What Led to the Success of the Program?

Preprogram effort. Kettle had compared the UMass chemistry offerings with those the UEA students would need during their year at UMass and concluded that the match was better than at some other institutions. Similarly, Archer had worked with Kettle to determine appropriate courses for UMass students to take at UEA. In setting up the program, early administrative work in the UK had to establish that a program sending UK students to study chemistry in the USA would be recognized as being educationally valuable. Furthermore, it was important to establish that students would not be liable for extra fees and that students with student aid would continue to receive it during the time spent abroad. To translate grades for UMass to UEA and vice versa, Kettle developed a system involving rank in the class, grade averages, standard deviations, and a short paragraph on the student's performance. This system is still in effect.

Strong faculty support. The first group of UEA students to come to UMass convinced the UMass faculty of the value of the program for students at UMass who might not participate in it as well as for those who would. The biculturalism made for educational enhancement for both groups, and faculty members at UMass have found that the UEA students are wonderful additions to their classes. Faculty in both universities feel that the broadening experience for the students makes the inconveniences that occur as a result of imperfect curricular matches quite tolerable.

Flexibility. The term interchange (meant to allow flexibility from the usual one-to-one exchange that hampers some programs) was the guiding principle that allowed freedom of recruiting without excessive concern about whether the other university would have the same number of students. The flexibility of the universities' administrations to the monetary consequences of imbalance from one year to the next (see below) has been most vital to the program's success. Imperfect curricular matches have also been tolerated, even by the most conservative of both faculties. The positive attitude of most students who have participated in the program and their willingness to be flexible and understanding when problems have arisen has also been important.

International Programs Office. Finally, the support given by the International Programs Office at UMass throughout the entire period of the interchange has also been essential to the success of the program.

Administration, Accounting and Costs, Evaluation

Administration of the chemistry exchange between UMass and UEA has been a shared endeavor from the outset, with responsibility for curricular and academic arrangements in the hands of the Chemistry Department (UMass) and School of Chemical Sciences (UEA), and administrative implementation of the exchange in the hands of the International Programs Offices at each end.

From the beginning, a high priority was placed on maintaining student costs at levels comparable to those at the home institution while at the same time establishing a financial arrangement that could allow for fluctuations in numbers sent by each institution from year to year. The term interchange has been used intentionally to characterize the relationship because the program originally offered the sole outlet for UEA chemistry students who were accepted to the UCCA degree course including a year in the USA. All of them had to be accommodated regardless of the much less predictable level of interest from UMass in a given. A mechanism was instituted for the payment of "extras" at an agreed fee to cover the academic costs. On the other hand, room and board costs have never been part of the exchange.

During the nearly 20 years of the program, costs have risen dramatically in absolute terms, but have always remained comparable to the cost of remaining on the home campus for the same year. Although financial support policies and practices for students in higher education have changed greatly in both the USA and Britain during this period, this has never adversely affected the program because the exchange mirrors what is normal for students remaining on the home campus. In other words, the host institution acts as a substitute site for the education of home-institution students.

It has been important that both ends of the exchange assure students that special assistance will be available to keep exchange costs in line with home campus expenses and to provide funds for serious emergencies. Each side of the interchange has its own unique funds and mechanisms to administer them, but the two sides have functioned effectively to assist students through periods of severe currency fluctuations and personal emergencies.

Evaluation of the interchange program has always been viewed as an ongoing, rather than a periodic, responsibility. Students complete routine evaluations at the end of their period "on exchange", but much more important is that faculty and some administrators from both sides have made regular visits to assess the adjustment of students, keep up-to-date on curricular changes that may impact the program, assist in recruiting and advising future participants, and generally stay in touch with the colleagues whose personal interest in the visiting students is so crucial for their well-being. While the visits have varied in frequency, they have always assured a standard of quality and accountability not consistently achieved in international exchange programs.

At its inception, the interchange program was envisioned as a full-year program in which chemistry majors from the two departments (those from UEA in their second year and those from UMass in their junior [third] year) would pursue a chemistry curriculum similar to that they would have followed at their "home" institution. Thus, a UMass student at UEA would probably take a full year of physical chemistry and a semester of analytical chemistry, along with one or two other chemistry courses that could be used to satisfy upper-level requirements. The UEA students, on the other hand, would take as a minimum the year-long physical chemistry sequence together with upper level organic and inorganic lecture and laboratory courses.

At the outset, a requirement was established for UMass chemistry students to complete at least four UEA chemistry courses (20 semester hours) during the two semesters. This was based on the favorable financial arrangements noted above and the fact that UEA students at home during that year typically take six 5-credit courses in the chemical sciences. In practice, UMass chemistry students have generally completed a total of 23 to 26 semester hours of chemistry credits plus a non-chemistry course, which often can satisfy a UMass general education requirement. Students with related majors have only been required to complete three UEA five-credit chemistry courses.

