Starting next fall, Syracuse University will no longer grant transfer credit for courses that students take while on a leave of absence to study abroad.

Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs, said in a statement that beginning in the fall of 2015, study abroad opportunities for credit will be available to SU students through SU Abroad’s centers and their short term, summer and featured programming. Students can also earn credit through SU Abroad’s World Partner roster of affiliated programs and through a special case petitioning process. Credits obtained while on a leave of absence will no longer be able to transfer without a preapproved petition.

The policy was discussed among the deans, SU Abroad and the Provost’s Office, Quinn said.

“This is a change that has been in conversation for a couple of years and it puts (SU) sort of in alignment with what other universities are doing, which is wanting study abroad to be really substantive and affordable for a lot of students,” said Margaret Himley, associate provost for international education and engagement. “This puts us in alignment with them.”

SU students’ eligibility for financial aid and confidence in the academic and professional value of the abroad experience are some advantages of the policy change, according to an email from Himley to SU faculty obtained by The Daily Orange.

“This policy will support SU Abroad over the long term, both programmatically and fiscally, while ensuring students with special circumstances have an opportunity to petition to study abroad via a non-affiliated program,” the email reads.

SU students who wish to study in a non-affiliated abroad program will petition to Himley and the dean of the applicable school/college.

Petitioning students should submit their petition form nine to 12 months prior to the program start date, according to the form. In the email, Himley said that SU Abroad will meet with each school and college to fine tune the procedure for the petitioning process. If the petition is approved, students pay SU tuition, receive SU financial aid and receive SU credit, which is calculated into GPAs, according to the email.

A process will be in place for vetting non-affiliated programs before sending SU students to the location, according to the email.

In an interview with The Daily Orange, Himley said safety is one of the reasons SU Abroad vets the programs.

“We like to be able to vet the programs that our students are going to,” she said. “We want to be sure that there are things in place should something happen, there are evacuation and medical procedures so we know that our students are safe when they’re studying abroad.”

SU Abroad is looking into the programs that students have been going on during their leave of absence, Himley said.

“We don’t know all of those programs, but we are looking into that,” she said. “One such program is in Prague, for example, and we have sent a staff person to review it, and it’s a good program in terms of academics and support and student safety.”

Himley said SU Abroad is in the process of adding Prague to its list of World Partners, which currently has more than 70 programs that have been vetted and are affiliated with SU. SU Abroad hopes the new policy will add to the list of World Partners, she said.

The first deadline for petition submissions is Nov. 1, which will be for fall 2015 programs.

Published on September 16, 2014 at 12:10 am

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306