The budget cuts have majorly impacted students who come to CSULB to study abroad. There has been a buzz around campus with upset exchange students not getting into classes they need. Many of them were forced to petition classes in the beginning of the semester, but much to their dismay. The faculty in the Center for International Education want exchange students to have a positive experience when they come here, according to Ide Williams, the head of the department for exchange students. Instead, they are struggling with their schedules and meeting the requirements to study here.
"Normally the department will just make a new class," said Williams. "Now the budget cuts have caused classes to be cancelled that they [students] were already enrolled in."
Immigration laws require students studying abroad to have at least nine units, so if they were enrolled in nine units and then the class was cancelled, they need to find an alternative class to fulfill those missing units. That is very difficult when classes are full and aren't accepting add-ins. At that point, students must take any class they can get into, which most likely will not count for units they need for their major.
The Center for International Education try to figure out ahead of time which classes aren't going to be available by having meetings with departments that are impacted. They also try to gauge how many students from a department are leaving CSULB to study abroad themselves. If an advisor knows a student has an impacted major (like business), and needs very specific units, they will suggest they don't come. However, their efforts haven't eliminated problems exchange students are facing this semester.
Another difficulty exchange students face is the fact they don't have a degree progress report. Therefore, if an exchange student wants to take an upper division class that requires a prerequisite, they have to obtain a class permit code for every single one of those classes. Students who go to CSULB already have that information in the system, so it makes registration less difficult.
In the past, there weren't very many classes being canceled, but since funding is so low and only getting worse, it only makes sense to cut down classes that have fewer students. CSULB might seem like a great place to spend a semester, but international students may want to think twice if they want to get into classes they need.
"Normally the department will just make a new class," said Williams. "Now the budget cuts have caused classes to be cancelled that they [students] were already enrolled in."
Immigration laws require students studying abroad to have at least nine units, so if they were enrolled in nine units and then the class was cancelled, they need to find an alternative class to fulfill those missing units. That is very difficult when classes are full and aren't accepting add-ins. At that point, students must take any class they can get into, which most likely will not count for units they need for their major.
The Center for International Education try to figure out ahead of time which classes aren't going to be available by having meetings with departments that are impacted. They also try to gauge how many students from a department are leaving CSULB to study abroad themselves. If an advisor knows a student has an impacted major (like business), and needs very specific units, they will suggest they don't come. However, their efforts haven't eliminated problems exchange students are facing this semester.
Another difficulty exchange students face is the fact they don't have a degree progress report. Therefore, if an exchange student wants to take an upper division class that requires a prerequisite, they have to obtain a class permit code for every single one of those classes. Students who go to CSULB already have that information in the system, so it makes registration less difficult.
In the past, there weren't very many classes being canceled, but since funding is so low and only getting worse, it only makes sense to cut down classes that have fewer students. CSULB might seem like a great place to spend a semester, but international students may want to think twice if they want to get into classes they need.
No comments:
Post a Comment