|
| Overseas Programs and Partnerships |
|
APPLICATION STEPS
The deposit, transcripts and acadmic advisor form MUST be turned into the OPP office, Pearse Hall 166 by October 1 , 2008 for Spring 2009 and October 15, 2008 for Winterim 2009 programs. The application deadline for Fall 2009 and Academic Year 2009/2010 is March 1, 2009. The deadline to apply for Summer 2009 is March 15 2009. We will not accept late application materials. Additional information for students participating on a non-UWM program Maintaining contact while abroad Like many student services on university campuses today, OPP is a self-supporting office. This means that OPP would not exist without charging program fees to students. The program fee charged is the same for all UWM students on study abroad programs, regardless of whether it is a UWM-sponsored program or not. This fee is based on the duration of your study abroad program, currently $200.00 (short-term/summer/winterim); $450.00 (semester); and $900.00 (academic year). In addition, the UW System Board of Regents has mandated that all students from UW System campuses must be covered by comprehensive health insurance chosen by the UW System. This insurance is provided through the Cultural Insurance Services International (CISI) Company at a cost of $31.00 per month. You will be asked to pay this fee prior to your registration and departure.
SERVICES I WILL NEED FROM THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION, OVERSEAS PROGRAMS AND PARTNERSHIPS OFFICE The Center for International Education, Overseas Programs and Partnerships (CIE/OPP) is the UWM office providing services to all UWM students planning to study abroad, whether on a UWM-sponsored program or on a non-UWM program. OPP will assist you in planning academically for your non-UWM study abroad program, maintaining your UWM registration during the semester(s) of your absence, facilitating your financial aid eligibility, following the proper procedures for you to obtain transfer or "pre-approved" credit, and in submitting your program transcript for transfer credit evaluation at the end of the program. OPP's pre-approval of transfer credit from another university's study abroad program does not constitute endorsement of the program.
VERIFY PROGRAM CREDIT TRANSFER Before making a final decision on a non-UWM study abroad program, make an appointment with a study abroad advisor in OPP, located in Pearse Hall #166, by calling 414-229-5182. The advisor will review the academic quality of the program with you, help you to ask the questions necessary to determine if the program will meet your academic goals and expectations, and assist in determining whether the credits will transfer back to UWM and count towards your degree. Two conditions are essential if your program is to be eligible for transfer credit. First, UWM's Department of Enrollment Services must recognize the institution at which you plan to study as an accredited, degree-granting institution of higher education. (Thus, for example, study at a language institute typically would not generate transfer credit). The OPP office has a reference book that lists thousands of accredited institutions worldwide. Second, the host institution must issue an official transcript or the foreign equivalent to document your study. If you are unsure whether your overseas study will yield transfer credit, consult the study abroad advisor in OPP, or the sponsoring university directly.
REGISTRATION AND FEES FOR NON-UWM STUDY ABROAD There is a special course registration number for non-UWM study abroad programs. It is a zero credit, zero tuition course that will keep you registered at UWM while you are studying overseas. For students receiving financial aid, this registration will be recognized by the Financial Aid Office as denoting full-time enrollment and will prevent loan “repayment status” while you are away. However, you must maintain FULL-TIME enrollment on your study abroad program. All students will also receive continuing registration privileges without having to file a UWM re-entry application and without having to provide transcripts from your overseas program to prove eligibility before registration. OPP will process your course registration after program fees have been paid.
The University of Wisconsin System (UWS) has mandated a specific health insurance policy for all students studying abroad. You must purchase the UWS insurance through OPP, regardless of any other insurance coverage you have or need to purchase as part of your program. The only exception would be if you are attending another UW System school that is providing this coverage as part of their program. The insurance coverage currently costs $31/month. OPP considers this a good comprehensive policy. Copies of the policy are available in the office.
