Gustavus Adolphus College

• General Policies
• January Interim Experience Policies

General Policies

State Department Travel Warnings

International courses shall only be initiated in countries with official United States relations, and for which no Department of State Travel Warning is in place. Students who have been granted approval to study for a semester or year off-campus will be allowed to study in a country under a U.S. Department of State travel warning only in rare exceptions (and additional application procedures apply). No Gustavus January Interim courses will be allowed to a country under a Travel Warning. If a Travel Warning is issued for a country during the time a Gustavus Adolphus student or faculty is in that country, the Center for International and Cultural Education (CICE) will work with the appropriate sources to determine the best course of action to reduce risk.

Academic Rigor

Off-campus study, whether undertaken abroad or in a United States setting other than the Gustavus campus, shall be characterized by the same academic rigor and high expectation for student work as on-campus study.

Off-campus courses shall reflect the academic importance of offering the course at the chosen site and shall integrate the subject being studied with site visits, guest lecturers, and assignments.

Course Contact Hours

Courses offered off-campus shall have at least as much contact time as courses offered on campus (40 or more contact hours per course per term). Normally they will have considerably more than this minimum. Contact times include class meetings, lectures by the instructor or guest lecturers and supervised course-related activities. Although the nature of out-of-class work undertaken in off-campus courses may differ considerably from out-of-class work undertaken in an on-campus course, the time students are expected to devote to out-of-class work (such as reading, research and preparation of assignments) shall be approximately the same off-campus as on-campus.

Evaluation of Students

Evaluation shall be conducted in a manner consistent with overall college policies and practices and shall reflect special circumstances of an off-campus experience. Criteria for evaluation in off-campus study programs and courses shall be made clear to students at the beginning of the term.

Evaluation of Course(s)

Each off-campus study course or program shall be evaluated by means of an on-line questionnaire distributed to returning students by the Center. Results of this assessment will be shared with the faculty leader of the course. The results of these questionnaires will be used by CICE, IDPC and program leaders to review and assess courses and programs.

Who May Participate

Faculty wishing to take persons who are not immediate family members on off-campus travel programs shall inform the Director of CICE (a statement to this effect should be included with the course proposal).  Minors who are not members of the immediate family of faculty leading an off-campus course or program are prohibited from participating in it unless the Director of CICE gives prior written approval. The Director may deny participation in an off-campus course or program to persons who are not immediate family members of course instructors, whether they are minors or adults. The Director of CICE will determine fees payable to Gustavus Adolphus College for all individuals accompanying an off-campus program who are neither registered students, nor registered at Gustavus Adolphus through any other office.

Liability

Gustavus faculty who lead student study-abroad programs are covered under the College's liability insurance if they are in compliance with the policies and procedures described in this document and with general college policies. 

Alcohol Policy

On faculty-led off campus study programs or courses, the consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited at all scheduled functions, no matter where located. This means that any activity (flights, meals, excursions, classes, etc.) that the group is expected to attend is considered a program or course scheduled function. Faculty members accompanying groups of students on off-campus study programs are expected to discuss the guidelines for responsible use of alcohol during non-scheduled program or course times with the students in their group prior to departing on the program.

January Interim Experience Policies

Modifications of Approved Course

The January Interim Experience Instructor may teach only the approved course during the program.  He/she may not modify the focus or level of the approved course.  Because of the intensive nature of January Interim Experience off-campus study courses, faculty members teaching these courses must obtain approval from the Director of the Center for International and Cultural Education to supervise independent study/independent research or internship/career exploration projects during the January Interim Experience term.

Student Selection Criteria

Each course instructor shall establish selection criteria for his/her own off-campus January Interim Experience course and describe them in application materials.  Applications and acceptance deadlines will be provided by CICE by early April and instructors are asked to make every effort to comply with them.  Applicants for off-campus study programs should be in good academic standing at Gustavus. A minimum GPA of 2.75 is required for participation in off-campus study.

Who May Participate

• Regular students must register to take the Off-Campus January Interim Experience course for credit.  No student may participate in an off-campus January Interim Experience course who is not registered for the course.
• Persons who are not registered for the January Interim Experience course are prohibited from participating unless approval is obtained from the Director of CICE.  Faculty spouses are permitted to accompany the faculty member but will pay their own expenses except as noted below.  These arrangements must be discussed with the Director of CICE at the time of the faculty application for the program. 
• Faculty members wishing to include dependent children on Gustavus-led programs are required to include this information in their application to lead the program.  Special attention should be given to addressing the issues of child-care during the program and the cost of accompanying family members.

Back-up Policy

On all Gustavus Adolphus College faculty-led off-campus January Interim Experience, the Center for International and Cultural Education will guarantee the presence of support personnel.  The backup person is necessary in the event that an emergency situation often requires the faculty member to attend to the emergency and at the same time provide supervision for those in the group not affected by the emergency.  The choice of personnel will be made by the Director of CICE in consultation with the IDPC. The variables involved in determining appropriate support for an individual January Interim Experience program include but are not limited to the following:

• Presence of on-site support personnel, usually a provider at the host site.
• Possibility of a faculty mentee assigned to a particular January Interim Experience.
• Possibility of an accompanying person (spouse, retired faculty member, colleague).
• Potential impact on the program fee.
  In each case, the costs for support personnel will be covered by CICE development funds, increased program fee, or other funding sources. Responsibilities for support personnel will be articulated in a written statement at the time of the appointment. 

The CICE reserves the right to make all final decisions concerning appointments of off-campus January Interim Experience support personnel.  The following expenses will be covered for approved back up persons:

• Transportation
• Two meals/day
• Accommodation
• Admissions

Several policies govern students' involvement in off-campus study. For a complete list of student policies, please see the Student Off-Campus Study Policies page.

 

All material on the Information for Faculty pages is derived from the IDPC Program Manual approved by the faculty on May 5, 2008.