UND Accepts ISU Credit


To paraphrase the great Forrest Gump, "UND and ISU go together like peas and carrots." Now this is more true than ever. One of the most popular posts on this blog was my detailed comparison of the Space Studies educational programs at ISU and UND. I even went on The Space Show to talk about it. I'm happy to report that UND can now accept ISU transfer credit. Like I suggested, UND will accept transfer credit from the ISU Summer Session for it's 501 and 502 courses. You can read the full announcement below:

Transfer of International Space University’s (ISU) Summer Session Program Credits towards Space Studies Masters Program at University of North Dakota

4 December 2009

It gives me great pleasure to announce that, starting spring 2010 admissions, the University of North Dakota will accept transfer of ISU’s Summer Session Program credits as equivalent to six credits towards our Master’s Program in Space Studies. In order to be eligible for transfer, the ISU Summer Session Program credits must have been earned within the last seven years of admission to UND, with a score of “good” or higher. The students admitted to the Space Studies Master’s Program at UND must meet our standard admission criteria (see www.space.edu) and must be admitted either on qualified or approved status in order to be eligible for the transfer of credits. The transfer credits will apply towards UND’s core courses SpSt 501 and SpSt 502, and will be effective after the student has completed nine credits of graduate level UND Space Studies coursework, at least six of these must be at 500 level.

The International Space University in France offers a curriculum similar to UND’s Space Studies Masters, with a broad based introduction to space sciences, engineering and applications, planetary sciences, Earth system science and global change, space history, business, commerce, policy and law. The 10 week long ISU’s Summer Session Programs are intensive, interdisciplinary, taught by leading experts, and are of very high quality. By recognizing the value of ISU’s Summer Session Program in meeting the core requirements of our M.S. program, we not only hope to meet the long standing request of many of our potential students, but also foster an atmosphere for future collaborations between the institutions.

Santhosh Seelan
Professor and Graduate Director

By attending the ISU SSP and getting "indoctrinated" into the space studies movement, students now have the option to continue their studies part time at UND via the internet without having to give up their day job and without having to duplicate the work done at ISU. As always, they can of course opt to become full time MS students at either ISU or UND. Hopefully, this new policy will encourage more students to pursue Space Studies degrees. I'd like to see even closer cooperation between the two universities, and this is definitely a step in the right direction.

One of UND's faculty members is an alumnus of ISU. Pablo DeLeon attended SSP97 in Houston and served as an ISU point of contact for his native Argentina for many years. He teaches the Human Space Systems summer course that I've mentioned on this blog before.

Another exciting development for the UND Space Studies program is on the horizon too. Its long-awaited Ph.D. option is on track to be offered sometime after 2011. According to the announcement, it will be a joint Ph.D. in Aerospace Studies between the Departments of Space Studies and Aviation within the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. ISU currently offers only honorary Ph.D. degrees, so if UND does get the Ph.D. program approved it will be the first school to offer a doctorate in this field. Ad astra!


Comments

Pleasant said…
Nice. I am hoping that transfer happens the other way around too. :)

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