Academics
CEA CAPA Mission & Vision
Mission
To empower students to become thoughtful and thriving leaders through living and learning abroad.
Vision
Redefine learning through innovative, inclusive, and impactful global experiences.
Quality Assurance
CEA CAPA offers high-quality, discipline-based academic programs that integrate the host culture into an active learning pedagogy. We achieve this through:
- Partnering with university faculty to ensure our course offerings meet the highest academic standards and expectations
- Outlining course objectives and aligning them to measurable assessments
- Using student feedback and self-assessments to continually focus on improving our academic offerings
- CEA CAPA has successfully completed the The Forum on Education Abroad's Quality Improvement Program (QUIP) and all CEA CAPA programs are QUIP-recognized
Assessment and Evaluation
CEA CAPA actively conducts assessment and evaluation to enhance our academic programs.
School of Record's Role
The University of New Haven (UNH), SUNY Oswego, and the University of Minnesota all serve as CEA CAPA’s Schools of Record, which oversees the entire approval process for CEA CAPA operations including faculty approvals, curriculum design, course approvals, and course credit assignment, and ensures that academic facilities meet the standards established by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), which approves the School of Record agreement.
Instructional Assessment
CEA CAPA has developed an internal process for assessing and evaluating faculty performance and curriculum quality. Students provide mid-term and end-of-semester feedback for all CEA CAPA Study Center courses and faculty. We use this information to assess academic quality and promote continuous improvement.
Student Program Evaluations
Obtaining student feedback through program evaluations provides CEA CAPA with valuable information used to evaluate each program, develop recommendations, and monitor programs for continuous improvement. By summarizing results and utilizing comparative analysis across all CEA CAPA locations, we establish best practices and ensure consistency in student experiences world-wide.
Academic Performance Reviews
All CEA CAPA Study Centers are evaluated through a comprehensive Academic Performance Review by our Schools of Record, which consists of an extensive self-study report and site visit. All centers are evaluated every seven years.
Continuous Assessment
CEA CAPA captures assessment and evaluation information from a number of additional sources, including:
- Meetings with students and international academic staff
- Custom program student and faculty evaluations
- Mid- and End-of-term faculty and course evaluations
- Alumni Ambassador meetings and surveys
- Schools of Record Academic Performance Reviews
- Schools of Record Annual Report
- University site visits and Familiarization Trips
- Faculty observations by Academic Directors
- QUIP Recognition by The Forum on Education Abroad
Experiential & Active Learning
Experiential learning is an enhanced instructional method through which students expand their knowledge through the transformation of an experience. In such a setting, you will actively participate in the experience by researching, performing an activity, reflecting on your observations, processing the experience, and generalizing the experience to apply the knowledge into real-world situations.
Our curriculum integrates a blend of High-Impact Practices, or HIPs, with our learning approaches and active experiences, so you can apply what you learn in class to the real world and vice-versa.
Take your learning to the next level by:
- Researching a social issue and impacting change in CEA CAPA Service Learning programs
- Hands-on learning through our International Internship programs
- Engaged learning through our Active Learning and Student Learning & Development Objectives (SLDOs) in which cultural activities are integrated into course objectives and academically assessed
CEA CAPA Student Learning & Development Objectives (SLDOs)
SLDOs are meta-level learning objectives that transcend coursework and are infused across all elements of program delivery. They're the learning goals we promote across all sites, beyond specifics of course offerings, that address student learning holistically.
Critical Thinking & Intellectual Curiosity
Students learn to productively interrogate assumptions, to approach their experience with a spirit of curiosity, and to be open to different interpretations of what they're learning and observing around them.
Content in Context
Students can draw connections between the academic content of their experience and their context. They can situate their learning within local, regional, national, and global contexts, and connect them to one another.
Navigating Differences
Students learn to better identify, understand, and navigate social, economic, racial, ethnic, religious, and other differences - and similarities - between their home and host contexts, and within their student cohort. In all these areas, students can make skillful and nuanced comparisons and contrasts.
Power & Equity
Students can identify and analyze power structures within their host contexts and the ways power is used across national boundaries. Comparing and contrasting with the U.S. context, they can form complex arguments around the principles of justice and equity, identifying dominant and marginalized groups, and better understand how power impacts people within the host society and globally.
