MSU Study Abroad
Curriculum Integration Project

A Collaborative Project of MSU's Colleges and Departments
and Office of Study Abroad

The Current Situation
What does Study Abroad Curriculum Integration Mean?
Project Overview and Phase In
Project Collaborators
Required Tasks
Advising Materials (NEW)
Curriculum Integration at a Glance
CIEE 2005 - Presentation November 2005 (Miami, FL)
NAFSA 2006 - Presentation May 2006 (Montreal, Canada)

The Current Situation: Michigan State University has made a long-term institutional commitment to offering extensive opportunities for every student to study abroad as an integrated part of their undergraduate experience. Although the University currently offers its students many study abroad opportunities via a large roster of programs (nearly 200 programs in 64 countries), students in numerous majors currently have (a) few or no options in which study abroad can be used to meet major and other degree requirements, (b) are not routinely advised about how study abroad can be fit into their curriculum, or (c) are unaware of or do not plan enough in advance for options which do exist.

What does Study Abroad Curriculum Integration Mean? The MSU Study Abroad Curriculum Integration Project seeks to closely integrate study abroad options into the undergraduate experiences and curricula for all students in all majors. Curriculum integration includes: (1) improving how university, college, and major requirements can prepare students for a study abroad experience; (2) expanding ways in which credits earned on a study abroad experience can be used to meet university, college, major, and graduation requirements; (3) developing study abroad options that enhance the value of degrees, and (4) reintegrating study abroad students and their experience abroad into the on-campus curriculum and learning environments when they return to campus.

All of these intended outcomes are important. Presently, however, the MSU Curriculum Integration Project is focused on numbers 2 and 3 --that is, expanding opportunities for study abroad experiences to meet graduation requirements and enhancing the value of one's degree.

The MSU Curriculum Integration Project will work directly with colleges, departments, faculty, and advisers to develop major-specific curriculum descriptions containing explicit and detailed information as to how students in that major can accommodate a study abroad experience into their baccalaureate experience. This will involve not only examining requirements, major by major, to see how a study abroad experience can be accommodated, but also better informing students and advisers and publicizing MSU's current diverse study abroad programs. In some instances, new program options, directly responsive to major-related needs will be designed. Both MSU faculty-led program options and enrollment options in institutions abroad will be included.

Every college on campus has degree programs that will benefit from a careful examination of how a study abroad experience can best be accommodated within them. However, many agree that a study abroad experience is especially important for the future success of today's pre-professional undergraduates, but degree programs in engineering, business, nursing, journalism, pre-med, and pre-vet, typically involve a larger number of required courses than degree programs in the liberal arts or social sciences, thus making it harder to find time and credits for a study abroad experience. It is one of the principal goals of this project to assist such colleges and departments in reaching the goal of increased options for their students.

Project Overview and Phase In: Although the Curriculum Integration Project will benefit all MSU colleges, departments and majors, the project will be approached in a phased manner, starting in this first year by working directly with deans' offices, department chairs, faculty, and advisers in certain designated colleges and departments. Additional colleges and departments will be added to the project next year, with all colleges and departments involved within three years.

Issues needing attention vary from college to college and major to major. For majors where study abroad is a natural component, there may be an insufficient number or variety of programs offering courses in that major to accommodate the need. In other majors, study abroad may most appropriately be a venue for fulfilling general education requirements but there are not enough study abroad programs offering the desired kind of general education credit. In majors where degree requirements are numerous and sequential, more thought may need to be given to how the courses within them can better be arranged to accommodate a study abroad experience. Finally, a larger number of courses offered abroad need to be identified as suitable substitutes for MSU, college, and departmental degree requirements.

The MSU Study Abroad Curriculum Integration Project individualizes its approach to problem identification and problem solving by working with colleges and departments major by major. Faculty and advisers in each college and department will be core contributors to identifying problems and solutions. The MSU Curriculum Integration Project is therefore highly individualized down to the college, department, and major levels. The basic approach eventually will provide the faculty and advisers of each MSU college and department the opportunity to review required course work (major-specific, college-specific, and general education) in collaboration with all or part of the institutional-level project team.

