International Articulation Agreements:
Challenges and Benefits-- the American
University of Paris Case Study
CIAC Conference
Sacramento
26 April 2013
Bernie Day, Foothill College
Estela Narrie, Santa Monica College
Marc Monthéard, The American University of Paris
AUP Profile
 US institution created in 1962, located
exclusively in Paris
 From a two-year (associate degree) college
for sons and daughters of Europe-based US
troops to a full-fledge university (14 BA & BS
degrees and 9 MA programs) with 100
nationalities
 Accredited since 1973, certifying US $5.5
million in federal loans
AUP Profile
 1,000 students, 120 faculty and 90 staff
members and administration
 American model vs. European style of
education (student support, student life, …)
 85% are degree-seeking students vs. 15%
study abroad
 80% freshman vs. 20% transfer students
(undergrad. degree-seeking incoming class)
AUP Profile
 Transfer students: an interesting market for
four-yr. institutions which allows us to
compensate for natural attrition
 Community Colleges: an ideal market
 Mutual interest
 Less risky choice than freshman students
(selectivity on college-level performance)
AUP Strategy
Compensate our financial disadvantage
(expensive tuition and cost of living: 25,000€ +
15,000€/yr.)
 by our natural advantages (Paris, a TRUE
international experience) and
 by working AHEAD of time to ensure the
smoothest possible transfer procedure
Where to Start?
 Understanding regional specificities
 IGETC
 Problems with local transfers to state institutions
 Review our past transfer procedures and
identify problems faced by transfer students
at AUP
 Convince our faculty that this was a good
idea, worth their time
Challenges
 Fight pre-conceived ideas among our faculty
 Transfer guarantee = losing our ability to screen
admitted students
 Community colleges are not as good (reputable)
as four-year colleges
 Mostly professionally oriented students with
remedial level in traditional academic fields
More Challenges
 General Education: THE BIG PILL TO
SWALLOW
 Can anyone teach English Composition as well as
we do??????
 These bodies will never fill up OUR intro courses
(we will not have the opportunity to win them
over to OUR major)
 Their Elementary Statistics is not EXACTLY the
same as our Applied Statistics I!!
And…More Challenges
 Two-year learning process for me both in
California and at home
 Risk of losing people’s attention
 Never a top priority for overworked faculty
 Convince Community College partners (just
as overworked as my colleagues back home!)
that it is worth it … and that this is not going
to generate a huge amount of work for them
The perks of starting with California
 Our #1 recrutement state in
the US
 A well-structured General
Education program
 UC : a reassuring alibi
 A difficult local transfer
situation
 Patient partners who turned
out to be very generous with
their time and advice
Our Plan of Action
 Offer a guaranteed transfer agreement with
set criteria
 Establish for each institution an extensive list
of major prep courses with automatic
equivalencies
 Offer a student with 64 transferable credits,
the guarantee to FINISH in four straight
semesters under certain conditions
What Does It Take?
 A lot of work for the four-year institution
 A good working relationship with
Departmental Chairs, Curriculum Committee,
General Education Committee, Academic
Affairs
 Patience and perseverance
 Patience and perseverance….
 And more patience and perseverance!
SMC-AUP Agreement (1)
The articulation agreement creates a transfer program between Santa Monica
College (SMC) and The American University of Paris (AUP). This agreement is
designed for degree-seeking students enrolled at SMC interested in transferring
to the following programs at AUP:
- Art History
- Computer Science (ICT Track)
- Film Studies
- History
- IICP
- International Finance
- AH w/ Visual Culture Track
- Entrepreneurship
- Global Communication
- IB Administration
- International Economics
- Psychology
SMC students will be granted guaranteed transfer admission provided that the
following requirements are met:
SMC-AUP Agreement (2)
The student has received IGETC certification by the time s/he transfers to AUP.
The student has acquired a minimum of 45 UC/CSU transferable semester credits
at SMC by the time s/he transfers to AUP.
Her/his cumulative UC/CSU transferable Grade Point Average is equal or superior
to 3.0(“B”).
The student is in good disciplinary standing at SMC.
…
The AUP General Education requirements (with the exception of the French
requirement that will be evaluated will be considered as fulfilled so long as the
student will have received IGETC certification and will have completed English
Communication 1B with a minimum grade of “B”. by a test administered upon
arrival on campus) Please note that courses used to fulfill the IGETC certification
cannot be validated as a major preparatory course.
SMC-AUP Agreement (3)
SMC students who will qualify for the guaranteed transfer admission and who will
transfer 64 credits to AUP will have the guarantee to be able to complete a
Bachelor’s Degree within four semesters provided that, prior to their transfer,
they have successfully completed the minimum required major preparatory
courses as stated below:
Art History (4), Art History with a Visual Track (4) Entrepreneurship (3), Film
Studies (4 ), Global Communication (4 ), Information and Communication
Technologies(4) (International Business Administration (6 ), International and
Comparative Politics (4 ), International Economics (3 ) International Finance (4),
Psychology (4).
