Joint and Double Degree Programs in the Global Context
The following are selected major findings from the 2011 survey conducted by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and Freie Universität Berlin. It is a follow-on from a 2009 survey report, Joint and Double Degree Programs in the Transatlantic Context, which was part of a project funded by the EU-U.S. Atlantis Program of the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) and the European Commission. While the previous survey focused exclusively on transatlantic joint and double degree programs, the new study expands the scope of the research and aims to assess the global landscape of collaborative degree programs:
Double degrees are much more common than joint degrees. Survey respondents from France reported offering the most joint degree programs, while the U.S. is the top reporting country with double degree programs.
The majority of the reported joint or double degree programs are at the master’s level; however, the majority of programs reported by Australian institutions are at the doctoral level, and the majority of programs reported by U.S. institutions are at the undergraduate level. Most participating institutions indicated that they plan to develop more programs at the master’s level.
The majority (76 percent) of participating institutions report joint and double degree programs with student enrollment of 25 or fewer.
The top five cited partner countries for programs reported in this survey are: France, China, Germany, Spain, and the U.S.
The most frequently cited academic disciplines for current and future degree programs are business and management and engineering. Social sciences, mathematics and computer sciences, and physical and life sciences are also popular academic disciplines. Most institutions that plan to develop more joint or double degree programs at the doctoral level plan to do so in engineering.
The majority of responding institutions indicated that they set up their first joint or double degree programs between 2001 and 2009. However, survey participants from France, Germany, and Italy began the majority of their programs earlier (1991-2000), while Australian and UK institutions were most likely to have developed their programs more recently.
Almost all responding institutions have plans to develop more programs. While the majority of institutions had plans to develop both joint degree and double degree programs, most German and U.S. institutions plan to develop only more double degree programs.
The top desired partner countries for future collaborative programs are China, the U.S., France, India, and Germany. China ranks first among participating institutions from Australia, the UK, and the U.S.; the U.S. is favored by France, Germany, and Italy. The majority would like to partner with institutions in these top countries at the master’s level.
The top motivations for developing joint or double degree programs are broadening educational offerings, strengthening research collaboration, advancing internationalization, and raising international visibility/prestige. Notably, increasing revenue was major motivating factor only for respondents from the UK.
The top challenges for developing joint or double degree programs are securing adequate funding and ensuring sustainability.
According to survey respondents, the double-counting of credits appears to be one of the least important challenges. Furthermore, 66 percent of the responding institutions indicated that they have measures in place to regulate the double counting of credits.
Ninety-five percent of survey participants report that joint and double degree programs are part of their institution’s internationalization strategy. However, only 55 percent have a clear institutional policy on program development and only 45 percent have developed particular methods for the marketing of these programs.
According to the 2011 IIE Project Atlas report, Student Mobility and the Internationalization of Higher Education, more than 3.3 million students are currently studying outside of their own country. This represents the greatest surge in international student enrollments in recent decades. Enhancing student mobility has become a top priority for countries around the world, stimulating a global conversation about best practices, trends, and future plans. While traditional study abroad programs or direct enrollment in foreign institutions remain by far the predominant option for students wishing to have an international experience, more higher education institutions are seeking ways to firmly embed international experience in their study programs. Often this goes hand in hand with a greater effort to offer more reliable mobility frameworks and to reduce perceived mobility risks such as credit transfer problems or prolonged time to graduation.
