Over the next two weeks, The Daily Free Press will explore the recommendations of the One BUTask Force Report in an eight-part series. Today, we look at possible changes to the accessibility of International Programs.
To apply or not to apply: that is the question some Boston University students ask themselves about studying abroad each semester.
For some of these students, part of their hesitation stems from the study abroad requirement, which states that students must have at least a 3.0 GPA to be eligible.
However, the One BU Task Force Report recommends “the elimination of the GPA requirement for access to study abroad.”
“It may be that it becomes more based on the particular program rather than on a global GPA,” said Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education Victor Coelho, who headed the task force.”Your competencies in certain extracurricular activities may mean more than certain grades.”
According to the report, the 3.0 GPA requirement limits access to the programs for about half the student body.
The new policy is currently being discussed by the administration and will not be in effect by the start of the fall semester, said BU President Robert Brown.
Programs Coordinator for International Programs Javier Serrat said not meeting the GPA requirement does not prevent students from studying abroad.
“We still applications that fall bellow that threshold and still review them,” he said. “I’ve had friends who have gone on programs abroad who didn’t have a 3.0 and are still admitted.”
Brown said the study abroad component criteria “is, in my mind, false.”
“Each time we define satisfactory progress a different way, we set a barrier,” he said.
“If you’re a [College of Communication] student studying abroad, what should be satisfactory progress? Probably, if you’re going to go do an internship in journalism, you should be at a certain place in the journalism curriculum,” Brown continued.
“It doesn’t make sense if you’re a first-semester freshman and have no idea what it is but do you need to make As or Bs or B-pluses, what is it you have to do if you satisfactorily pass the classes?”
“Grades are not the only indicator of performance,” Coelho said.
Serrat also said it’s important for students to apply even if they do not have the 3.0 GPA. However, he said he believes it’s important to keep some sort of requirement.
“I believe as a former student it is important to keep some sort of a benchmark to ensure quality of programs because if you have no requirement at all there is no academic standard to that program that ensures that these programs are better than some other university programs that just admit students for the sake of enrollment,” he said.
Serrat said he thinks even with the lower GPA, the number of applications will not increase.
“I think the only thing that would create some difference is that some students have the preconceived notion so they don’t bother applying or asking about [studying abroad],” he said. “If they don’t see that requirement then more students could apply but there’s no way to measure something that may happen in the future.”
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