Faculty Handbook

Ordering study abroad course sections

It is your responsibility to "order" the study abroad sections of courses at least six months before your program begins. Summer participants will generally begin enrolling during the second week of March.

Follow the usual on-campus course section scheduling process.  To create the section, contact the colleges/departments that offer courses on your program. When ordering these study abroad sections, you will be asked for the course dates.  The begin date should reflect the first class meeting and the end date must reflect the due date of the final assignment. If you chose to have students submit papers after they return home, this date will be later than the on-site program end date.  “Trans-semester courses” with dates that fall into two semesters will be assigned to the semester in which the majority of calendar days occur.  A trans-semester course cannot last more than 16 weeks unless it is approved for extended term (ET) grading.

As an example, consider a program in Durban, South Africa that lasts July 1 – August 15 on-site and requires that the students submit their final papers by September 15.  In this case, the course dates are July 1 – September 15.  This is a good choice of an end date since the majority of the calendar days occur during summer.  If the final assignment was due October 30, the course would be considered a fall semester course. 

To continue with this example:  In order to notify the Registrar that you won’t be submitting grades until after September 15th, request that your college or department scheduling officer notify the Registrar with wording such as:  “Study abroad program takes place in Durban, South Africa July 1 – August 15.  Final assignments are due by September 15th.”  This notation will be indicated on the Schedule of Courses so students will clearly understand the dates.  As on campus, you will be required to submit grades 72 hours following the course end date.

Winter Break Study Abroad Semester Assignment Rule:  Study abroad courses scheduled to begin after the last class day of fall semester and ending (with all assignments/exams completed) before the first day of spring semester will be scheduled as spring semester subterms. The winter break exception that classifies the course as a spring course requires that the course not cross semester dates.  If it does, a count of the trans-semester dates is done to determine the appropriate semester.  If there are more course dates in December and January, it will be considered a fall semester course.  Therefore, since all winter break program courses must count as spring semester courses, ensure that the majority of your course dates occur during spring semester.  We recommend an end-date no later than February 20th.

Fall and spring semester programs that offer MSU courses also require special consideration.  If a fall semester course is shorter than 15 weeks or a spring semester course is shorter than 16 weeks, it requires Dr. Dugald McMillan’s prior approval.  Courses cannot be scheduled for more than 16 weeks (17 weeks in the spring, including the week of spring break).  The only exceptions are for MSU courses approved for ET grading and MSU courses taught by contracted non-MSU faculty teaching at their home university on that institution’s calendar.

There are three reasons why it is important to have study abroad sections for your courses:

1. It allows you to adjust the dates to fit your academic and program requirements;
2. When designated as study abroad sections, the tuition funds are channeled into the OSA account and therefore, are available to cover the costs of the program instructional expenses such as the program leader salary, classroom rental, guest speakers, etc. If the courses are not designated with study abroad sections, the funds enter the normal university funds and may not be available for the program expenses; and
3. By having all study abroad students in study abroad sections, both your college and OSA can track these students. It provides determination of how many of your students are taking courses in other colleges (as well as your own) and how many students from other colleges are enrolled in your courses. The Provost has asked colleges to track the number of SCHs generated from study abroad as well as the number of college students who participate in study abroad.