MEETING WITH YOUR ACADEMIC ADVISOR: Credits taken abroad on a non-UWM sponsored program will return as transfer credit. As soon as you have been accepted to an overseas program, bring your acceptance letter to OPP. The OPP Study Abroad Advisor will approve the program for credit transfer. If available, bring descriptions of the courses you want to take abroad to your academic advisor. Ask your advisor to outline what remaining courses you have to take to be eligible for graduation and to meet the requirements of your major. Show your advisor the course descriptions from the overseas program and ask for his/her opinion on the proposed coursework. Have your academic advisor sign the “Academic Advising Form” in this packet. This verifies that you have met with your academic advisor. You must review the proposed courses carefully. Be sure to note the following: 1) Avoid repetition of courses already taken; make sure that the courses to be transferred will not be considered the equivalent to previous work. 2) Be careful with prerequisites; if the transferred course is the equivalent to a course more advanced than what you have taken, or has prerequisites that you have yet to take, you might not be able to backtrack and take the lower course for credit here. 3) Be sure you understand before you leave which courses will satisfy which specific requirements for the GER, your school or college requirements, or for your major; you might wind up with a lot of elective credit that will not meet specific degree requirements. Note that this applies even with credit transferred from other UW System campuses; UWM will accept the credit toward graduation, but may not necessarily consider the courses as satisfying degree requirements. MEETING WITH FACULTY ADVISORS FOR COURSE PRE-APPROVAL: In addition to the Academic Advising form, you will need your courses pre-approved by the departments. The final approval is given by the department chair or designated faculty advisor of each of the proposed areas of study (ie- English, History, Math). In the Professional Schools (Business, Fine Art, Engineering) the course approvals may be done through the Director of Academic Advising. Take the Course Pre-approval Form (available in OPP) to get the department signatures. The Course Pre-approval Form serves as a guide to you and faculty, both before your departure and after your return to UWM. Note that the faculty advisor may not be able to give you an ironclad guarantee of credit before your departure if the course description is insufficient. Faculty can, however, indicate that your expectations concerning credit appear to be realistic. They can also provide guidelines for selecting your overseas courses, as well as advice on what coursework you need to bring back to UWM for evaluation, which will help you avoid credit transfer problems upon your return to UWM. This process may need to be repeated when you return with transcripts to UWM in order to obtain final approval of the courses or if you took different courses for which you have no prior approval. Make sure that OPP has a copy of the pre-approval form once it has been signed by the department(s). This will remain as part of your file and serve as a guide for your transfer of credit. Getting pre-approval in writing is very important. Verbal assurances given by program personnel are not binding and may be misleading. TRANSFER CREDIT WILL NEVER BE PART OF YOUR UWM GPA. This is true for any student transferring credits from another U.S. or foreign university.
Financial aid recipients must bring in a written statement of program costs associated with the program in order to have your UWM financial aid applied to your study abroad program. The OPP office will supply a BUDGET to the Financial Aid Department based on the information you bring in. Without a budget on file you will be unable to receive your aid. You will also be required to send a CONSORTIUM AGREEMENT to the educational institution sponsoring your overseas program. The sponsoring institution agrees that it will not be furnishing you with financial aid and that you will be enrolled FULL-TIME while overseas. Your UWM financial aid will not be disbursed until this Consortium Agreement is signed and returned. It is your responsibility to send it to the sponsoring institution and follow through with its arrival to the UWM Financial Aid Department. You may also need to meet with an advisor in Financial Aid before traveling overseas. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU REMAIN ENROLLED FULL-TIME WHILE ON YOUR OVERSEAS PROGRAM to ensure that your aid will not be reduced and that the aid given will not have to be repaid.
