Quality Assurance at Global Campus

As participation in study abroad and the availability of non-traditional destinations continue to grow, the field of study abroad today is attracting ever greater attention from U.S. educational leadership, as well as significant federal, state and private financial funds that help sustain study abroad. Appropriately, the demand for quality education abroad and the systematic assessment of learning outcomes that demonstrate it, are at the heart of building meaningful capacity in study abroad today.

The Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program, which seeks to help 1 million American students study overseas annually this decade, states that the study abroad academic experience “must be of such quality that it merits and earns academic credit accepted by the home institution […] a stipulation that requires assessment of program quality before credits can be awarded.”

Good Practice in School of Record Relationships

We welcome the Lincoln Commission's demand for increased accountability in assuring academic quality in study abroad programming and delivery. To this end, CEA has forged a comprehensive academic partnership with the University of New Haven, a coeducational, nonsectarian, independent institution of Higher Education regionally accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (CIHE/NEASC).  In the creation and administration of their cooperative SOR agreement, CEA Global Education and UNH draw from a variety of best practice documents for ensuring academic quality control. These include:

• NEASC-CIHE Standards for Accreditation
• NEASC-CIHE Policy on Substantive Change
• NEASC-CIHE Policy on Institutional Effectiveness
• NEASC-CIHE Good Practices in Contractual Arrangements Involving Courses and Programs
• NEASC-CIHE Principles of Good Practice in Overseas International Education Programs for Non-US Nationals
• Forum on Education Abroad Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad
• Guidelines for School of Record Relationships, developed by the Forum and AACRAO
• School of Record models provided by many universities and colleges

The contract between CEA and UNH was reviewed at length by the full Commission of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges in November of 2006 and was unanimously approved by the Commission, both in its original review and again, after the two-year review period required by the NEASC-CIHE Policy on Substantive Change. The contractual arrangement has since been reviewed and approved by NEASC/CIHE in UNH’s 2010 re-accreditation cycle. The relationship was also approved by the UNH Board of Governors.

The University of New Haven does not serve a pro forma function of simple sponsorship for transcripting CEA’s proprietary courses; rather, UNH exercises full academic control over curriculum and academic personnel, applying standards for quality and conscientiousness equivalent to those of the home campus in New Haven. Transcripted by UNH, Global Campus courses are designed in conjunction with and approved by permanent UNH faculty. With UNH academic oversight, Global Campus course design and content, instructional pedagogy and delivery, and faculty credentials and experience meet recognized academic standards of U.S.-based and regionally accredited institutions of Higher Education. UNH and CEA also collaborate on ongoing assessment and improvement of Global Campus operations, guided by the Forum Standards of Good Practice.

We believe the model upon which the UNH-CEA partnership is based exceeds the industry standard for School of Record relationships in study abroad.

Read more about CEA's School of Record.

Good Practice in CEA Operations

Other recognized standards of good practice also guide quality assurance processes at CEA Global Education. These include the Forum’s Standards of Good Practice for Short-Term Education Abroad Programs, the Forum’s Code of Ethics for Education Abroad and NAFSA’s  Statement of Ethical Principles on the role of ethics in international education. In support of experiential education and active learning pedagogy, CEA has become a Sustaining Member  of the National Society for Experiential Education and train staff and faculty in the Eight Principles of Good Practice for all experiential learning activities. CEA uses assessment resources from the Council for the Advancement for Standards in Higher Education. As a member of the Association of International Education Administrators and with academic staff memberships in the European Association for International Education, CEA remains committed to integrating best practices in international education into the many aspects of creating, delivering and assessing our portfolio of study abroad programs.

The CEA School of Record: The University of New Haven

Signing ceremony for the School or Record Agreement

In 2006, CEA Global Education and the University of New Haven (UNH) of West Haven, Connecticut negotiated and signed a comprehensive academic agreement establishing UNH as the official School of Record for CEA. Consequently, UNH formally issues credits and transcripts for all CEA Global Campus courses. This relationship affords CEA Global Education the academic oversight and policy guidance it requires for it Global Campus initiatives, and affords UNH additional opportunities to pursue its strategic endeavors in experiential education, campus internationalization, study abroad and overseas faculty development.

