Study Abroad Policies & Procedures

The Center for International Education (CIE) Study Abroad Office at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee serves hundreds of students each year, offering a broad range of study abroad opportunities relevant to many different fields of study.  These programs present unique opportunities for our students to enrich their academic experience.  They also pose challenges – administrative, financial, legal and logistical – that distinguish them in important ways from regular on-campus course offerings.  The present document is intended to create institutional policies and procedures that will clarify the rights, roles and responsibilities of students, faculty and staff involved in, or wishing to be involved in study abroad.  The present policies and procedures are part of a UWM campus-level implementation of UW-system administrative policies 145 and 810 and are in no way intended to countermand those system-level policies, by which they are, in any case, superseded.

1. Students

Section 1.01 – Procedure for Choosing and Applying for Study Abroad

1. Students approach an advisor or faculty member, to determine the viability of study abroad within the framework of their program of study.  Students may, of course, choose to contact the study abroad office first.  Study abroad advisors are careful to direct students to consult with academic advisors and/or program faculty before deciding on and applying for a study abroad or exchange program. 
2. Faculty members and advisors, upon determining there are viable study abroad options for the student, direct the student to meet with a CIE study abroad advisor to learn about application procedures, timelines and program requirements.  Except for the determination of academic eligibility criteria, and the academic review of applicants for acceptance into study abroad programs, both of which are subject to shared governance procedures, the administration of study abroad applications, and of the application process for study abroad programs is entirely the purview of CIE.  CIE will maintain application records and maintain contact with the academic programs it serves via a designated program faculty member. 

Section 1.02 – Student Participant Conduct During a Study Abroad Program

1. Study abroad and exchange students are minimally expected to abide by the same conduct guidelines provided by the Dean of Students for any students participating in any academic program.  Detailed information on expectations for student conduct, including academic and non-academic misconduct, can be found at the following website: https://uwm.edu/deanofstudents/conduct/student-conduct/
2. In addition to the normal conduct rules for students on the UWM campus, due to the special circumstances related to any given study abroad experience (such as culturally specific norms, legal differences, etc.), study abroad students will be expected to abide by any special rules related to their destination, or to the specific nature of their study abroad program, as delineated by CIE or by the specific program director, either prior to or during the study abroad or exchange program.   
3. Failure to follow regular student conduct rules, or any additional rules provided by either the CIE study abroad office, or the specific program coordinator, depending on the nature and/or frequency of the infraction(s), may result in student removal from the study abroad or exchange program.  The decision to remove a student from a faculty-led study abroad program will be made by the on-site program director (when applicable), in consultation with the study abroad director, or for programs where there is no UWM on-site personnel, by the study abroad director, or in the director’s absence, by someone specifically designated by the study abroad director.  Removal from a program may be for academic or non-academic reasons.   

Section 1.03 – Post-Study-Abroad Procedures

1. Students will be responsible for initiating any needed discussions with faculty and advisors to determine, where necessary, course and grade equivalences.
2. Any grade challenges for study abroad will follow the same procedures as any other grade challenges within the academic unit under which the study abroad or exchange program credits are being awarded. 

2. Faculty and Teaching Academic Staff Leading Study Abroad Programs

Section 2.01 – Eligibility

1. Any faculty or academic staff member is eligible to lead a study abroad program provided there is reasonable evidence that the faculty or academic staff in question has an appropriate level of expertise related to the academic field of focus for the program and/or the program destination.
2. Any faculty or academic staff member may propose a study abroad program. Approval procedures for such proposals must be established at the programmatic, departmental and school/college levels.  Once a program has been approved on these levels, it will be reviewed by appropriate CIE staff, who will submit it to the International Committee with their recommendation.  The International Committee will have the final approval authority. 

Section 2.02 – Staffing

1. Academic program faculty are charged with determining the staffing for study abroad programs offering credit in their curricular area.
2. For programs wishing to offer credit in multiple curricular areas, faculty in all curricular areas should be consulted, either by the faculty members from the academic program offering the study abroad program, when students will be enrolled in specific UWM courses during the program, or by individual students seeking credit in other curricular areas, when students will be enrolling in generic (X97) study abroad courses and transferring grades and credit from another institution.