REGISTRATION FOR THE SEMESTER AFTER YOUR PROGRAM You can choose one of two options to secure registration for the semester after your return: You can register on-line using PAWS from anywhere in the world. Ask your academic advisor about how this would work for you. Talking with your academic advisor before you leave about the courses you need to graduate will help you to have a well-organized list of classes to choose from while you are overseas. Wait to register for classes upon your return to UWM. Please be advised that this option may mean that you miss the priority registration period, making it more difficult for you to receive the classes you need. You should change your official address using PAWS. The new address will be where all of your official UWM mail will be sent, including financial aid checks and registration forms. Make the change effective the date you leave the U.S. IMPORTANT PREDEPARTURE INFORMATION AND ARRANGEMENTS TO MAKE OPP has information on obtaining passports, whether a visa is needed, health precautions through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), State Department travel warnings, inexpensive airfares, travel tips and train passes, hostels, etc. This information can be found in the study abroad library in Pearse Hall 166. Although OPP can guide you to resources for making travel arrangements, it is your responsibility to follow through with the logistics and paper work necessary for your study abroad program. Check before you leave on deadlines for registration, financial aid applications, dorm reservations, or housing arrangements. Also make sure that you check PAWS to determine if you have any holds on your record. If you owe money to UWM (tuition, library fine, etc), you cannot register for your study abroad program and will not be able to register for future semesters at UWM. WHAT DO I NEED TO DO WHILE OVERSEAS TO ASSURE CREDIT? 1. Documenting academic work: Keep your course syllabi, term papers, graded exams, even lecture and reading notes, in order to document your overseas learning. This is a wise policy regardless of whether or not the faculty signing your pre-approval course form has requested such items. For example, even if there is no question about whether a particular course will transfer to UWM, you may still need the documentation in order to have the course accepted at the upper division level or to fulfill a specific requirement. If the syllabus and other course materials seem inadequate, ask for a written description of the course from your professor. Bring the most important of these materials with you on the plane home; do not trust the international mail for essential, irreplaceable items. Transcript: If your program is sponsored by a U.S. university or college or by a foreign university, request in writing that the institution send an official transcript of your work to: Overseas Programs and Partnerships Center for International Education University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee P.O. Box 413/ Pearse Hall 166 Milwaukee, WI 53201 If you are directly enrolled in a foreign university, you may ask that the transcript or its equivalent be given to you directly. Some educational systems generate a record quite unlike an American transcript; for example, a separate certificate from each course sometimes constitutes the official record. Regardless of what it looks like, you must obtain that particular system's nearest equivalent to an official, original transcript. The seal on the official transcript must be the seal of the university you are attending. If you have any questions about this process or what the document should be, ask the study abroad advisor in OPP.
MAINTAIN CONTACT WITH THE STUDY ABROAD ADVISOR WHILE YOU ARE ABROAD Be sure to contact the Study Abroad Advisor upon your "settling in" overseas. The Study Abroad Advisor can assist you in contacting the proper Departments on campus to receive approval. There is an address form as part of this packet that can be faxed back to your advisor. The Study Abroad Advisor is available if your immediate family has questions regarding UWM administration or assistance with financial aid. Please keep in mind that it is against Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Acts (FERPA) for the Advisor to release specific information without your prior approval in writing.
1) Change your address as soon as you return so that you begin receiving your mail from UWM directly. 2) Make an appointment with the study abroad advisor in OPP to review your overseas program. Once OPP has received your transcript, then we can determine how the credit has transferred back to UWM. Unless you have a pre-approval form on file, all the courses will transfer as elective credit. If you want a specific UWM course equivalent, you will then take your detailed academic information (syllabi, reading list, etc.) to the department chair (or designated undergraduate faculty advisor) of each academic department in which you took courses while overseas. After the department has evaluated the credit and if it agrees the credit is equivalent to a UWM course, the faculty advisor can give final approval and equivalency to the UWM course. OPP will assist you with this process, but much of the legwork and meeting with the departments will be your responsibility. 3) Be sure to ask how you can continue your international experience once you return to UWM! The Study Abroad Library has plenty of information on work abroad, travel, volunteering overseas and future programs. Take advantage of your new skills, and apply them to your interests.
Please remember that OPP is here to help you enjoy your overseas program, while ensuring that all goes as planned! Do not hesitate to call with any questions or concerns; the sooner our office is aware of potential problems, the sooner the problems can be resolved without affecting your coursework or UWM eligibility!
|
TEL: 414-229-3757
FAX: 414-229-3626
