Kennetra Irby
Participation
Statistics:
2007-08
These are
Study Abroad
Office statistics,
which do not
include a small
program run by
the Summer
School or those
offered by
professional
schools, notably
Kenan-Flagler
Business School:
1,378 students participated, an increase
of 30 students
from 2006-07.
707 students
participated in
semester-long
programs, 51
percent of the
total.
Average GPA
of students
admitted to
study abroad
programs
was 3. 4.
67 percent
were female.
26 percent
were from
outside North
Carolina ( 18
percent of students are from
out of state).
18 percent
identified themselves as nonwhite (though
about one-fourth
declined to
answer this);
about 27 percent of UNC
students are
nonwhite.
Eve Mc Turk
Clockwise from top
left, Anneliese
Gegenheimer, stand-
ing on the Great
Wall, pledged to not
speak English while
in China; Kennetra
Irby discovered a pro-
gram in Central
America that incor-
porated medical
anthropology and
Spanish; Eve Mc Turk,
at left, skipped over
the more popular
western Europe pro-
grams and went to
Budapest through a
third-party provider;
Carly Brantmeyer
found an affordable
alternative in an
N.C. State-UNC part-
nership for her study
in Ghana.
PHOTOS COURTESY
OF GEGENHEIMER,
IRBY, MCTURK AND
BRANTMEYER
exchange for student enrollment — travel
for study abroad officials, bonuses and commissions on student fees, and funds for marketing the programs to students. Those kinds
of arrangements may be unethical, as they
could limit students’ program choices and
could drive up prices. In August 2007, the
New York attorney general’s office began
investigating agreements between providers
and universities that may have unfairly influenced study abroad officials.
Two such providers used by UNC —
the Institute for Study Abroad at Butler
University and the Institute for International
Education of Students — were subpoenaed.
But, Miles said, “essentially nothing has
changed [in Carolina’s relationships] because
nobody thought anything needed to be
changed. We didn’t have any exclusive contracts with any one provider or providers.
Nobody here in this office was receiving
under-the-counter payments. To put it simply, our relationship with third-party
providers has been transparent and within
the framework of normal business practice,
and therefore our relationship with IIES and
IFSA-Butler has not changed.”
Miles says his office’s restrictions on the
third-party programs for which students can
receive academic credit are based solely on
the academic credibility and safety of these
programs.
“This is about the award of UNC-Chapel Hill credit, and we will not allow a
student to go on any old program.”
All programs offered through the Study
Abroad Office must be vetted and approved
by the office, then the administrative board
of the College of Arts and Sciences, based
on academic and safety criteria. But there
are some aggressive and unapproved study
abroad providers who advertise on campus,
and some UNC students have gone on
those programs expecting to receive academic credit from UNC.
Only students who participate in programs listed as approved by the University
are eligible to receive course credit and
financial aid.
Although academic credit varies widely
from program to program, UNC students
should expect to receive 12 to 18 hours’
credit for a semester program, 24 to 32
hours for a yearlong program, and three to
nine hours for a summer program. All classes
abroad must be taken for an actual grade,
and students must make an equivalent grade
