Applications for off-campus programs increased by 8.9 percent this year, with a significant bump in exchange program applications, executive director of Dartmouth’s Frank J. Guarini Institute for International EducationJohn Tansey wrote in an e-mail.
With the Feb. 1 application deadline now passed, the number of applications for off-campus programs totaled 1,258 for the upcoming 2015-16 academic year, compared to the 1,155 received by last Feb. 1, he said.
While off-campus programs cancelled certain programs recently — including a German language study program in Berlin and an Arabic language study abroad in Tangier, Morocco — due to a lack of committed interest, the College has also developed new programs for the upcoming year to meet student interest. These programs included a film foreign study program in Los Angeles that began in winter 2014 and an exchange term in Cuba that will start next fall.
Off-campus programs saw a significant increase in the number of applications to exchange programs. While 182 students applied to exchange programs for the 2014-15 academic year, this year’s figure reached 232, a 27.5 percent boost from last year, Tansey said.
The College provides a variety of exchange programs, but a majority of the applications were concentrated in three of the most popular programs, he said.
Tansey said that 77 percent of exchange program applications were submitted for study at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, Keble College at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
The new exchange program based in Cuba through the Casa de las Américas — a Cuban organization dedicated to developing socio-cultural relations between Cuba and the rest of the world — and the University of Havana will launch its trial run next fall.
Associate dean of the faculty for international and interdisciplinary studies Lynn Higgins said that “there are more applications than there are spaces” for both the fall and winter terms of the Cuban exchange program.
FSP, LSA and LSA+ programs received 1,026 applications, a 5.4 percent increase from the 973 applications for the 2014-15 academic year, Tansey said.
Higgins said that they must wait to see how many students actually enroll in the programs before they determine if any programs will be cancelled.
Though some off-campus programs in France have been threatened with cancellation in recent years, French and Italian department chair Andrea Tarnowski said that off-campus programs received a substantial amount of applications to programs in both France and Italy.
Tarnowski noted that the number of applications reflects a joint effort by professors and students who have previously participated in the programs. She said that the department made a big effort in introductory courses to promote abroad programs.
“Instructors and student alumni are doing a good job of encouraging applications, and I think students are responding well to the opportunities because they really are great programs,” Tarnowski said.
Despite recent cancellations, including that of the Tangier FSP, Asian and Middle Eastern studies department chair Jonathan Smolin wrote in an email that the new LSA+ program in Rabat is ready for a summer launch. Smolin, who will be leading the program over the summer, said that department received 24 applications.
As student interest evolves, Higgins said it is necessary to assess the value of each program to determine where there is success and room to develop new programs.
“We are always creating new programs and evaluating and assessing the continued relevance of existing programs,” Higgins said.
Tansey said that off-campus programs works in partnership with academic departments, the Dean of Faculty’s office and the committee for off-campus activities to determine which programs will run.
Certain programs continue to accept applications past the Feb. 1 deadline, including the German studies FSP in Berlin for fall 2015, the AMES/women and gender studies FSP in Hyderabad, India for winter 2015 and the AMES FSP in Morocco for spring 2016.
