GPA Decision Reflects Evolution to Study Abroad

Author: Claire Bourne

The faculty's recent decision to figure all study abroad marks into student grade point averages (GPA) is one piece of a much larger puzzle that came together last fall when the Educational Affairs Committee (EAC) drafted a comprehensive report addressing study abroad policy. The six-part document offered an overview of the College's study abroad practices and presented recommendations intended to tailor rules governing Junior year abroad to recent trends in overseas study.
Middlebury College's study abroad program has evolved by leaps and bounds over the past two decades. Not only are more students spending half or all of their third year off the College's Vermont campus, but many of them are traveling to countries and institutions that did not factor into the study abroad picture in the early 80s. According to the EAC report, 106 students studied at Middlebury programs and 88 chose non-Middlebury programs during the 1984-85 academic year. Last year, 63.6 percent of Juniors studying abroad embarked on non-Middlebury programs while 36.4 percent attended C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad.
The increased number of study abroad options, while seemingly embraced by students, has raised concern among the faculty that some of their advisees are attending foreign universities about which the College knows relatively little. Consequently, the faculty argues, it is difficult to hold these institutions accountable for the level of education Middlebury students receive there. Requiring all study abroad grades to be factored into students' GPAs is one attempt to ensure that those studying overseas, and especially those who do not fall under the purview of a Middlebury program, take the academic dimension of their experience seriously.
In the early 80s, students wishing to study in an English-speaking country found themselves in the British Isles. Today, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have become red-hot destinations, a development that has some questioning students' reasons for traveling to these southern hemisphere nations. Director of Off-Campus Study David Macey confirmed that, while academic performance of those studying on non-Middlebury programs was comparable to that of students studying under the auspices of C.V. Starr or partner schools, there were still "more students getting lower grades in Australia and New Zealand."
The debate concerning study abroad grades at the Dec. 9, 2002, faculty meeting centered around the logic of counting grades at Middlebury Schools Abroad and not at other institutions. "If we don't count grades [from non-Middlebury programs], these institutions are perceived as not being on the same level as Middlebury College," said Associate Dean of the Faculty and Professor of German Michael Geisler.
The EAC's initial proposal called for all study abroad grades to be displayed on students' transcripts. However, an amendment brought to the floor and accepted during the December meeting took the language one step further to require these grades to be factored into students' GPAs. This decision is even more significant given plans to begin printing students' GPAs on official Middlebury College transcripts, a practice that up until now has been impeded by the College's current AS/400 computer system. According to Secretary of the College Eric Davis, transcripts reflecting overall and semester GPAs will appear in January 2004 after Banner, the new student information computer system, has been fully implemented.
Student Co-chair of Community Council Ben LaBolt '03 said that he and Student Government Association (SGA) President Ginny Hunt '03 supported the EAC's original proposal to display all study abroad grades on official transcripts. This measure, he maintained, would be enough to "hold students accountable" for their academic performance overseas. Factoring these marks into GPAs, he continued, does not make sense given that students engage in different types of learning while abroad. "Someone studying on a program in Africa is going to be graded differently from someone studying at the London School of Economics," he said.
Macey explained that all grades earned from non-Middlebury programs and institutions would be converted to reflect the College's educational standards.
Department chairs were commissioned with the task of preparing a list of suitable study abroad institutions for majors or minors intending to study overseas. This move concerns LaBolt and Hunt, who are convinced it will limit the number of study abroad options currently available to rising Juniors. "We need to maintain choice in programs," said LaBolt.
As the Faculty prepares to tackle other initiatives outlined in the EAC's report, Hunt is prepared to fully involve herself in upcoming discussions on the topic. She and LaBolt will suggest a two-year review of the new GPA policy at Monday's faculty meeting. More importantly, they will present a proposal for universal portable financial aid to the Board of Trustees on Friday. Currently, only students studying at C.V. Starr Schools are eligible for financial aid. Passage of the SGA's proposal would extend this benefit to all financial aid recipients, regardless of where they are studying. If other institutions are treated equally when it comes to grading, said Hunt, they should be treated equally in the eyes of the Financial Aid Office.