
Transatlantic Science Student Exchange Program
The Transatlantic Science Student Exchange Program links more than a dozen US universities with nearly twenty universities in the European
Community in an active effort to promote study abroad.
In this program, science students study their chosen discipline at an overseas university under an agreement which
ensures that they receive full credit at their home university for an arranged schedule of classes taken abroad.
Students pay tuition and fees at heir home university and thereby receive student status at the overseas university.
Goals of the program
Science has increasingly become international in scope, both in industry as well as in university and
government research laboratories. It is therefore essential that science students become familiar with foreign
cultures, languages and economic systems. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is through exchange
programs in which students spend a year abroad, living much like the students at the overseas university and
studying alongside them.
Study abroad programs have long been available to American students in the humanities and social sciences, while
the ERASMUS program has resulted in an enormous expansion in the mobility of students from all disciplines
within Europe.
The Transatlantic Science Student Exchange Program now seeks to achieve similar mobility between North
America and the European Community. Science students face unique problems because of the vertical structure of
the science curriculum, and the Transatlantic Science Student Exchange Program aims to foster robust exchange
that extends the benefits of study abroad to this group in particular by providing a sound basis for academic
recognition of scientific course work.
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The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)
Students achieve academic recognition in the exchange program by means of ECTS. Three elements
combine to define ECTS: Information exchanged between the Home and Host institutions, Recognition with
academic credit by the Home institution for student work at the Host institution, and a commitment on the part of
the student to a Learning Agreement which forms part of the uniform ECTS application.
Each participating institution provides an ECTS Information Package with a list of the classes offered, giving the
detailed content of each class and the workload in the form of ECTS credits. Additional information includes a
typical undergraduate course program for science majors in the specified field of study.
ECTS credits are based on the assignment of 60 credits to one full year's work at each university. This permits
each university to assign a credit rating to each of its classes on the basis of the total work required.
ECTS uses a common application form which includes a learning agreement, and provides a transcript of student
grades with a well-defined ECTS grade for each class taken.
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Advising of visiting
students
Students at the overseas university will be advised by the academic program coordinators and the study
abroad office.
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Course enrollment
Each student's curriculum is decided by prior agreement between the student, his or her advisor, and the
foreign university coordinator. This learning agreement, signed by the three parties, serves as a guarantee that
satisfactory completion of the course work will count toward fulfillment of the home institution graduation
requirements. Whether the home institution lists the grades in their transcripts, or uses them in determining the
grade point average, is up to the home university. Communication between the two universities is essential to
ensure that science and non-science courses can be made available as appropriate to the student's academic needs.
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Language preparation
It is expected that a student attending a university will have had at least two college years of training in the
appropriate language. Additional work or experience is desirable. Exceptions to this requirement can be made in
consultation with the foreign university advisor. Most of the partner universities offer intensive language programs
during a one or two month period prior to the beginning of the academic year. In general, the sending institution
is responsible for certifying the adequacy of the language preparation.
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Student housing
The host institution will provide help in finding appropriate housing for the foreign students. All housing
costs are born by the student.
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Participating Universities
European Community
- Université de Ličge, Belgium
- Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
- Université Joseph Fourier de Grenoble, France
- Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse, France
- Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany
- Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
- University of Ioannina, Greece
- Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
- Universitá degli Studi di Pavia, Italy
- Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
- Universidad del Pais Vasco, Bilbao (Spain)
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
- University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
- Lancaster University, United Kingdom
United States
- University of California at Santa Barbara
- University of Colorado, Boulder
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Purdue University, Indiana
- Michigan State University at East Lansing
- Cornell University, New York
- Duke University, North Carolina
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania
- Rice University, Texas
- Texas A& M University
- University of Texas at Austin
- University of Virginia at Charlottesville
- University of Washington at Seattle
- University of Wisconsin at Madison
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