New Report: Joint and Double Degree Programs in the Global Context

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A new report, Joint and Double Degree Programs in the Global Context, released by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the Freie Universität Berlin, finds that a growing number of universities around the world are developing joint and double degree programs, and that nearly two-thirds of the responding institutions reported that they launched these new degree programs in the past decade. The study finds that a development that largely started in Europe in the 1990s has now become an increasingly important global trend, with 95 percent of the nearly 250 respondents in 28 countries saying they want to develop more joint and double degree programs.

The study, based on a survey conducted in spring 2011, assesses the current landscape of joint and double degree programs and identifies the challenges, opportunities, motivations, and impact of developing such programs. The report presents findings from a global perspective, as well as country-specific trends for the six countries with the highest number of institutions responding to the survey: Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the U.S.

This study builds on a 2009 policy study by IIE and the Freie Universität Berlin, 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 earlier 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. The 2009 project resulted in a survey report, Joint and Double Degree Programs in the Transatlantic Context, and a book, Joint and Double Degree Programs: An Emerging Model for Transatlantic Exchange, which features practical recommendations for developing and delivering collaborative degree programs between U.S. and European universities.

To read the full report, please visit: www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Publications-and-Reports/IIE-Bookstore/Joint-Degree-Survey-Report-2011