Career & Professional Development
Students develop skills and competencies that prepare them for professional advancement in a globally interdependent and diverse world. They learn to navigate, reflect upon, and articulate their experience studying abroad in a manner that fosters career readiness and positively shapes their future professional opportunities.
Sustainability & Migration
Students examine and engage their host context through the lens of sustainability. They consider factors shaping urban and rural spaces, how relationships with the environment contribute to national and regional discourses, and the impacts of their own actions. Through a sustainability lens, students discern elements of mobility and migration in their host context, identifying how these elements impact economics, politics, culture, and society on local and national levels.
CEA CAPA provides the following active learning opportunities:
- Guest lectures by local experts
- Language exchanges
- Volunteering
- Academic and extra-curricular activities
- Career & Re-Entry workshops
- Global Competency Development Certificate (GCDC)
High-Impact Practices (HIPs)
High-Impact Educational Practices (HIPs) are educational experiences that promote deep learning through student engagement that often lead to higher student retention rates. The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and Dr. George Kuh frame HIPs through the following experiences:
- First-Year Seminars and Experiences
- Common Intellectual Experiences
- Learning Communities
- Writing-Intensive Courses
- Collaborative Assignments and Projects
- Undergraduate Research
- Diversity/Global Learning
- ePortfolios
- Service Learning, Community-Based Learning
- Internships
- Capstone Courses and Projects
While there is no one unified approach to assessing these High Impact Educational Experiences, common outcomes indicate higher graduation rates and academic performance, as well as high student satisfaction as an undergraduate student (Kilgo, Sheets & Pascarella, 2015). Additionally, ‘Communities of Practice’ help narrow the focus and approach to student learning and are “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger-Trayner, 2015, p. 1).
To be sure, there is relatively little known regarding the “stacking” of HIPs (Banks & Gutierréz, 2017). However, one aspect of HIPs is, when done well, these experiences can be transformational.
Credit Transfer
The transfer of academic credit is decided by your home university. CEA CAPA helps by providing detailed course descriptions, contact hours, syllabi, and recommended credits for courses. We've worked with more than 1,000 colleges and universities to successfully transfer study abroad credit.
Credit Approval
We recommend that you meet with your advisor prior to departure to have your course selections pre-approved. We strongly recommend approving multiple alternate courses due to course availability.
Credit Overview
All courses taken at a CEA CAPA Study Center follow the standard U.S. credit hour ratio: 15 contact hours is equivalent to 1 semester credit. Courses offered at CEA CAPA Study Centers typically meet for 45 contact hours, worth 3 U.S. semester credits. Courses offered at partner institutions vary depending on how credit is awarded. CEA CAPA provides credit conversions for courses taken at foreign partner institutions.
Depending on program enrollment, students will enroll into the following 3 options:
- CEA CAPA Study Center Program: For students taking courses at a CEA Study Center only, a transcript will be issued by CEA CAPA's Schools of Record.
- Hybrid Program: Transcript(s) will be issued by CEA CAPA's Schools of Record, and from the partner institution.
- Full Partner Program: Transcript(s) will be issued from the partner institution.
We highly encourage students to obtain a pre-approval of course(s) prior to departure to ensure their home university will accept foreign credits. CEA CAPA will provide supplemental information including an English translation template and foreign grading scale (if applicable).
ECTS Credits
A number of CEA CAPA's European partner institutions issue credits using the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). ECTS incorporates “course units” that describe the student workload required to complete academic work and achieve learning outcomes
One ECTS credit corresponds to 25–30 hours of total student work; 60 credits represents one academic year worth of work, 30 credits represents a semester, and 20 credits represents a trimester. There’s not a universal formula for converting ECTS to U.S. credits, but many U.S. universities consider ECTS as a 2:1 ratio (2 ECTS credits = 1 U.S. credit).
CEA CAPA provides syllabi and recommended credits for each course offered at our partner institutions. Ultimately, each university will determine how ECTS credits will transfer into a student's degree program.
Transcripts & Security Deposit
The financial clearance and transcript release processes usually take up to 90 days after your program's end date. There may be additional processing time at your home university.
Post Program:
- Students must request a copy of their transcripts through the Parchment self-service portal in order for this information to be sent to their home institution.
- Transcripts can be ordered at any time but will not be completed until after your program has ended and grades have been processed.
