The State of Study Abroad

College junior Brian Stern is hoping to spice up his spring semester with a bit of an international flavor. As a Folklore major harboring an interest in Tibetan studies, he recognizes the value of experiential learning in fostering a global outlook, and hopes to trace the origins of his discipline by conducting fieldwork in Tibet. But before he ventures halfway across the world to lease a Tibetan hut, he must make the necessary pilgrimage to the Office of International Programs. And although Penn Abroad manages 60 programs on six continents, it does not currently operate a program in Tibet, forcing Stern to petition the College Committee on Study Abroad for permission to study with the School for International Training, based in Brattleboro, Vt., and receive transfer credit and one-time non-permanent recognition of the program. The petition includes an application to the SIT program, an accompanying Penn Abroad petition application and a statement highlighting reasons why existing Penn programs are incompatible with his academic pursuits and relevant background. Additionally, Stern needs to provide a letter from his major advisor pre-approving credit from the abroad program, at least half of which will be applied to his major. He will also enclose information on SIT courses, instructional format, grading system and faculty credentials. Fortunately, Stern heeded OIP's advice of initiating the petition process one year ahead of his intended semester abroad, and first encountered the glaring red "guidelines for petitioners" form last spring. "The first line [on the form] is 'don't expect to be accepted'," he recalled. "This leads a person to ask, '[Is Penn] supporting education'?" International Programs Assistant Director Geoffrey Gee said prospective applicants are forewarned that the committee does not routinely approve reciprocal university exchanges or programs based in the same city or country as Penn Abroad programs, advising them to simultaneously file an application to an approved Penn Abroad program. Non-affiliated programs must provide for a "high degree of cultural integration and linguistic immersion" and the petitioner must meet with an advisor in the College office and an OIP Overseas Program Manager several months prior to the February 15 deadline for a fall semester abroad and the October 15 spring deadline. "We're doing students a service by making [the process] difficult," Gee said. International Programs Director Joyce Randolph added that the committee only reviews students with appropriate motivation. "The petition process is a self-selection process," she said. And although Stern described the petition process as "a big hassle," he agreed that the ordeal "reinforced his motivation" to pursue the abroad program. While several other students said the petition process was "aggravating," OIP statistics reveal a consistent 95 percent acceptance rate, College Committee on Study Abroad member Flora Cornfield noted. According to the 1996-97 OIP Annual Report, the committee accepted 30 petitions from about 32 applications. Eighteen of those students petitioned to study in developing countries for one semester under the auspices of SIT or the School for Field Studies, in Boston. The remaining 12 demonstrated clear academic objectives relative to their specific study opportunities, Cornfield said. The Annual Report also stressed the committee's commitment to toughen criteria in the upcoming year due to competition with "island" SIT and SFS programs -- options, OIP insists, that do not provide a high level of cultural immersion. And because students studying under non-affiliated programs reduce the number of reciprocal exchange places for incoming participants from other universities, the report ordered committee members to challenge petitions they found to be based on personal convenience rather than academic goals. But the College committee had also vowed to set higher standards at the beginning of the decade, during the experimental phases of the petition process. In the late 1980s, former Provost Michael Aiken appointed a task force to evaluate the status of Penn Abroad. Since Penn Abroad offerings were slim, students studied under a variety of non-affiliated programs, some of which were not academically compatible with a Penn education, according to the OIP. The office, therefore, tried to increase the number of available programs by affiliating with other institutions matching Penn's academic standards and philosophy. Originally, the College created the petition process for students engaged in independent studies who sought to continue their research in other countries. Students would petition OIP if it was not convinced that participants in the programs deserved credit. Although there were 150 approved programs in the early 1990s, the number has fallen to 60 programs this year, largely due to the faculty review committees who evaluate program quality every four years. The committees recommended that OIP stop listing previously petitioned programs and drop "island" programs and programs with low student interest, Gee said. In accordance with suggestions from the committees, OIP discontinued affiliation with four programs in France and one in Spain last year. The Penn Abroad program at the Universidad de Sevilla in Spain, however, does not offer enough spots to meet student demand, and usually resorts to a waiting list. OIP representatives told College senior Deborah Horowitz in spring 1996 that the Sevilla program was full and recommended she investigate Penn Abroad options in Latin America. She was not informed about the petition option. Gee said limiting approved programs allows the office to concentrate on existing options. "We are not going to carry the weight of advertising programs that students don't want to attend," Gee said. "We would rather spend our recruiting efforts on Penn Abroad programs." But are students able to arrive at an informed decision if the Penn Abroad catalogue refuses to list all of the available options? According to the report, in 1987-88, when OIP listed all 150 programs in its catalogue, approximately 60 percent of students studying abroad did so under non-Penn Abroad programs. In 1993-94, even after OIP had begun to stop listing a number of the petition programs, approximately 40 percent of the students studied under non-Penn Abroad programs. But in 1994-95, after the majority of non-Penn Abroad programs were eliminated from the catalogue, all of the 350 students studying abroad did so under Penn Abroad programs. "By identifying a smaller set, we could carefully review the programs to insure quality," College Dean Robert Rescorla said. "We set up a petition process so that students whose needs were not satisfied? could gain permission to go elsewhere." But Stern said he saw a discrepancy between College office and OIP attitudes toward petitions -- the former being "more supportive." Cornfield attributed the difference to the individual personalities of the advisors and said neither office means to discourage petitions. But Gee said there is no need for petitions in the majority of cases, stressing that "we can find something for just about everybody." Generally, when students do not find a program suited to their needs, it reflects a lack of research, poor grades, insufficient foreign language background or the "just want a vacation" mentality, he added.