course numbers (e.g., Hlth 4100, student teaching abroad, etc.) that are continuing parts of the curriculum, should be weighted more heavily in the approval and selection process, assuming that existing programs continue to meet demand, budgetary, responsible student behavior and academic outcomes.
Implementing Programs
Once EVCAA and Study Abroad have approved the program, the faculty leader(s) can commence marketing and recruitment of students for the program.
Marketing
The UMD Study Abroad program encourages faculty program leaders to share their experience, enthusiasm and expertise with students in order to promote their offerings. See Short-Term Study Abroad Program Leader Handbook for ideas on program promotion. However, no CEHSP program should be marketed to students that do not have a clear set of academic objectives, prerequisites, a proposed itinerary for the program, and a preliminary price for the program. Students must apply for study abroad programs by paying a nonrefundable application fee to the UMD Study Abroad office.
There are a number of vehicles available through Study Abroad and CEHSP for promoting study abroad programs. These include:
- Study Abroad office and website
- Flat panel displays in the CEHSP departments
- Flyers
- Posters
- UMD and CEHSP study abroad fairs
- Personal presentationsDepartment and College webpages
- Social media sites
Accepting Students
While each program leader can set the criteria for accepting students into the short-term program, there are several issues that should be considered:
- All students must disclose any academic or legal misconduct as part of the application process. That does not mean that all do. Study Abroad program will run further background checks on admitted students and faculty may interview students as part of the application. No student should be admitted to the program that is under court jurisdiction or currently on probation at the University of Minnesota. Each leader should decide how much risk is acceptable in admitting a student with a series of misconduct incidents. Leaders should be speaking with students about past incidents and behavioral expectations on the program.
- Academic capabilities. Students on academic probation may not be admitted to study abroad programs. Faculty should evaluate applicants’ academic performance for evidence that they will be able to meet the course requirements.
- All qualified applicants should be interviewed to make clear the program expectations and requirements.
Institutional home of students enrolling the course
While the primary target market for these short-term programs is CEHSP students, there is no reason that the programs need be limited to this audience. If the program is going to be open to students from other institutions (e.g., students from another US university) or other majors (e.g., UMD communications major) or even one of our students on full time internship, online majors, or otherwise outside of Duluth, then this is important to consider in designing the program. For example, how will students not on campus
complete any of the pre-departure lectures, classroom experiences, and orientation sessions? Will technology such as ITV, Skype or other appropriate means be used to bring the program to these students? If so, these costs need to be budgeted for in the program price. In the past, Study Abroad office has not let these costs be solely borne by that particular student but treated as a program cost.
Compliance
All program leaders are required to maintain compliance with all University requirements for Risk Management seminars, Short-term Leader seminars, and any other emerging requirements for short-term university programs. For more information, check out the Student Travel and Education Abroad: Health and Safety policy.
Assessing Programs
All CEHSP short-term programs should be assessed each time the program is offered. This assessment will take the form of a memo to CEHSP course department head and copy to the Dean outlining the following:
- Number and demographics of participating students (e.g., majors, colleges)
- Financial impact. What was the dollar profit or loss for the program?
- Incidents. Report on any health, safety, academic or other misconduct incidents that occurred on the program and how these were handled.
- Assessment of academic impact against program objectives.
This report should be submitted within 60 days of the end of the short-term program.
Revised for CEHSP and approved by Academic Affairs Committee
April 8, 2016
Collegiate policy originally prepared by
L. Rochford, LSBE faculty
D. Li, LSBE faculty
L. Neys, UMD International Programs and Services
23 March 2015