The Faculty Senate met with Provost Carbajal and Vicki Hamblin on Monday, Nov 13^th to discuss the Global Pathways Program (GPP).

Many faculty expressed profound dismay over the breach in shared governance, specifically in the way in which faculty have been left entirely out of an 18-month process. This process led to the signing, in September, of a 10-year contract with the corporation Study Group.

Senators and attending faculty, which included department chairs and program directors, expressed a number of serious concerns. Below are the outlines of just two pressing concerns:

Space and resources: Through the recruitment of international students, this project seeks to increase Western’s undergraduate population by 5% (750 to 1000 students) and to double the MBA program. These added students, along with Study Group’s contractual requirements, will create a significant strain on Western’s already quite serious physical-space constraints. See especially p 25, Attachment B Section b., c., i., and n. in the contract.

Lowered Admission Standards: Admission into the GPP requires no standardized tests and significantly lower English Proficiency test scores than our current standards.  The GPA required for admission is a 2.5 for GPP students. This is a provisional admission, and GPP undergraduates need only maintain a 2.0 in their first year to gain admission. The table below indicates that this entrance GPA is lower than what we typically expect of all other applicants. See especially pp 31-32, Attachment E in the contract.

 

Faculty expressed serious concerns that this agreement performs a disservice to the students of Washington state, many of whom would benefit enormously from the support services that the expensive GPP provides. Our Washington state students are being held to higher admission standards than international students recruited by Study Group to the GPP.

Additionally, faculty expressed concern that we are also performing a disservice to these international students when we admit them with lowered admission standards.

 

In 2008 the AAUP issued a statement regarding faculty involvement with internationalizing initiatives:

“In accordance with the principles of collegial governance, U.S. and Canadian college and university administrations should provide their faculty and staff associations and the institution’s senior academic body with information about any international initiative being contemplated. If the initiative proceeds, administrations should provide detailed updates on all aspects of the project, with special emphasis on provisions to ensure academic freedom and tenure and collegial governance, including policies on approval and regular assessment of programs and curriculum, appointment and evaluation of academic staff, workload, appropriate compensation and working conditions, anti-harrassment and -discrimination  provisions, intellectual property, occupational health and safety, equity, and rights to appeal procedures characterized by substantive and procedural fairness.”

We are disappointed that these recommendations have been ignored by the administration. The administration’s failure to include faculty in this process, which began more than 18 months ago, represents a significant breach of trust and a failed commitment to shared governance.

The Faculty Senate will continue to pursue information about the contract that Western has signed with the corporation Study Group (http://www.studygroup.com)  and the Global Pathways Program. To that end, the Faculty Senate has invited Provost Carbajal and Vicki Hamblin, Executive Director of International Studies, to answer our questions at the next Senate meeting, November 13, 4:00-5:45, OM 340.

Faculty Senate meetings comply with open meeting laws, and interested faculty are free to attend this meeting.

We on the Senate have recently learned that Western has recently entered into a partnership with the corporation Study Group. http://www.studygroup.com

This was done without any meaningful input from either the Faculty Senate or United Faculty of Western Washington. This initiative involves commitments to curriculum that we have questions and concerns about. In addition, it raises questions about enrollment and how WWU serves the state of Washington. The Faculty Senate will continue to investigate, and I will share information as I learn it.

Here are three documents describing Study Group and our new Global Pathways Program:

Western Global Pathway The Basics.1-2n8dxk4

Global Pathways Program.2-1lv0nuy

Pathways Information.3-21vyue7

 

And, here are two articles from Inside Higher Ed on pathways programs:

Privatized Pathways for Foreign Studentshttps-2ayl7m4

Perceptions of Pathway Programs[1]-1jkfnuy

 

Finally this is an article from The Atlantic: Though it focuses largely on online education, it offers some fascinating insights into the consequences of partnering with for-profit educational corporations, some of which is applicable to pathways programs:

How Companies Profit Off Education at Nonprofit Schools-1p361mb