IDOCS 04/05-3
At the February 10, 2005 faculty meeting, IDOCS will move that the programs identified below, all of which are pilot programs, be approved by the faculty and granted full status.
France: IES Paris . The Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) is a Chicago-based, non-profit organization that enrolls more than 3,000 students annually. It works with a membership consortium of more than 155 leading U.S. colleges and universities. The IES Paris program was founded in 1962. It combines a rigorous curriculum of French language study with impressive course offerings in the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Fine Arts (including Studio Art and Music performance). All courses are taught exclusively in French. Students carry 15-19 semester credit hours, which normally includes a 4-credit French language course and four other courses. The program encourages students who are able to enroll directly in courses taught in the French University system at institutions such as Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Institut Catholique, Université de Paris VIII, Ecole du Louvre, Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris rather than in "sheltered" courses with other Americans or other international students. IES' internal review process supports the maintenance of a rigorous academic program. A 10-person committee of experts spent four days on-site reviewing the program in the Spring of 2002; their report led to a number of important program improvements. Homestays are an integral part of the program. Four students have participated in the program to date: three in Art and one in Music. All have reported favorably on their experience.
HECUA Northern Ireland . "Northern Ireland: Democracy and Social Change" is a Spring semester program sponsored by the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs and the University of Ulster's UNESCO Centre, and based at the University of Ulster-Coleraine. Students examine the political, social, and cultural dimensions of the transition from conflict to sustainable democracy, using Northern Ireland as a case study. The program examines the conflict in Northern Ireland from multiple perspectives; explores ways in which this divided society copes with its attendant political, economic and social problems; and analyzes the area's cultural traditions and resources for building an inclusive democracy. The fourteen week program is divided into two major segments. The first, classroom or seminar phase, focuses on building a sustainable democracy and on the politics of conflict and transformation; the second is a seven-week internship in which each student is placed in a setting that focuses either on human rights, or conflict transformation, or on education for democracy. During the seminar segment, students live in homestays in the Coleraine area. During the internship, students participate in lectures, discussions, field experiences, and an integrating weekly seminar.
Social Work in Mexico . "Social Work in a Latin American Context" is sponsored by a consortium of Midwest post-secondary institutions and hosted by Augsburg College's Center for Global Education, in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The program offers social work majors (an average of two from each of the participating social work programs) an opportunity to complete curriculum requirements for the social work major while immersed in Mexican language and culture for the Spring semester of the junior year. The goal of the program is "to develop cross-culturally competent ethical social work professional with a global perspective by providing a semester of transformative, experiential learning focused on social and economic justice." Students enroll in four courses, one a Spanish language courses, in addition to fulfilling a volunteer or service-learning component. Instruction is primarily experiential, although there are lectures, discussions, writing assignments and tests. Students visit rural villages and urban barrios to learn about social policies and services. A home stay of at least six weeks with a Mexican family of modest means in the Cuernavaca area is included for each student.
Rationale. New off-campus study programs are first approved by IDOCS on a pilot basis. When an off-campus program has completed the period of time set by IDOCS for pilot program status, the faculty program advisor is asked to prepare a report concerning the program, including a recommendation to approve the program, to continue it on pilot status, or to discontinue it. The three programs listed above have been recommended for full status by their respective program advisors and by IDOCS. We therefore bring them to the faculty for approval.
