Presentation:

This session discussed how general education requirements can be used to expose students to different cultures, increase their awareness of global issues, and increase their interest in further international study. Dr. Beeson used the University of Pittsburgh’s Arts and Sciences general education requirements and international certificate programs to illustrate how general education requirements can be used to focus student interest in international studies and how the composition of the certificate programs provides structure to the general education curriculum. 

Since the early 1980s, the general education curriculum at the University of Pittsburgh has heavily emphasized developing an understanding of international issues and an appreciation of foreign cultures.  Arts and Sciences students are required to take a minimum of three semester courses (nine credits) in international studies/foreign culture, including at least one that focuses on a non-western culture, in addition to demonstrating language proficiency.  Students can also meet this requirement by spending a semester studying abroad.  Building on this foundation, one third of the students continue to pursue these international interests through structured certificate programs in African Studies, Asian Studies, European Union Studies, Latin American Studies, Russian and East European Studies, West European Studies, and Global Studies.   These certificates generally require two to three additional courses in foreign culture or international issues, and students must demonstrate a higher level of language proficiency than that of general education requirements.

Discussion:

Following the presentation, the session participants entered a thorough discussion about the University of Pittsburgh’s general education requirements. The following questions and issues were raised and discussed for the remainder of the session.

Question: Can students manage the additional work required of earning a certificate?
Dr. Beeson reported that about one-third of the undergraduate students graduate with a certificate.  It was noted that it is easier for students to complete the certificate requirements along with the major if they start to plan for the certificate early on in their coursework.  The advisors play a major role in helping students with this planning.  Also, it is difficult to combine the certificate with some majors, particularly in the sciences, where the required courses for the major limit the number of elective courses a student can take.  However, students increasingly find ways to complete double majors and certificates, and although the numbers are lower, even science students complement their degree with the certificate. Pursuing a certificate also provides the undecided student with a great way to explore majors. Students find it useful to begin on a certificate track as a way to test the water and graduate with a certificate on the transcript.

Increased Rigor of Curriculum

This discussion exemplified an undertone that majors are becoming more rigorous and that there will be a move toward elimination of the short major in the coming years. Newly introduced degree curricula will require students to think more carefully about the direction of their degree track. Assessment within undergraduate education is driving this change toward increased rigor because assessment is driving the need for improvement. Universities are looking at how the best universities are benefiting through the use of assessments.  For example, at the University of Pittsburgh, the Department of History is increasing the writing required of their majors following an assessment of learning outcomes in the major.

Internationalizing Specific Academic Programs

During the discussion, one participant noted that there was an increasing focus on globalization in the education of psychology students. The focus increased the awareness of building educational objectives for psychology and gives students a broad experience. The purpose of internationalizing the psychology curriculum was to promote socio-cultural awareness and also to increase student awareness of the research component of psychology. The objective of increasing the research competencies of psychology students is to increase the student’s ability to engage in qualitative research.

Recommendations:

For Individual Campuses

• One recommendation for the Research I University was to offer dual-degree programs, in which students can integrate international study into their major discipline. One participant gave the example of engineering. The students in this program would commit to a five-year course of study to earn a bachelor’s degree in Engineering and one in a foreign language. In the third year of coursework, the students travel abroad to study their engineering discipline in the other language and enter a paid internship with a foreign company. Placing the student in a foreign culture for an internship gives the student an understanding of culture and language that the student would never receive while studying his/her discipline at the home university. The certificate provides an integrated experience and a way of making the experience and degree more meaningful. The internationalization of such a curriculum becomes integrative instead of just a trip to another country and culture.
  
  
• Assessment of student learning outcomes in certificate programs should be discipline-based.

Learning outcomes in the certificate program are related to understanding other cultures, but yet developing study abroad student learning outcomes assessment is different for each individual department or center. The academic department takes direction and elements from a university-developed menu to tailor the assessment to the department. What one department may need may not work for others. Therefore, assessment needs to be started at the level of the department and “roll up” in order to get the institution to make an adequate assessment. Faculty have shown concern about whether or not an institutional assessment and outcome can be mapped onto the department or center without changing the goals. Consequently, it is the recommended that certificate outcomes be discipline-based. However, overall, there is a benefit to have overriding institutional-based outcomes: better-defined majors create faculty ownership of outcomes. At present, there is no well-defined best practice for developing student learning outcomes in the certificate programs.

• At some point the discipline-specific outcomes of international certificate programs must be aggregated at the institutional level in order to foster overall institutional improvement. Therefore, faculty discussion about the curriculum and outcomes at the department level leads to a better assessment of student learning outcomes at the certificate level. Nevertheless, study abroad may be difficult to evaluate because of the time to completion of the various study abroad programs. Developing study abroad outcomes assessment must take into account the length of the course(s), the length of stay in the country, the number of students, the projects included, and the overall structure of the study abroad experience.