After careful thought and much discussion, The College of Global Studies is making some fundamental changes to its publicized GPAs, credit and grade translation. Our goal is to make study abroad more accessible: clarity around minimum GPAs to improve the student search and application experience, and certainty around credit and grade translation.
Starting in September, our website will list the ‘firm’ minimum GPA required for consideration for admission to a program. This will help students know immediately if they are eligible, without requiring a sidebar discussion around GPA flexibility. Students who previously may have discounted themselves from a program because they didn’t realize the GPA was flexible, will now hopefully put themselves forward for the true programs of their choice. This also frees up our advisors to focus on helping students find the best program for their desired goals.
We are also in the process of implementing a new credit and grade translation framework for our host university programs. It is based on the AACRAO Electronic Database for Global Education protocols. This decision was the result of recent instances where students shared with us several translation frameworks for study at their host universities that varied so widely as to call into question whether a standard in fact existed. Our hope is that implementing an “open-source” translation framework based on a universally recognized set of protocols will contribute to increased transparency and reduced idiosyncrasy in the approach to credit and grade translation across the field.
For more information please contact Andrew Law Ph.D, Academic Dean, The College of Global Studies, Arcadia University.