…
As a Title IV approved school, AUP administers and processes US federal loans
through the Direct Loan Program. American students at AUP have the option of
applying for federal Stafford and Parent PLUS loans based on standard application
requirements for these programs.
SMC-AUP Agreement (4)
American students also have the option of applying for the Sallie Mae Smart
Option private loan to bridge a gap in funding or to substitute for federal loan
money. AUP also awards tuition grants to transfer students based on a
combination of financial need (as determined by the FAFSA and AUP’s own
financial aid application) and academic strength (based on the application for
admission). Awards can range to as much as 30% or possibly even 50% of
tuition. In exceptional cases, transfer students may be eligible for AUP Scholar
Awards, carrying a 75% tuition abatement.
…
Example of a Major Prep List
FOOTHILL
AUP
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
ACTG 1A-B*
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING I &II
BA 2001
BUSI 22*
PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS
BA 2020
OR
BUSI 90A*
PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
BA 2020
MATH 10*
ELEMENTARY STATISTICS
MA1020
and up TO 4 courses among the following:
BUSI 53
SURVEY OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
BA 4000
BUSI 57
PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTIZING
BA 3036
BUSI 58
SURVEY OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
BA 3045
BUSI 59
PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
BA 2040
ACTG 1C
MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING
BA 2002
BUSI 18
BUSINESS LAW I
BA 3075
OR
BUSI 19
BUSINESS LAW II
BA 3075
ECON 1
PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS
EC 2010
ECON 2
PRINCIPLES OF MACROECONOMICS
EC 2020
* = required course for the garantee to be able to finish in 4 semesters
Application
Process
SMC STUDENTS RETENTION AT AUP
2003 to 2010
enrolled
22
graduated
18*
82%
stayed 1 sem
3
13,5%
stayed 2 sem
1
4,5%
* 1 continued on to receive a MA degree
Fall 2013 Admissions
(Santa Monica College and Foothill College)
Fall 2013 Santa Monica College Sophia
Accepted
Fall 2013 Santa Monica College Justice
Accepted
Fall 2013 Santa Monica College Elizabeth Application in Progress
Fall 2013 Santa Monica College Kathleen Deferred to Spring 2014
Fall 2013 Foothill College
Hilary
Confirmed
Transfer Pathway for CCC Students
A CCC student will expect to be able to complete their degree in
two years at your institution. Completion of the courses makes a
student eligible for admission and may or may not constitute a
guarantee of admission. However, coupled with completion of
coursework, knowledge of a GPA range of consideration helps
motivate students to apply for admission.
In California, there is the Intersegmental General Education
Transfer Curriculum (IGETC). This general education (GE) pattern is
accepted by all California public universities to satisfy lower
division general education requirements. In addition, many
private, out-of-state and international schools also accept IGETC to
fulfill GE requirements.
Transfer Pathway for CCC Students
Our IGETC pattern can be found at the following
link: http://www.smc.edu/projects/26/igetc.pdf
It would be helpful to our students if you would consider accepting
the IGETC to fulfill your lower division GE requirements.
Our students often are uncertain where they want to transfer and
follow the IGETC to keep their options open. The following link will
take you to the IGETC Standards, which details the purpose of
IGETC, how courses are approved for IGETC and course guidelines.
http://icas-ca.org/Websites/icasca/images/IGETC_Standards_Final_version_1.4.pdf
The Web Sites
http://www.smc.edu/projects/26/International_Schools/john_cabot_university_
rome_italy.pdf ;
http://www.smc.edu/StudentServices/TransferServices/AreasofStudy/Document
s/International_Schools/american_university_of_paris.pdf;
http://www.smc.edu/StudentServices/TransferServices/AreasofStudy/Document
s/International_Schools/city_university_london.pdf give examples of
articulation agreements that reflects general education distribution
requirements (based on IGETC) and major requirements that can be completed
at Santa Monica College prior to transfer. This would be a recommended model
to create with your institution. Your faculty can see all SMC course offerings at
the online catalog:
http://www2.smc.edu/catalog/2012-2013/12-13_catalog_part_3.pdf . If more
detail is required, you can find course outlines of record at
http://www.curricunet.com/SantaMonica/. No password is needed. Simply click
on “courses” on the left side and search by discipline.
Articulation Agreements
SMC maintains numerous major articulation agreements with public universities
in the state of California, like UC Berkeley and UCLA. These major articulation
agreements prepare the students to enter these universities at the junior (third)
year with knowledge equivalent to students that started the university at the
freshman (first) year. To view these agreements, check:
http://www.assist.org/web-assist/SMCC.html
Other helpful information to include in an agreement is:
Minimum GPA required for admission or admission consideration.
Specific number of minimum units required for admission and maximum
number of units accepted in transfer (if different).
Application timeline
Other Considerations
Non-“American system” colleges and universities
•Time to degree
•Transferability of credit
•Academic and student development support
•Assessing curriculum quality
Additional “American” Educational
Opportunities Abroad
Institutions
Literature
Additional resources
Comments or Questions? Contact Us!
NARRIE_ESTELA@smc.edu
daybernie@fhda.edu
mmontheard@aup.edu