International Higher education partnerships report discusses some identifying themes that address strategies for program administration. The main ones include transparency and accountability, faculty and staff engagement, and quality assurance. Cultural and contextual issues also come into play with program administration. Which include cultural awareness as well as ethical dilemmas.
Identifying the issues is only half of the struggle. Considering international higher education is a focus of current growth a report by Rice University discusses the availability of dual and joint degrees. A Dual degree is when a student receives two different diploma’s one from each institution. A joint degree on the other hand is when a student receives a single diploma from completing coursework in 2 separate institutions. Of course, this type of program is difficult to implement and keep. Starting with the implementation this type of program would need to have majority of consensus on different strategies to be able to have the student receive this diploma since institutions across seas function differently in terms of language and curriculum.
Personally cultural awareness that includes language considerations and learning outcomes seems to be on the top of the list to make partnerships work. According to Global Higher Education, Such collaborative degrees have the potential to alter relationships with worldwide universities as well as their missions. Which the IHE report also touches on. Many universities do not include internationalization as a part of their mission statements and that becomes a very highly needed type of strategy to be able to help internationalization grow as well as help programs such as dual degrees become more spread and much more thoroughly defined as time goes by.
With a higher focus on quality assurance, it would be much more telling of how the programs, as well as certain policies, are doing in terms of numbers. This would help tweak any problem areas that arise and help give a much better visual on what is working or not on international level programs. Bearing in mind cultural and ethical differences that may present along the way.
Internationalization in many colleges as well as countries is lagging due to nonuniform type of strategies in terms of curriculum. Even colleges within the same country are not able to come to a consensus on identifying classes as the same which creates more issues for the students. Connection on a international level would also need to be able to work on some curriculum problems within the country first to be able to move to an international level with more colleges dealing with dual and joint degrees.
Hi Alina,
As you point out, logistical concerns such as language of instruction and continuity of curriculum across different institutions are areas of concern to administrators implementing international joint and dual programs. However, as the IIE document noted, these types of programs have various benefits for institutions, including attracting international students, which helps the university increase revenue and improve its reputation abroad, not to mention the benefits for students who gain invaluable cross-cultural skills. However, these benefits come with risks, as dual and joint degree programs can be much more complex than traditional degree programs.
Some of the students I work with are in a double degree program at Columbia University and the London School of Economics (http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/LSEServices/academicPartnerships/academicPartners/LSEandColumbiaUniversity.aspx). These schools are both prestigious and are both located in large cities within countries whose primary language is English. Therefore, they both probably attract similar candidates and have an easier time coordinating things like program expectations, curriculum requirements, and teaching styles. Collaborations between similar institutions is more of an obvious choice for a partnership. However, despite the risks and need for constant quality assessment, I think students, faculty, and institutions as a whole also have a lot to gain from partnerships with different types of universities.
Hi Alina,
In your post you touch on dual and degree programs, I think it is important to note that while it can be difficult to implement and maintain these type of degree programs the benefits that can be associated with dual and joint degree programs maybe with worth the challenges. The information on the following site http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/actionlines/joint_degrees_benefits.htm details the benefits of dual and joint programs specifically those with an international component. The process that Rice University uses to screen and authorize joint and dual degree programs helps to address some of the concerns you mention.
Hi Alina,
I think you bring up a good point about quality assurance. It is important in any higher education initiative, especially international one to keep and evaluate the results. It might not be easy to do so in the short-term, as the dual/joint programs do take time for students to complete, however there should be constant observation about what these programs are really doing for the students, faculty, institutions, economy and countries as a whole.
The article by Jane Knight, Doubts and Dilemmas with Double Degree Programs, brings up several good points about the quality assurance and the difficulty of evaluation. It talks about the difference of expectations and norms in each institution involved in double degree programs and how they could have very different understanding if the program really performs well in their own standards vs the standards of the other institution.
This takes me back to the point I made in my own blog post this week, that the mutual/shared strategy and goals between two or more institutions that are working on dual/joint degree programs are extremely important and need to be addressed not only in the beginning of creating the partnership, but also need to be assessed, evaluated and discussed continuously to make sure the institutions remain to be on the same page of what they are trying to achieve.
http://ecahe.eu/w/images/e/e6/Doubts_and_Dilemmas_with_Double_Degree_Programs.pdf
Natallia Kolbun
I could be wrong but I don’t think many schools allow (or like) for their students to be enrolled in different institutions, but with the changing job industry, many students are looking to get multiple degrees, and often times one institution doesn’t have all the courses necessary to fulfill the requirements of dual degrees. To remedy this, the CUNY system has the e-permit system which allows students to take courses at any other CUNY school. I don’t think SUNY does this with courses, but bringing it back to internationalization, I know SUNY does in fact do this for study aboard opportunities. If you are a student and your host college doesn’t go to a country but another SUNY does, you are available to study aboard with that SUNY college. I think if SUNY applied this to their regular course load they could have more students graduating on time.
The education students receive in different countries before attending institutions of high education plays a large role in the different types of pedagogy that the professors use. In many Asian countries the secondary and higher secondary education is rigorous in comparison to the education here in the U.S. It is important the curriculum is spoken about between the two universities who are collaborating on a joint degree or dual degree program for this reason. If students from different countries have been taught differently and have different study habits and then are being taught in a different manner than before, those students will not do well. This may not be quality assurance as much as equality assurance to ensure that all students from different secondary backgrounds can excel in the courses being provided.
Melissa Fernandez