Joint or Dual Degree Programme Development

Joint or Dual Degree Programme Development

One of CECAR’s objectives is to initiate and support the development

of educational programmes including joint or dual degree

programmes common courses open for credit sharing schemes.

Tentative Definition:

*Joint degree program: Students can obtain one degree jointly granted by more than two universities

**Dual degree program (double degree program, combined degree

program): a student can work for two different university degrees in

parallel, either at the same institution or at different institutions

(sometimes in different countries), completing them in less time than it would take to earn them separately.

2) Existing Network for Joint /Dual Degree Programme

3) University membership: Accreditation Mechanism & Application 4) Degree Requirements

Joint Educational Program of Sustainability Science

Consortium (SSC)

• Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S) was established in August 2005 in order to create visions leading to global sustainability and a

super-transdisciplinary academic area called “Sustainability Science”. IR3S is composed of 5 major universities including the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Osaka University, Hokkaido University and Ibaragi University. • Each partner university provides sustainability education program which has a

holistic and structuralized understanding of various sustainability issues as a core component.

• This core component is defined as the Joint Education Program of IR3S and a certificate is awarded by IR3S to those who have completed the program.

• In 2010, IR3S was terminated and SSC was established as a succession organization of IR3S.

• SSC is now preparing a guideline to accept new partner universities (e.g. Waseda University, Toyo University, etc.)

2) Existing Network for Joint /Dual Degree Programme

Joint Educational Program of Sustainability Science

Consortium (SSC)

10 credits in total are required to complete to obtain a certificate

1. Compulsory course: Frontiers of Sustainability Science (2 credits): – Joint lectures offered by researchers at SSC partner universities

– Intensive course on October 30, November 6 and 13, 2010

– Offered through distance learning system including group work and presentation by each university students

2. Elective courses which give a holistic view about diverse issues of sustainability (4 credits):

– Each partner university needs to offer more than two subjects that can give an overview and holistic view of sustainability.

– The subjects are offered only to local students of each partner university

3. Elective courses locally available in different universities (4 credits):

– At least two other elective courses relevant to sustainability science from the existing curriculum are offered by each partner university

Hokkaido University: Special coordinated training program for

Sustainability Leaders and Sustainability ‘Meisters’ (StraSS)

• A postgraduate course for training two types of professionals: sustainability leaders (masters degree) and sustainability ‘meisters’ (doctoral degree)

• The program offers credit transfers and opportunities to receive double degrees to participating students so that students can finish their own graduate courses in both their home and host universities.

• Short-term exchange scholarships will be awarded for overseas on-site training, with a minimum stay period of 3 months.

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Sustainability Leader training program • Master degree courses

• Hokkaido University Inter-department graduate study in sustainability

• StraSS specialized courses

Sustainability ‘Meister’ training program • Ph.D. degree courses

• Sustainability ‘Meister’specialized courses

Overseas campuses in Asia (China, Indonesia, etc.) and Africa

Japanese Universities

Exchange program/Credit transfers/Lecture sharing/Dual degree system

Joint Degree Programme Development

3) University membership: Accreditation

Mechanism & Application

– Common core course

– Elective/specialized courses locally available at each university – Distance learning system

– Regional variation and university network of program components (courses)

– Application form (Background, objective, contribution to joint degree program)

– Curriculum and list of lecturers

Membership (tentative):

To gain and maintain membership, each institution agrees to:

• offer courses or modules consistent with the objectives of the postgraduate program as approved by ICC of UN-CECAR;

• obtain institutional approval for courses to be offered to UN-CECAR; • facilitate evaluation visits by representatives of the UN-CECAR and/or

ICC;

• provide a regular update of courses and modules to be offered under UN-CECAR;

• provide an agreed level of support to UN-CECAR students;

• issue transcripts or certificates with letter grades to successful participants in UN-CECAR approved courses;

• provide the Secretariat with relevant information on students in the UN-CECAR programme and other information necessary to facilitate their training, subject to current data protection legislation;

• contribute to the preparation of grant proposals or other

documentation required for the application of support for UN-CECAR activities.

4) Degree Requirements

– Number of required credits?

5) Management

– Executive Committee: International Coordinating Committee (ICC) – Working group for joint educational program

– Secretariat: tracking and maintaining student record of certification

6) Future Plan and Tasks

– Credit transfers (sharing) system

– System for continuous improvement of CECAR program

– Publication and dissemination of educational resources developed by CECAR

– Training for trainers

European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System

(ECTS):

• ECTS is a tool that helps to design, describe, and deliver programmes and award higher education qualifications.

• The use of ECTS, in conjunction with outcomes-based qualifications frameworks, makes programmes and qualifications more transparent and facilitates the

recognition of qualifications. ECTS can be applied to all types of programmes, whatever their mode of delivery (school-based, work-based), the learners‟ status (full-time, part-time) and to all kinds of learning (formal, non-formal and informal). • Institutions which apply ECTS publish their course catalogues on the web,

including detailed descriptions of study programmes, units of learning, university regulations and student services.

• Course descriptions contain „learning outcomes‟ (i.e. what students are expected to know, understand and be able to do) and workload (i.e. the time students typically need to achieve these outcomes). Each learning outcome is expressed in terms of credits, with a student workload ranging from 1 500 to 1 800 hours for an academic year, and one credit generally corresponds to 25-30 hours of work.

• The final decisions are the responsibility of the relevant authorities: professors involved in student exchanges, university admission officers, recognition advisory centres (ENIC-NARIC), ministry officials or employers.

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Appendix

• Credits are allocated to entire qualifications or study programmes as well as to their educational components (such as modules, course units, dissertation work, work placements and laboratory work).

• Credits are awarded to individual students (full-time or part-time) after completion of the learning activities required by a formal programme of study or by a single educational component and the successful

assessment of the achieved learning outcomes.

• Credits may be accumulated with a view to obtaining qualifications, as decided by the degree-awarding institution. If students have achieved learning outcomes in other learning contexts or timeframes (formal, nonformal or informal), the associated credits may be awarded after successful assessment, validation or recognition of these learning outcomes.

• Credits awarded in one programme may be transferred into another