Academic Year Structure

Adoption of a formal two-semester structure at UEA favors students who do not wish to spend a full year abroad. Although a semester approach to teaching was already in place in the sciences at UEA, it was in the framework of a three-term academic year with final examinations for both semesters being held from late May to mid-June. The introduction of January assessment has led several UMass students to elect only one semester abroad. Those at UEA this year and those planning for next year are all in this category.

Grades

With regard to grades for UEA courses, the UMass students are always shocked initially by the low average percentage marks awarded for a course, a mark higher than 70% being achieved by relatively few students. However, a well established grade conversion scheme is in operation. It takes into account the different style and lower frequency of UK examinations, so that UEA marks in the 70% and higher bracket are given clear A's, marks in the 60% region are B's, etc. (Grades awarded at UEA appear in the UMass transcripts but are not included in UMass GPA calculations.)

The UEA students spend the second year of their 3-year degree program at UMass and the particular courses taken at UMass are an integral part of their program. Thus the content of the UMass courses and the contribution of the students' UMass grades to their degree classification at UEA are two important issues that were resolved satisfactorily. While the UEA students learn to live with somewhat higher marks than they are accustomed to, the UMass grades are translated at UEA as noted earlier in this article.

Participants

As noted above, the interchange program was initiated with the explicit realization that periodic imbalances would probably occur, and this has indeed proved to be the case. The actual numbers exchanged since 1980­81 are 87 from UEA (including a remarkable tally of 14 for 1982­83) and 66 from UMass. Several students from the surrounding Five College area, the University of Vermont, and Wellesley College bring the overall ratio close to one-to-one.

Majors. The composition of the group from UMass that have taken part in the program has changed during the program's 17-year life span. While the UEA groups have always been comprised entirely of chemistry majors who at the time of their admittance to the School of Chemical Sciences at UEA had already elected to join the year-abroad-option for their second year, the groups of students from UMass have tended to shift in character from a dominance of chemistry majors (40 of the 66 UMass students) to a more diverse group including biochemistry, environmental science, and other majors (even an exercise science major!). However, all students in these groups have had a stronger chemistry background than the minimal required of their majorssome have also been chemistry minorsand it has proved possible for this diversity to be accommodated while retaining the course requirement of the interchange. This change has occurred because of an enhanced flexibility in the course structure at UEA: more introductory courses have become available, together with specific courses directed to students with biochemical and environmental interests.

Gender. The gender make-up of the two groups is also significantly different. Men outnumber women in the UEA group by almost three to one, whereas the composition pattern for the UMass students for the entire period is closer to three-to-two. Recent UMass cohorts have been closer to one to onea reflection of the more even gender ratio at UMass in these majors.

Student Opinion

The UEA students who have studied at UMass speak very highly of their year abroad and how the experience has increased their maturity. Over the years there have inevitably been a few difficulties, but only two students have returned home without completing the planned year. The vast majority have found the experience very valuable. They speak highly of the friendships they formed and are excited and intrigued by the contrasts between living on the campus of a large state university and living at UEA, where there are far fewer students. The reactions of two students are typical. Kim Sapsford, a UEA student, wrote:

I decided to pick the 'year in America' course as I thought it would be a benefit when applying for jobs after my degree. It also gave me an opportunity to meet new people and visit a country I had never seen before. There are a large number of different clubs and societies on campus which are a brilliant way to meet people. The sports facilities are excellent and free, catering for many activities, and there are lots of social gathering places.

Also, going places in the states is reasonably cheap, and students can get some good discount rates. The year in America was more expensive than staying at UEA, however my LEA gave me a larger grant and also paid for things such as two return flights and health insurance. I made many good friends in America and thoroughly enjoyed my time there; it was very sad having to leave at the end of the year.

Michael McHugh, a UMass student, wrote:

While on the UMass/UEA exchange, I had the opportunity to live in a foreign countrystill speaking basically the same languagemaking lifelong friends, and travelling extensively throughout Europe visiting places one generally only dreams about, while at the same time learning a little chemistry along the way. I knew that the exchange would give me the chance to learn about other cultures and societies, but I never imagined that this invaluable experience would also teach me more about my own country and Americans than I had learned in the previous twenty years.

As a chemistry (or biochemistry) major it is possible to complete the majority of your course requirements on the exchange, while gaining excellent hands-on experience using equipment you will encounter later in graduate school or in the real world.

Opportunities Not Fully Developed

Both the UEA and UMass chemistry departments are very active in research, and an enjoyable feature of the link has been the essentially open invitation for faculty from each institution to visit the other and give research colloquia. Although robust research links between faculty of the two departments have been slow to develop (there is currently just one active collaboration, a program sponsored through a NATO award), at another level, several UEA students have returned to the United States for graduate studies: three to UMass, two to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and one each to Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania. One of these former students now has a faculty position at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dedication

This paper is dedicated to retired UEA professor S. F. A. (Sid) Kettle, whose foresight, zeal, and persistence made the interchange a reality.

Note

1. A more complete discussion, particularly from the UEA point of view, can be found on the WWW through http://chemserv.chem.umass.edu/.

Literature Cited

1. Brennan, M. B. Chem. Engr. News 1996, 74(28), 34-35, 38-39.