[lg policy] (no subject)

[Harold Schiffman]

   1. udies <https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/>
   2. News <https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/news>

Language Policy Updated to Increase Flexibility, Expand Access

by Jason Warburg <https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/tags/jason-warburg>

June 6, 2019
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[image: Morse Building with flags]

The Middlebury Institute recently adopted an innovative new policy that
grants its policy and management-focused degree programs greater
flexibility to set requirements regarding language proficiency that more
closely reflect the needs and goals of students.

"For many years, faculty and program chairs in several of our programs have
advocated for building more flexibility into our language requirements,”
said Dean of the Institute Jeff Dayton-Johnson. “Where language proficiency
is clearly an integral part of the degree, it will remain so. In some
programs, though, advanced content-based language study will continue to be
a feature of the path for many students, but not the exclusive pathway to
degree completion.”

With enrollment at institutions of higher education falling nationally,
it’s clear that graduate schools in particular must be nimble and flexible
in meeting the needs of both their students and the employment marketplace.
“We believe that granting individual degree programs greater flexibility in
determining the language component of their programs will expand access to
the Institute’s degree programs to new populations of students and help to
ensure a bright future for MIIS,” added Dayton-Johnson.

The amended language policy allows individual degree programs to petition
to modify their language requirements. Petitions will be reviewed by
faculty and administration leadership, and programs that wish to modify
their requirements will have to make a case for the change. All programs
must be structured in a way that allows students who want to pursue
advanced language studies as part of their degree to do so without
requiring additional time on campus or incurring additional costs.

“Besides giving students more flexibility to shape the curriculum to meet
their individual needs, this change will give us the ability to shift
resources away from lower-level language instruction to advanced language
instruction for those students who are aiming for careers that require
those skills,” said Dean of the Graduate School of International Policy and
Management Fernando DePaolis.

“This change has the effect of opening up more pathways, expanding the pool
of potential students who can benefit from a MIIS degree while maintaining
the Institute’s historic commitment to being a national and international
leader in advanced language training and content-based instruction,” said
Dean of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language
Education Laura Burian.

Dayton-Johnson emphasized that “Our goal with this evolution of the
Institute's language policy is to give students greater flexibility to
focus their time at MIIS on acquiring the skills that will be most
beneficial to them in their future careers.

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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