Studying abroad is not just for undergraduates.
At the Academic Council's meeting Thursday, members heard about four proposed joint and dual professional degree programs, on which they will vote Nov. 30.
The School of Law, the School of Medicine and the Fuqua School of Business developed three of the programs in partnership with universities in Paris, Singapore and Seoul, South Korea.
Elizabeth Gustafson, assistant dean for academic affairs at the law school, said the proposed programs would build on existing strengths in interdisciplinarity.
"The law school considers itself a leader in interdisciplinary education," Gustafson said. "There's one area in which we are currently not ahead of the curve, and that is in dual-degree programs with foreign educational institutions."
One of the law school's proposed degrees is a joint Juris Doctor/Diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées in global business law. Students would spend two years studying at Duke and a third year taking classes at the University of Paris I and Sciences Po.
Other American institutions that already participate in the Global Business Program include the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.
Gustafson also presented a proposed joint program with the Pratt School of Engineering that would allow students to earn both a doctor of law and master's in engineering management degrees in three years.
The medical school's proposed partnership with the National University of Singapore would be good for both universities, said Edward Buckley, professor of opthamology and pediatrics.
"For us, it's a chance to partner with an up-and-coming institution, to expand our influence into the [South-East Asian] region," Buckley said.
He noted that the program, which would allow students to earn a doctor of medicine jointly awarded by both institutions, will entail the full- or part-time presence in Singapore of about 35 faculty with Duke appointments.
This should help to maintain high standards, he said.
"The measures of success in [the NUS students'] endeavors will be the exact same as those applied to our students here," Buckley added.
William Mitchell, deputy dean at Fuqua, described a proposed one-year program leading to a master's of management studies.
The program was developed in cooperation with Seoul National University. Mitchell said students in SNU's one-year Global MBA program could apply to continue their studies by also getting a Duke MMS.
"This is an approach that will complement the MBA degrees that we already offer and not compete with them," he said.
In other business:
Following the suggestion of an external review, the African and African-American Studies Program has asked to become a department. Provost Peter Lange said the program already makes primary faculty appointments, so the change would be in name only.
Lange and Executive Vice President Tallman Trask also presented the latest plans for Central Campus. They reassured the council that the campus would have sufficient parking and that the cost of Phase I of the redevelopment would not exceed $500 million.
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