A new transfer term policy will limit the number of students permitted to participate in a particular transfer program to an average of five and will require all interested students to submit applications, according to Committee on Instruction Chair Hakan Tell. The COI implemented changes to the College's policy to ensure that transfer programs are academically rigorous and fulfill individual student needs not met at the College, he said.
Former COI chair and psychology professor Catherine Cramer said that the committee decided to review the transfer term policy after the Office of the Registrar noticed an increase in the number of students over 100 in recent years pursuing transfer terms.
"We are trying to do two things one is to encourage students to be thoughtful about the way transfer terms enhance their education, and the second is to be clear about what are programs associated with Dartmouth and what are not," she said.
Tell said that most students' academic needs can be satisfied through Dartmouth's curriculum and the College's off-campus programs and exchange offerings.
"When you go outside of all of those frameworks, we want to make sure you go for academic reasons," he said. "In the past, we have seen that there are up to 60 or 70 students going on some of these transfer terms where it seems that the decision-making process has more to do with social concerns rather than academic concerns."
Cramer said that the COI began reviewing transfer terms in fall 2011, and the Registrar updated its policies on its website in spring 2012. The committee did not consider safety or financial concerns in changing the policy.
The subcommittee reviewing student applications will include Tell, Registrar Meredith Braz and a representative from the Committee on Off-Campus Activities, Tell said.
The number of students allowed to attend a particular transfer term is "not written in stone," he said. However, the committee chose to set the cap at five to inform students that participating in a transfer term should be an individual decision.
"I have a hard time thinking that there would be 20 students at Dartmouth that have compelling academic reasons to go on the same program to the same place and that we don't offer courses through our offerings that satisfy their academic needs," he said.
Mahala Pagan '14 completed a transfer term at the University of Sydney during Winter term with approximately 25 other Dartmouth students, including some of her friends. Pagan said that traveling with familiar students provided her a sense of camaraderie and safety.
"I don't know what I would have done in Sydney with only four other kids that I knew," she said. "When you are going out at night at these places, you want to be out with a few friends."
Rennie Song '15, who is applying to study at the University of Otago or the University of Sydney next term, said she would be concerned about traveling in a foreign country with only several other Dartmouth students, particularly given that at least 15 students embark together on the College's foreign study programs.
"I feel like students would rather not study abroad at all and not be able to take advantage of such an amazing experience rather than be amongst four of their peers in a completely foreign location," she said.
Concerned that she and other students would not be able to attend their proposed transfer term, Song created and circulated a student petition on Facebook asking the College to postpone and potentially eliminate its policy, she said. As of press time, 266 students had signed the petition.
"It's ridiculous that they would put that in place without telling us at least months in advance," she said.
Song is a member of The Dartmouth Business Staff.
French and Italian department chair Graziella Parati said she supports the new policy because the focus of transfer terms should be on an individual's learning and the exploration of a new location.
"A large group could interpret the time abroad as a group vacation that will not engender interaction with a different culture," she said.
Parati said she prefers that French and Italian students participate in Dartmouth off-campus programs rather than independent programs because the College plans and reviews the academic structure of the programs with the goal that students have the best cultural and academic experiences.
"We don't know as much about other colleges' programs that, very often, do not have a faculty person from the mother institution and therefore have a very different structure from our programs," she said.
According to some students, however, the College does not offer enough off-campus programs to satisfy student needs. Some departments do not offer off-campus programs, and many students do not gain admission to the programs to which they apply, Song said.
Alex Stockton '15, who went on the film and media studies FSP during summer 2012, said that his program was "very much a Dartmouth experience." While a smaller traveling group may be better for a transfer term if students want to experience something Dartmouth does not offer, the choice between restricted transfer terms and Dartmouth-organized off-campus programs could limit student opportunities, he said.
"Maybe this means there should be some third type of program that allows many Dartmouth students to come together and go study and learn somewhere else proposed and created by Dartmouth students," he said.
The new transfer term application process, which asks students to think about how a transfer term would fit into their academic plan, will help the committee learn if Dartmouth's off-campus programs are not meeting student needs, according to Cramer.
"If we need to have an exchange program with the University of Sydney, then maybe we should formalize that," she said. "If there is sufficient demand for more or different programs in Barcelona, then that's worth knowing."
Many students planned to participate in popular transfer term programs said they found the lack of notice and minimal publicity about the policy change stressful.
Emily Uniman '15, who is applying to study in New Zealand or Australia, said she was taken aback by the new policy.
"I had assumed it was relatively easy to go on these programs, which is why I did not spend much time this summer getting things together," she said. "Then I come back this fall and find this new policy was instated, and it really stressed me out."
Tell said that the policy will be in review for one year while the COI, Committee on Off-Campus Activities and Registrar determine criteria and potentially make revisions based on how well the policy changes work.
Deadlines to apply for transfer terms will be added this year following the implementation of the policy, Cramer said.
If the COI subcommittee is unsure about whether to allow Dartmouth credit for a transfer term or if more than five students have compelling academic reasons to go on the same program, the full committee will deliberate, Tell said. The COI will also act as the final arbiter in disputes if students challenge the decision of the subcommittee.
While students can still participate in off-campus programs not approved by the committee, they will not earn academic credit, Tell said. Previously, departments would pre-approve transfer term classes and clear their intentions with the Registrar.
Students unable to incorporate a College-run program into their Dartmouth Plan and those who are rejected from an FSP or language study abroad program will have their situation considered in subcommittee review, Tell and Cramer said.
Uniman said she decided to pursue a transfer term in New Zealand or Australia after she was rejected from the anthropology FSP in New Zealand.
"The focus of the FSP is in large part studying the Maori people," she said. "Because I'm still really into anthropology and getting that opportunity to study these types of people, I thought I would apply for a transfer term."
Some students also cited the February deadline for application to Dartmouth's off-campus programs as an inconvenience.
Pagan, who completed a transfer term during her sophomore year, said she was not prepared to apply to Dartmouth's off-campus programs during her freshman year.
Tell said that the new policy is not meant to affect the number of students who study abroad.
"We want the students to have a large global footprint," he said. "We want to encourage students to go abroad, but we want to make sure it is done in such a way that the courses and the credits they bring back home are comparable to a Dartmouth education."
Keith Hamren '15, however, said that the new policy might prevent him from studying abroad or compel him to seek an internship as a sophomore, which is less likely to lead a job offer than an internship pursued later. Hamren said he planned pursue a winter transfer term at the University of Sydney, where he could take English-language courses that counted toward his economics major.
"Since I'm a football player, we really can only take off in the winter," he said. "I was hoping I could do a transfer program this winter and take some classes toward my major and junior winter I would be able to intern."
Uniman also said she thinks the policy's implementation will discourage students from exploring options abroad.
"It just seems that Dartmouth prides itself on it being so easy to go abroad and do something you want, whether it's through Dartmouth or not," she said. "This policy being such short notice limits us and doesn't let us fulfill that part of Dartmouth."
