Undergraduate Study Abroad
Semester Study Abroad Program Requirements for USM credit in Spanish and French
Capstone Requirement:
Spanish and French majors must take a 400-level capstone course at the Hattiesburg campus prior to graduation. Please be aware that students not meeting this requirement before departure will need to fulfill it during an additional semester of study upon their return. Two 400-level courses are recommended.
Before Departure
Candidates for semester exchange programs must meet with a foreign language advisor for advising, orientation, and approval of proposed program of study before final acceptance into the program is conferred. Students wishing to receive credit from other departments must communicate with and obtain approval from the department in question before departure. Students completing their last or penultimate semester abroad must submit an application for graduation (signed by advisor, chair, and dean) prior to departure.
After Returning to USM
Please be aware that USM Foreign Language faculty (not on-site instructors) assign final grades for courses bearing USM SPA/FRE credit. To be successfully awarded USM credit for your coursework abroad, students must return with complete documentation of all graded and non-graded coursework including:
course texts
course syllabi
course handouts, including photocopied materials
exams and quizzes
dated lecture notes
exercises or course activities
research papers, presentations, and final projects
Students are responsible for presenting a packet of materials in which they divide all course work into categories by course and state what course they believe is an equivalent at USM. This description must also include beginning and ending dates for each course, how many hours the courses met per week, and describe the general themes and or subject matter covered. Grades and teacher notes which are posted from courses abroad will be taken into consideration when giving credit and assigning grades.
For courses that do not have an exact equivalent in Hattiesburg, students will receive either 381 or 481 credit depending on level of difficulty and work production.
Students will not be able to graduate in the spring semester from abroad as they must return to campus to verify course work transfers.
If students do not take exams or midterms abroad for each course they must:
--document all lecture notes and
--write either a 7-10 research-oriented paper in Spanish or French or create a research project for each course which demonstrates their understanding of a topic understudy.
In addition, students may be asked:
--to keep a journal or
--to document visits to places of historical significance in relation to the course topics or
--to conduct, record and then transcribe interviews with specialists in the field of study to further enhance their understanding of the topics under study or
--to prepare a portfolio of texts, writings or creative activities which are in concert with the course topics.
General Policy:
Students may earn 12 hours towards the major depending on placement; students can be given FL credit for other course work which will not count towards the major but will count towards overall graduation hours. Failure to follow procedures will delay course work transfers and graduation or risk course work transfer altogether.
Study Abroad in Germany
Students in German must see an advisor for program requirements.