The Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) has awarded SDSU a $180,000 grant, with $120,000 to be used for study abroad scholarships.

The consortium will consist of Aston Business School, UK (EU lead partner), University of Mannheim Business School, Germany; San Diego State University (US lead partner); and Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA.  All partners in the consortium have top rankings in the area of Business and Management, and are committed to promoting international education and to offering students and staff the opportunity of studying or working overseas.

The main objective of the project, dubbed the Atlantis Program, is to increase opportunities for students to spend time studying within another culture, to live in a different community and to understand management issues from a new perspective. The aim of the project is to make students more employable as global managers, and for the participating institutions to benefit from the experience of diversity created, and the contribution that overseas students and faculty bring.  This, in turn, will have an effect on the curriculum of each of the participating institutions.

The Atlantis Program also aims to encourage academic and related staff to discuss new ideas about learning, as well as developing innovative approaches on issues such as support for international students. The project aims to consider strategic issues connected with student and staff mobility.  These will include:

• The most effective means of preparing students to study at an institution overseas, and of integrating students from overseas into the life of the host institution;
• Course equivalency between U.S. and E.U. institutions, and the difficulty of translating credits and grades across institutions.  This can have an inhibiting effect on students considering studying overseas, and creates problems for staff involved in international exchanges.
• Consideration of how the study abroad period leads to greater independence in students; whether it leads to greater employability after their degree; the benefits of studying abroad for a whole academic year, or for one semester only.
• Development of curricula which reflect transatlantic ethos and create global understanding.
• Development of innovative intercultural training/learning methodologies to help participating students develop as effective global managers.

The College of Business will be selecting several students each fall to participate in this program. Each student will receive a scholarship to attend either Aston University in the UK or University of Mannheim in Germany. The number of scholarships will be determined by the number of applicants. Students who participate in the German program must complete a minimum of one semester of German before they attend Mannheim. The following are some of the additional requirements that students who are selected to participate in the Atlantis Program must fulfill:

Pre-departure

• Participation in one face-to-face pre-departure orientation
• Additional pre-departure preparation, including self-directed assignments and participation in a program blog (online discussion group)
• Completion of a pre-departure inventory

While Abroad

• Submission of monthly one-page journal assignments (to correspond to questions provided) by email to program director

Re-Entry

• Completion of a re-entry inventory
• Participation in a re-entry interview

Assessment components:

• Quantitative: pre- and post-inventories
• Qualitative: evaluation of pre-departure blog and application essay, as well as journal assignments (portfolio) and re-entry interviews using the ACE/FIPSE rubric

Minority students are strongly encourage to apply

Please contact nkavanau@mail.sdsu.edu for any website-related issues.
© San Diego State University Last updated: April 10, 2012 11:36 AM.
"The statements found on this site were supplied by Teresa Donahue and are for informational purposes only. While every effort is made to ensure that this information is up to date and accurate, official information can be found in the university publications."