10.9 Cooperative academic arrangements

The institution ensures the quality and integrity of the work recorded when an institution transcripts courses or credits as its own when offered through a cooperative academic arrangement. The institution maintains formal agreements between the parties involved, and the institution regularly evaluates such agreements.

Judgment

x Compliance o Non-Compliance o Partial Compliance

Narrative

UL Lafayette hosts a wide variety of cooperative arrangements that advances educational goals, and ensures the quality and integrity of the work recorded, when transcripting courses and credits through these arrangements. These include articulation agreements and exchange agreements with international and U.S. institutions, language immersion agreements with international institutions, clinical and field experience placements for course credit, and student internship programs, all of which the University regularly evaluates.

Memoranda of Understanding

In order to delineate transfer pathways between two-year programs offered at Louisiana community colleges and four-year programs at UL Lafayette, the University established articulation agreements with Baton Rouge Community College, Louisiana State University at Eunice, South Louisiana Community College, and SOWELA Technical Community College. The faculty in the relevant disciplines at each institution are responsible for establishing course equivalencies within articulation agreements, and for ensuring that curricular requirements meet the University's expectations for quality of instruction. Agreements are reviewed regularly by participating institutions, as specified in the contracts and agreements. Following review by qualified faculty, all contractual and consortial agreements are approved by the relevant Dean, the Provost, and the President, to ensure they meet the objectives of the relevant degree program and adhere to the mission of the University.

In addition to university‐wide oversight, each of the University’s consortial and contractual agreements is individually negotiated and monitored at the departmental level. As an illustration, the Department of Modern Languages has negotiated numerous contractual agreements that provide opportunities for immersive language instruction to UL Lafayette students. For example, the University has an agreement with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in Mexico to offer comprehensive programs in Spanish as a second language. The department has also entered into agreements with the Université Ste. Anne in Nova Scotia and L'Université de Moncton in New Brunswick to provide French immersion experiences for UL Lafayette students. Additionally, exchange agreements exist between UL Lafayette and numerous French universities through the Council on the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) Consortium; and the University has separate exchange agreements with several French university partners: L’Université de Poitiers, the Université de Strasbourg, L’Université Rennes 2, and the University of Caen Basse-Normandie. In all these agreements, the faculty of the Department of Modern Languages and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts reviewed and approved academic programming provided by other universities to ensure it meets acceptable standards for awarding credit, and that it is compatible with the University’s mission. Prior to the Provost’s and President’s review and signature, all memoranda of understanding with international partners are reviewed by the Office of Operational Review and by the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs – Academic Programs. Since July 1^st, 2018, the Executive Director of Global Engagement also reviews these international agreements.

Consortia

The University offers two graduate degrees through consortial arrangements with other Louisiana universities: the EdD in Educational Leadership through the College of Education, and the Master of Science in Nursing. The EdD is offered in concert with Southeastern Louisiana University, and allows a student to pursue one of four concentrations: Curriculum Leadership, Exceptional Learner, Higher Education Administration, and K-12 Leadership Education. Students take all coursework toward the degree at their home institution, so transcripting credit earned at other institutions is unnecessary. The only overlap between the two institutions is the requirement that a student’s Dissertation Committee include at least one member from the collaborating university.

The online Master of Science in Nursing program, with specialty concentrations in Family Nurse Practitioner and Nursing Education, is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, and is offered through a consortium of four universities, the Intercollegiate Consortium for a Master of Science in Nursing (ICMSN), composed of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, McNeese State University, Nicholls State University, and Southeastern Louisiana University. These universities collectively developed a comprehensive curriculum, offered independently at each institution, which prepares professional nurses at an advanced level of theoretical and clinical practice in order to address present and potential health needs of South Louisiana. UL Lafayette students take all coursework at their home institution, and therefore transcripting credits earned at other institutions is unnecessary.

Internships

Various colleges and departments offer internship programs, allowing students to participate in on-the-job work experiences and achieve student outcomes that relate to their major while receiving academic credit. These programs are available in the College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Sciences, the College of Education, the College of Nursing, and the College of Engineering. In the Nursing department, for example, formal agreements with clinics, hospitals, and doctors are in place for clinical sites, where students engage in direct care clinical activities at health care institutions throughout the state. Similarly, MS in Speech Language Pathology students participate in clinical internships. Affiliation agreements with public schools, private practices, nursing homes, and hospitals provide graduate clinicians with direct care clinical experiences under the supervision of the licensed service provider employed in those settings.

Agreements and student placement in clinical and internship sites are monitored by internship coordinators or designated faculty members in the relevant departments, who verify that the work conducted during the internship meets appropriate learning outcomes and standards in the discipline. For transcripting, internship courses are included in individual curricula for credit-granting purposes, such as ACCT 398 (Internship in Accounting), BADM 398 (Internship in Business Administration), or BLAW 398 (Internship in Business Law).