The UC Academic Senate released a report earlier this month
recommending changes to improve the administration and financing of the
University of California’s Education Abroad Program, though the committee cited
UCSD as an exception to issues plaguing the other UC campuses.
Compared to the country’s other leading research
universities, the UC system falls behind the national average in the number of
undergraduates who study abroad, the report said. For example, the University
of Virginia — a public institution similar to the UC system — sends 37 percent
of its undergraduates abroad each year. About 21 percent of students at the 10
UC campuses pursue study at foreign universities.
In 2005, UC Provost Wyatt R. Hume and then-Academic Senate
Chair Clifford Brunk appointed senate members to the Ad Hoc Committee on
International Education, designed to investigate the current status of EAP. The
committee ultimately decided to revamp the program, citing a lengthy time
interval without review as well as the university’s responsibility to be
internationally conscious.
The original committee composed a mission statement along
with a list of goals and recommendations that were released spring of this
year. However, the University Committee of Planning and Budget subsequently
asked the committee to further broaden its approach to address “budgetary and
integration” issues within the Universitywide Office of the Education Abroad
Program, EAP’s center of operations.
Each campus was given five years to double the number of
students studying abroad, the report said.
“To send approximately 40 to 50 percent of all undergraduates
for study is well within the norms of higher education nationally and
constitutes a clear statement regarding the educational priority of global
knowledge and experience,” the committee wrote in the report.
The committee said that one of its primary concerns is the
lack of coherency within the network of university study-abroad programs. Since
its inception 40 years ago, EAP has witnessed the emergence of numerous
third-party organizations that provide long- and short-term study programs.
Many of these programs enroll UC students who choose them “without expert
advice,” the report said, which forces students to find their way through the
process without enough information.
Additionally, the committee found that demanding major
requirements, the cost of a UC education and time constraints were cited as
reasons for decreased interest in year-long programs. Committee members
proposed that EAP create and identify programs to match student demand, along
with the creation of a more centralized systemwide administration.
Though the coherency of the systemwide program is an issue,
UCSD’s Programs Abroad Office differs from many of the other UC campuses, and
was cited by the committee as a model for other campuses to follow.
“The difference between our method and the methods of other
campuses is that we centralize our operations,” Programs Abroad Office Director
Kim Burton said.
The campus created the Opportunities Abroad Program in 1985,
which serves as a hub for external programs in addition to EAP. Students can earn
academic credit for studying abroad outside of EAP and receive additional
guidance if necessary.
“UCSD realized that we could be sending more of our students
abroad if we could just provide information and advising about these non-UC
options, as well as a formal process for students to receive academic credit
for such experiences, and to use financial aid,” Burton said.
However, even with UCSD’s centralized administrative model,
some believe there is room for improvement.
“The Programs Abroad Office needs to create stronger
connections between itself and the other departments on campus,” said Thurgood
Marshall College senior Shannon Dulaney, who studied abroad in Dublin, Ireland.
“It was a hassle trying to figure out whose approval I needed; it was a slight
bureaucratic mess.”
Though UCSD provides advising to students planning to study
abroad, some students assumed the responsibilities themselves.
“I went to a general meeting, but it didn’t take me long to
choose a program,” said Maureen Ravelo, an Eleanor Roosevelt College junior who
is currently studying in Paris. “The EAP Web site is pretty helpful.”
Twenty-seven percent of UCSD students who studied abroad
last year participated in yearlong programs, compared to 6 percent nationally,
Burton said.
In total, the committee made 14 recommendations to
consolidate EAP’s administration, make advising an integral part of the process
and ensure enough program financing to promote its development as the number of
students studying abroad increases.