Section 2.03 – Program Director Responsibilities

1. Study abroad programs are temporary extensions of the UWM campus.  Program directors are therefore bound by all the normal responsibilities of an employee in the UWM workplace, including assiduous presence, during the entirety of the program’s dates, at all scheduled group events related to the program, except when other event leadership has been arranged with a third-party provider or partner institution. 
2. Study abroad program directors bear further responsibilities unique to study abroad, and dependent on various individual programmatic features.  These further responsibilities include (but are not necessarily limited to):  
   1. Taking extra precautionary measures to ensure student safety. 
   2. Monitoring and correcting student behavior in relation to local cultural, business or legal practices. 
   3. Helping students to access the appropriate care when health-related issues arise. 
3.  Failure to meet the minimum obligations of a study abroad program director, as outlined here and as further described in the program director’s contract issued by CIE, may result in the revocation of a faculty member’s or academic staff member’s eligibility to lead future study abroad programs.   
4. Initial complaints of failure to meet program director responsibilities are to be brought to the attention of the study abroad director, and to the executive committee of the department in which the program is housed.  Both the executive committee and the study abroad director will issue a recommendation based on the evidence available.  The most extreme recommendation will be indefinite revocation of eligibility to lead future study abroad programs.  If any party receiving a complaint in this context believes that the complaint rises to a level higher than indefinite revocation of eligibility to lead future study abroad programs, then the complaint will be forwarded to the appropriate governance bodies (for faculty, Chapter 6, section A2.8, for academic staff, chapter 111).  If the originator of the complaint is the study abroad director, then the study abroad director will be invited to the departmental executive committee meeting to present the complaint, any investigative findings related to the complaint, and a recommendation.  The executive committee may accept or deny the study abroad director’s recommendation, or offer an alternate sanction, to which the study abroad director may respond.  In any case where study abroad director and the departmental executive committee cannot agree on findings or a recommendation, the case will be forwarded for arbitration by the International Committee. 

3. Administration of Study Abroad Programs

The Study Abroad Office in CIE, headed by a study abroad director, is responsible for the administration of study abroad and exchange programs, including reaching agreements with exchange partners and third party study-abroad providers, receiving and maintaining student applications to study abroad programs, promoting study abroad programs, being a point of contact for study abroad programs in progress, and liaising with academic units to develop plans for a study abroad program array that is both financially viable and meets the needs of students.

Section 3.01 – Creation of Study Abroad and Exchange Programs

1. Faculty or academic staff members wishing to create a study abroad or exchange program must first meet with the study abroad director to discuss the viability and placement of the potential program within the array of existing study abroad options.  This initial meeting is informational and will serve as neither an approval or a denial for creating the program proposal.  Proposers are, however, strongly cautioned against moving to the next step in the process if the study abroad director expresses strong doubts about the viability of the program.  If the potential proposal is perceived by the study abroad director as wholly or partially duplicating an existing program, then the proposer and the study abroad director will inform the academic unit of the existing program of the potential duplication, and all parties will communicate to resolve any potential conflicts that may arise from such duplication. 
2. After the initial meeting and viability analysis by the Study Abroad office, the proposer will submit the proposal within their home program or department, then to office of the Dean of their school or college (see 2.01(2) above), based on guidelines established by those entities, in order to establish that the program meets academic standards for awarding student credit. 
3. Once academic approval has been obtained, the Study Abroad office will analyze the proposed program for financial viability, and placement within the array of existing study abroad options.  If the Study Abroad office determines that the program is viable and fits into the existing array of study abroad and exchange offerings, then the program is approved.  If the Study Abroad office determines that time and resources should not be devoted to the program in question, and the proposer still wishes to offer the program despite this determination, then the study abroad director and the proposer will make their case in writing or in person before the International Committee, and a final determination of approval or denial for the program will be made by the International Committee. 

Section 3.02 – Elimination of Study Abroad or Exchange Programs

1. The study abroad director will create criteria for determining whether or not a program should continue to be offered.  These criteria will be presented to the International Committee for approval and revised as necessary.
2. Once criteria have been created, the study abroad director may use them to determine whether a program should be eliminated or maintained.   
3. If a program is to be eliminated, the study abroad director will notify the academic unit offering the program of this decision.   
4. The academic program will be allowed 30 days to appeal this decision to the International Committee.   
5. If the academic program does not appeal within the requisite 30 days, then the decision to eliminate is final.   
6. If the academic program does appeal, then the study abroad director and the academic unit will make their case in writing or in person before the International Committee, and the final determination of eliminating or maintaining the program will be made by the International Committee.