Internationalization Task Force Final Report

IV. Northern Michigan University will provide increased opportunities for students to study abroad through both traditional study abroad programs and through faculty-led initiatives

The Internationalization Task Force recognizes the tremendous efforts involved in preparing students for study abroad. The task force understands that students can choose from an almost bewildering array of study abroad options that present themselves worldwide and that the existing Office of International Affairs does its best within the limits of its resources to assist students in finding the option best suited to the student's needs. The Internationalization Task Force also recognizes that NMU over the years has entered into cooperative agreements with a number of affiliated partners and consortia and has rightly promoted these arrangements above those offered by outside institutions. The ITF also acknowledges and lauds the efforts of several faculty who have arranged, administered, and staffed Concentrated Learning Experiences Abroad (CLEA), usually courses of two to four weeks, that are delivered during the summer months.

While the task force acknowledges the paramount value of traditional semester or yearlong opportunities for study abroad, the ITF fully appreciates that many student prefer, particularly for a first international sojourn, to travel and study with other NMU students on a generally shorter faculty-led CLEA, a Concentrated Learning Experience Abroad. The task force further recognizes that CLEAs will continue to serve as "gateway" international experiences for some of our students who come to the university with little travel experience and low expectations concerning forays overseas. The ITF also regards International Service Learning as a much underestimated and under credited academic learning experience.

The Internationalization Task Force acknowledges that students' ability to study abroad has often been stymied by both a lack of funds and the perceived or actual difficulty of integrating credits earned abroad into their program of study. The task force recognizes study abroad as the premier step in the achievement of an internationalized perspective. For these reasons, the task force has a goal of facilitating study abroad through a variety of arrangements, and greatly increasing the number of students, undergraduate and graduate, who participate in such programs.

The International Task Force Implementation Plan contains details that will promote these goals. Highlights include:

1. Increasing the number of NMU students who study abroad through all NMU facilitate programs to 1000 by the year 2010, i.e., about 10% of the projected student body.
2. Substantially increasing the number of scholarships available/applicable to study abroad programs.
3. Developing through collaboration with faculty, administration, and staff input, new overseas programs in areas of global economic growth and/or areas of traditional US interaction.
4. Investigation of these potential sites for permanent cooperative study abroad agreements with international institutions/consortia.
5. Promotion of credit-bearing international service learning activities and sojourns.
6. Development and support for both existing and new faculty-run CLEAs.
7. Development of academic protocols concerning the issuance of student credit for CLEAs.
8. Development in conjunction with the faculty governance procedures of policies related to the issuance of faculty credit for running CLEAs.
9. Development of orientation and exit protocols for all students who take part in study abroad experiences.

Policy Recommendations: Study Abroad

• The university is urged to support policies of flexibility with regard to the transfer of credit earned from study abroad experiences, both for undergraduate and for graduate students.
• The university is urged to facilitate the highest possible level of cooperation between the Office of Financial Aid and the expanded Office of Global Programs (currently International Affairs).
• The university is urged to develop comprehensive fundraising strategies in the forms of grants, corporate underwriting, or other cooperative ventures which could be used to help subsidize the development of new study abroad initiatives and which could support student scholarships.