Academic Planning Tips for Study Abroad



Academic Planning Tips for Study Abroad

Are you considering studying in a foreign country as part of your experience at UCSD ? Don’t hesitate ! Study abroad is an excellent opportunity for both intellectual and personal development, not to mention a perfect compliment to the liberal arts education you receive as an undergraduate. Like travel, it allows you to live and experience life in another country, giving you an opportunity to get to know a foreign country first-hand. Meeting other people, learning the local culture, and doing as the natives do are a big part of any international experience.

With study abroad, though, you are also taking classes and getting credit that you can likely use toward your political science degree. Often, a year or semester of college in another country can have a big influence on your career path; fluency in a foreign language, familiarity with an uncommon region, or simply give a more international outlook on life.

Before You Study Abroad: Hints

In the quarters preceding your time abroad, plan to complete two upper-division political science courses at UCSD. Finishing your lower-division requirements for the major will also be an advantage; the introductory courses provide you not only with indispensable core knowledge for more advanced political science courses, but also facilitate your course planning once you return to UCSD. Try to have your lower-division courses completed before you study abroad !

Consider enrolling in political science courses that cover your destination country. The political science Department offers courses in most world regions, from Western Europe to the Middle East; taking such classes before you go abroad can help familiarize you with the local government and politics, if not simply make you a more astute observer of the affairs in your host country.

Obtaining Pre-Authorization for Your Courses (EAP Academic Planning Form)

Once you have decided to study abroad, chosen your country, and made tentative selections on your courses, the UCSD Programs Abroad Office requires that you obtain the approval of the Political Science Department. To approve your Academic Planning Form, we ask that you review your course selections with the Faculty Advisor to evaluate their suitability for transferring to the major. This review does not guarantee that you will receive credit for classes as indicated on your Academic Planning Form. To receive credit in Political Science for coursework completed abroad, you MUST submit a petition for review by the Department. (more …)

Studying Abroad and Participating in the Political Science Honors Program

If you plan to study abroad during your junior year and complete the senior Honors sequence the following year, PLAN AHEAD ! Arrange to complete some upper-division courses at UCSD before going abroad. Before leaving, you should begin discussing thesis topics with a faculty member. Also, consider using your international course work as a basis from which to develop your thesis.

Making Academic Choices Abroad

The courses you take abroad can—ideally—be applied for credit towards a political science major or minor. Note, however, that UCSD requires that courses applied toward the major must fulfill certain criteria. If you plan to use your foreign coursework to meet your degree requirements, pay close attention to the following guidelines when selecting your courses:

• No more than SIX courses can be used for transferring credit to the major in political science.

• Courses must be taken for a letter grade, if they are to be counted toward the political science degree. A grade of C- or better is required.

• Courses must be at least FOUR units.

• Courses cannot duplicate courses previously taken at UCSD.

• Courses must be sufficiently grounded in political science. (more…)[1]

Remember, universities are structured quite differently in other countries, but such differences need not detract from the intellectual value of your experience abroad. If you take seriously your academic responsibilities abroad, yet remaining aware of these differences, you should not be disappointed in expecting UC credit for your coursework.

See also Transfer Guidelines For Study Abroad Coursework

-----------------------

[1] Many courses taken abroad are about politics, but are not political science courses. Courses transferred to the major or minor must explicitly include an organizing conceptual or theoretical framework for analysis, or explicitly introduce students to a range of theoretical options, as part of the course material. Courses that transfer to the major must be analytic, not historical narratives, nor journalistic treatment of current events.

To transfer to the major or minor, courses must involve as much work in political science as UCSD upper-division political science courses. Normally, this means a mid-term and final exam, and/or a course reading. Students need to be prepared to provide supporting evidence of their claim that the course was equivalent to one of our upper-division courses.

When given the option of writing an essay or taking an oral exam, students should complete written work that would strengthen the case for the political science content of the course. In addition, given a choice, students should direct their written work toward political science rather than history or economics or sociology.

Generally, courses taken abroad in business or business and politics, law or international law, organizational theory, and national culture and sociology (“Culture and Society of X”) have relatively little political science content and are difficult to accept for the major. Political theory courses requiring students to read original theory texts transfer relatively easily and are preferable to courses surveying philosophy of ideas. Courses on “Politics of France” are usually transferable, provided these are not just current-events courses. International relations courses must extend students beyond the material in Political Science 12. Many other kinds of courses have transferred; see the faculty advisor for more details.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download