A fascinating report Joint and Double Degree Programs in the Transatlantic Context has just been published by the Institute of International Education and the Freie Universitat Berlin . It describes the results of a survey of American and European universities looking at the rapidly increasing phenomenon of transatlantic joint and double degree programs. The survey was not meant to be
representative of activity in an absolute sense (only 180 institutions participated), but rather to show trends and developments.
The report notes:
One of the more prominent recent developments involves the emergence of transatlantic degree programs, such as dual diplomas, joint degrees, consortia and other forms of curriculum cooperation arrangements. Among European countries the introduction of joint and double degree programs has long been a vital part of internationalization strategies in higher education, helping to create stronger links and flourishing institutional partnerships,as well as preparing students for a global workplace. In the North American context, such programs have been until recently a less common feature of internationalization strategies for higher education institutions. However, the interest in curriculum cooperation is gaining momentum not only in the U.S. but in most countries around the world. In an increasingly global and competitive higher education market, collaborative programs, or “codesharing” as airlines would call it, can offer a set of advantages and are an important asset in the struggle
for attracting the best and the brightest.
The report also describes another troublesome aspect of American higher education that such programs may help correct:
Another challenge to transatlantic academic exchange is the increasing predominance of short-term study abroad programs in the U.S. While Europe still remains the leading destination for U.S. students who study abroad, the length of study abroad sojourns has declined dramatically in the past decade. Currently, only 6% of all U.S. students who study abroad, spend a full academic year in the host country, according to IIE’s Open Doors Report. The majority of study abroad programs are short-term programs of eight weeks or less, which may have only limited impact on the development of intercultural skills and foreign language immersion. Medium-term and long-term study abroad sojourns, especially if conducted in a structured way in cooperation with local partner institutions and including exposure to local student body and faculty, hold far greater opportunities in this respect.
Among the many findings are that double degrees are much more common than joint degrees, but that European institutions offer about twice as many joint degrees as do American institutions. The US institutions focus on undergraduate joint and double degrees, the European institutions on graduate programs. The most common programs are in business and engineering. The most common partners for European institutions are US institutions and other European Universities, but there are a significant number of partnerships with Latin American and Asian institutions as well. For the US institutions, European partnerships are the most common, and Asian partnerships play a somewhat more important role than is the case with European universities.
At several points, the report indicates the importance of the Bologna process (see The Bologna process- a significant step in the modularization of higher education , Sept 12, 2008) in stimulating such programs in Europe. One very interesting sentence caught my eye:
Built on consecutive, intertwined modules, European BA programs are beginning to find new ways of integrating study abroad components into the curriculum.
Another competitive aspect of Bologna that we in the US should carefully note!
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