- Orders may take up to 90 days after your program end date to be completed.
- Your order will contain all transcripts earned while abroad with CEA CAPA.
- By default, transcripts will be sent digitally; hard copy transcripts are available upon request. When requesting a hard copy transcript, please confirm delivery address before placing order.
- Questions? Contact Transcripts@ceacapa.com.
Additional Transcripts/Alumni:
- Students may request copies of official transcripts via the Parchment self-service portal.
- Transcripts are available from 90 days after the program end date.
- Extra processing time may be required for programs 2015 and earlier. Please do not request additional transcripts or submit payment until your program has ended.
- Transcripts for alumni 2016 to present will process within 1-2 business days.
- If you attended a CEA CAPA program in one of the following locations, please contact Transcripts@ceaStudyAbroad.com or call 1.800.266.4441 before placing an order.
- Australia
- England (Brighton or London)
- France (Aix-en-Provence – IAU College)
- France (Dijon)
- France (Paris – American University of Paris)
- France (Paris – CEA Global Campus prior to Fall 2008)
- Ireland (Cork, Galway, or Dublin City University)
- Italy (SRISA, John Cabot, or any program prior to Fall 2007)
- Mexico
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain (Salamanca)
- For any further transcript information, please reach out to Transcripts@ceacapa.com
Security Deposit
In the months following your program, CEA CAPA receives damage reports and invoices for costs incurred by students on-site. These costs could include course and lab fees, additional or upgraded housing fees, broken windows, damaged furniture or appliances, lock and key replacement, or loss of CEA CAPA property. While we hope that there are no extra fees or damage to your CEA CAPA housing, your security deposit covers these costs. We’ll refund any remaining amount to you.
Once your account is financially cleared, we’ll issue a refund check for the remaining balance in your name and mail it to the address you provided on your Re-Entry Evaluation. We start processing and mailing refund checks 90 days after your program ends.
You may check your financial clearance and security deposit status on your MyCEA Account. If you have questions about your security deposit, please contact FinancialServices@ceacapa.com.
Accommodations in the Classroom
CEA CAPA supports students who require special academic accommodation(s). In order for us to determine if we can accommodate your academic support needs in a specific program and location, you must disclose and share any documentation for accommodation(s) received on your home campus early in the application process. We’ll coordinate with on-site staff and faculty and provide you with a written statement of accommodation(s) for your review and signature. Please note that the extent to which accommodations can be provided depends on the nature of the accommodation needed, and accessibility and available services in particular locations.
CEA CAPA Study Centers
The academic structure at our CEA CAPA Study Centers promotes discipline-based learning while cultivating global competence, the ideal learning environment for students who seek to understand tomorrow’s ethical, social-political, and demographic challenges. Choose from a diverse range of subjects that incorporate on-site instruction and active learning with career-boosting opportunities such as international internships, service learning, and volunteering. CEA CAPA Study Center courses are transcribed by our Schools of Record. Each CEA CAPA Study Center is managed by highly qualified, locally knowledgeable staff, all trained in industry standards of study abroad good practice.
CEA CAPA Study Centers are centrally located in cities chosen for their cultural, political, economic, and historical significance. Our locations enhance your ability to engage with local language and culture, and facilitate connections to a larger global framework of business, international relations, politics, and socio-economic realities. CEA CAPA Study Center faculty and staff are dedicated to student support, with a focus on helping you develop the intercultural awareness and skills that define global competence.
CEA CAPA Partner Institutions
We strategically choose our partner institutions to meet the diverse academic needs of students from a range of backgrounds and majors. We ensure academic quality by partnering with institutions that are formally recognized and/or accredited—either in the host country or in the U.S.—and that complement the core competencies offered through CEA CAPA Study Center programs.
You’ll attend class alongside local or other international students, providing the opportunity to immerse into student life. In addition, you can take full advantage of our partners’ on-campus resources, such as student clubs, sports, academic lectures, and co-curricular activities. Choose from a range of courses in diverse subject areas; in some cases, you may access a partner institution’s full curriculum. Coursework helps you gain cross-cultural understanding, critically analyze concepts, expand your worldview, and learn from faculty who teach in different pedagogical styles. This integrated learning environment allows you to engage deeply with the host city’s culture, history, and society.