The Agreement

The School of Record agreement follows the highest standards of good practice in education abroad and fulfills the requirements of the Policy on Contractual Arrangements Involving Courses and Programs laid down by UNH’s institutional accrediting body, The Commissions on Higher Education of the New England Association for Schools and Colleges (CIHE-NEACS). A full review of the terms of the CEA-UNH agreement was conducted by the CIHE-NEASC Board in late 2006. Subsequent to that review, CIHE granted the request of UNH to extend the terms of its accreditation to include courses offered abroad in partnership with CEA Global Education. The two-year interim report required of UNH by CIHE, under NEASC’s Policy on Substantive Change, described both the implementation of the School of Record agreement and the status of the collaborative relationship. This report concluded that: “the UNH-CEA model may well emerge as a higher standard for the study abroad industry."

The UNH-CEA Academic Review Protocols

The most notable element of this innovative partnership is the Academic Review Protocols that CEA Global Education and UNH adopted as the operating basis for academic quality maintenance, assessment, and evaluation. These protocols provide baselines for reviewing curricula, faculty, academic administration and on-site operations. As an integral part of the School of Record Agreement, these protocols:

• Define the terms of each party’s respective obligations and academic governance
• Set minimum standards for course syllabi (contact time, instructional format, assessment, readings, depth and breadth of course topics, etc.)
• Create review processes and timetables for both course approvals and academic staff approvals
• Set minimum approval standards and processes for appointing permanent and probationary Global Campus faculty
• Define minimum standards for instructional facilities
• Specify the inventory of self-assessment information CEA provides UNH in regular self-study reports
• Stipulate a calendar for on-site evaluations of Global Campus sites and their programs

Together, these protocols place the creation, delivery and assessment of all CEA Global Education academic processes under the full control and oversight of the faculty and Provost of the University of New Haven.

CEA Self-Study Assessments

The School of Record Agreement requires that CEA Global Education engage in a regular and structured process of self-assessment in the form of written self-study reports and supporting documentation. At the inception of the SOR relationship, CEA Global Education and UNH agreed to incorporate into these routine assessments at each Global Campus the Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad, developed and adopted by the Forum on Education Abroad. Using the Standards as both benchmarks and as a basis for organizing self-study content and documentation, CEA on-site staff members write detailed reports on all aspects of academic and operational programming.

UNH Site Visit Evaluations

The Academic Review Protocols also require institutionalized onsite evaluations of all Global Campus academic and operational procedures by UNH academic faculty and administrators. Based upon CEA’s self-study reports submitted to UNH in advance of UNH site visits, three- to four-member UNH faculty teams typically conduct two- to three-day site visits and evaluations of each Global Campus. UNH faculty assessment teams review CEA operations through class observations, facility and housing inspections; interviews with faculty, students and administrators; and review of policies, procedures and processes.

As of 2011, UNH has conducted site visits of CEA Global Campus sites in Rome, Florence, Paris, Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona. Additional sites in Dublin, Buenos Aires, and Shanghai will undergo self-study assessments and corresponding UNH site visits in 2012  through 2014. This self-study and onsite evaluation process has enabled CEA to review some of its notable strengths, to consolidate and polish procedures that work, and maximize efficiency in routine functions and tasks. Alternatively, and of greater value, the self-study process has helped CEA identify and prioritize areas where improvements can be made.

Continuous Improvement

CEA Global Education’s ongoing School of Record partnership with the University of New Haven institutionalizes a system of principled evaluation and peer review that strengthens quality assurance and quality improvement. The detailed nature of this School of Record agreement, as well as the distinct yet integrated roles both contractual parties play, contributes to its success. We believe it is a model of good practice that benefits U.S. universities and study abroad students.