The MSU Curriculum Integration Project is similar to a parallel initiative at the University of Minnesota. In 1997, Minnesota's Learning Abroad Center began a pilot project to internationalize professional degree programs through curriculum integration initiatives. Center staff began by organizing a series of staff/faculty workshops, focus groups, and site visits to not only highlight the benefits of study abroad, but also examine how study abroad course work or field experience could fit into degree requirements. The results led to a general promotional brochure for study abroad targeting students in engineering and the sciences. This general document served to highlight opportunities to faculty, staff and advisers, as well as students, and also highlight field-specific opportunities available at various institutions abroad. Further review of syllabi by faculty and collaboration with Center staff led to the development of “Major Advising Sheets,” handouts outlining course work, internships, field experience, or research that a particular major could undertake abroad. The results were immediate growth in participation in many fields that hitherto had had little study abroad participation.

Although MSU has a history of using similar methods over the years, our efforts have not been systematic and sustained. As noted, the current effort will touch every college, department, and major. Also, however, the MSU Study Abroad Curriculum Integration Project will systematically examine existing and needed program options for both faculty-led and co-sponsored programs involving students enrolling in institutions abroad. MSU has a long history of faculty-led programs; in fact, nearly 80% of current MSU study abroad enrollments are in MSU-faculty-led programs. However, MSU cannot continue to rely to this degree on faculty-led programs for its study abroad programming. Faculty re-locate, take sabbaticals, start families, obtain research funds, or change professional direction; the fate of such programs lies with their choices. In addition, there are not enough faculty available to lead the number of programs MSU will need in the future. In some instances, faculty-led programs cannot duplicate the options available at institutions abroad. Furthermore, while many colleges support and promote numerous co-sponsored programs (i.e. students enroll in an approved institution abroad), the approved course listings are often unnecessarily limited to the requirements of one particular major, although numerous courses in other disciplines are often also available. Not only does this limit the program's appeal to a very small pool of students in one department or major, but it also limits their opportunities to fulfill non-major course requirements on the same program.

The Curriculum Integration Project will provide colleges and departments with the opportunity to review MSU courses already offered through faculty-led programs, internships, and field experience as well as courses available at high quality international institutions with which MSU already has a relationship. To better assess the diverse needs of various majors and departments, the Curriculum Integration Team (CIT) and Office of Study Abroad (OSA) will sponsor a series of workshops for faculty and advisers. Some of these will be college and department specific. Departments and faculty will also be asked to identify foundation courses for particular majors and whether transfer credit for such courses from approved institutions abroad might be considered. In addition, departments may wish to identify courses that are continuously oversubscribed as well as requested courses the department is presently unable to offer. We anticipate the need to develop additional inter-institutional arrangements and co-sponsored programs for some disciplines and majors. We are also aware of department and faculty concerns regarding the time and resources required for sustained commitment to study abroad, and are partnering with the colleges to find creative solutions.

At the request of the colleges, departments, and faculty, OSA will obtain syllabi for courses offered by institutions abroad that departments wish to review. If desired courses are not available with existing co-sponsored programs, CIT/OSA staff will assist departments with developing new institutional relationships abroad. As needed, targeted site visits will be arranged for faculty to visit new or existing co-sponsored program locations to further develop academic links.

Once a block of related departments has completed this process, an “Academic Interest Sheet” will be created to show how a student in certain related fields can obtain an international experience in a variety of related majors. Discussion is already underway to determine if the existing MSU college brochures for study abroad could be revised to reflect this information. Once lists of accepted courses are created, “Major Advising Sheets” will be produced. They will be used primarily at the departmental level in order to illustrate how study abroad fits into a student's particular academic program.

Project Collaborators: Minnesota credits much of their success to the leadership and commitment offered by the central administration, provosts, deans, directors, and department chairs. Modest financial assistance from central sources to supplement college and departmental commitments was also important. Strong vocal and visual support from leaders in each college, including designation of a college liaison to the CI project was also crucial. Finally, and most importantly, the support of key faculty and advisers in departments was important.

Once a college has committed to the integration project, a college “point person” with sufficient, expertise, visibility and stature needs to be named by their Dean. Once a department has committed to the project, the CIP team will need one or more key faculty members and advisers to meet with CIP staff to identify learning objectives, review course offerings, evaluate host institution syllabi, participate in site visits, advise students, promote study abroad, evaluate student experiences, and if necessary, seek new institutional partners abroad.

Required Tasks: Colleges, department, and faculty will retain full academic control of curricula, courses, and credits; however, once the targeted college has assigned a liaison to the project, overall tasks include the following:

Advising Materials: The CIP is producing a variety of documents that illustrate how study abroad fits into the curriculum in targeted colleges and majors. As new materials are developed, they will be added to Curriculum Integration.