Penn students may have to wait another year before grades earned abroad will not affect their overall grade point averages.
The Undergraduate Assembly's resolution, passed in the spring of 2001, called for University administrators to change current grading policies.
However, University Provost Robert Barchi said that while the proposal was passed by a faculty committee, it has yet to be approved by an entire faculty vote. Because of this process, the long-discussed initiative might not be put into effect until fall 2004.
"It has not been put to a faculty vote at this point and will be brought to them in an appropriate manner this semester," Barchi said.
College senior and current UA Chairman Jason Levy remained hopeful at the chance of the UA reaching its goal.
"The UA has worked hard on lobbying the administration for the last few years, and we would like to see this resolution come into effect soon," Levy said.
"We feel that this recommendation would help in several areas," Levy continued. "First, it would alleviate the problems of translating grades from international universities that have different grading policies. And additionally, it would encourage students to spend time exploring a new culture, rather than heavily focusing on their academics."
The UA members, who originally drafted the proposal, also hoped that it would generate greater student interest in study abroad.
But according to Director of Study Abroad Geoffrey Gee, there has been no observable change in students' enthusiasm in studying abroad since the resolution's initial approval.
"The student inquiries that we have received on this topic have mainly been questions of clarification from students who are already planning on studying abroad," Gee said. "The faculty will vote on this issue in the fall, but we cannot be sure if this policy will be enacted by spring semester."
Headed by former UA Vice Chairman and 2003 Wharton graduate Ethan Kay, the original proposal also called for a change in the cost structure of studying abroad, so that students would pay the tuition charged by the foreign institution, which is often cheaper than what Penn currently charges.
Earlier this year, however, Penn administrators chose not to address this portion of the resolution.
"The main reason administrators gave us for not changing the tuition policy has been the additional services that Penn provides to its students abroad," Levy said. "The support that Penn gave to its abroad students... during September 11 is an example of the benefits that students receive from paying Penn's tuition. And for that reason, we might not see a change in the study abroad cost structure."
