Post on 10-Jul-2020
March 2013, Academic Issue II
I N S I D E :
BRIDGE Turns 10!
Online Course Limitations for International Students
International Student Experience
Reduced Course Loads
Connections Between UW & UN
MDGAP in the Community
ISS Compass The ISS Compass is a biannual e-newsletter from International Student Services designed to provide information to all faculty and staff about student services and resources for the campus in relation to serving international students.
The BRIDGE (Building Relationships in Diverse Global Environments) Interna-tional Friendship program is 10 years old! BRIDGE is a high impact program at ISS that pairs new international students to U.S. students helping to integrate the new students to the UW in addition to teaching U.S. students about other coun-tries and cultures. The program was recently awarded MIU funding to add a staff member and expand.
One of the new initiatives include working
with faculty and staff to volunteer and
become a BRIDGE Mentor for a smaller
group of students in the program. The
small teams are arranged by majors,
hobbies & interests, or living areas. The
hope is to have each team be mentored by
a faculty/staff who will check in with the
students throughout the semester and act
as a resource person to the team of about
16 students.
For more information, please contact,
Jessica Harmatys, BRIDGE Field Coordina-
tor at jharmatys@studentlife.wisc.edu.
Help BRIDGE introduce the world to
campus!
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF BRIDGE!
SUMMER term is even more challenging
if it is the student’s final semester. All F-
1 and J-1 visa holders must be enrolled
and participating in class ON CAMPUS at
the institution listed on their immigra-
tion paperwork in their final term. If
summer is the student’s final term of
study, they may not enroll for online
courses only. If they will continue to
study in the Fall term, then an online
course alone in summer would be
allowed. Additionally, on-campus enroll-
ment is a requirement of all F-1 and J-1
students who wish to remain in the US
for post-graduation work permission
(Optional Practical Training or Academic
Training).
Photo by University Communications
Online learning has become a great
resource for helping many students
balance their requirements. Inter-
national students, however, face
additional difficulty in utilizing this
option due to F-1 and J-1 visa regu-
lations. Currently, the rules are not
flexible on distance learning. Inter-
national students have restrictions
on the number of online credits
they may take per semester that
will count toward full-time enroll-
ment, as well as very specific rules
about enrolling on campus in their
final term.
US F-1 and J-1 student visa regula-
tions state that in SPRING & FALL
terms, a student may enroll for up to
3 Credits of Online Coursework that
may count toward full-time enroll-
ment requirements. Therefore, grad-
uate full-time enrollment must be 8
credits (3 Credits online included)
and undergraduate full-time enroll-
ment must be 12 credits (3 credits
online included). More than 3 Cred-
its of online courses will not count
toward enrollment requirements.
Students may enroll for more online
courses but they will still need to
take on-Campus courses equal to 5
credits for graduate students or 9
credits for undergraduate students
to be considered full time.
ONLINE COURSE OPTIONS ARE LIMITED FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
(Continued on page 4)
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FIRST-YEAR SURVEY
Top 4 Transition Issues for International Students
Housing (off campus)
Language (writing)
Winter Weather
Meeting American students
*Based on the ISS annual First-Year Survey for International Students 2012
Page 2
Each year ISS sends a survey to international students who have been in attendance for one to two semesters, encouraging them to reflect on their arrival to Madison and to answer a series of questions about their “First Year Experience”. The survey seeks information about how to make the transition to UW-Madison and the United States a bit easier for interna-tional students.
A variety of transitional issues have been named by international students as playing a major role in their first year experience at UW-Madison. Many of these issues would resonate with our US student population as well, but considering the distance many of our international students travel and the language barrier for something as complicated as renting an apart-ment, these issues can be magnified.
ISS works closely with Visitor and Information Programs, which offers valuable resources in seeking campus area housing and with the Tenant Resource Center which provides housing and tenant resources for students who may be unfamiliar with securing off-campus housing.
If you encounter international students having trouble adjusting to UW-Madison , please feel free to point them to campus resources such as VIP, GUTS, the Writing Center, UHS Counseling and Consultation Services, or the Center for Leadership and Involve-ment for student organization information and ISS.
Photo by University Communications
Photo by James Ewing
Photo by James Ewing
REDUCED COURSE LOADS International students who come to UW-Madison on either an F-1 or J-1 student visa need to enroll in a minimum number of credits each fall & spring semester to maintain their visa status:
Undergraduates: 12 credits
Graduates & Professionals: 8 credits
6 credits for graduates with a 33.3% Teaching Assistantship / Project Assistantship
4 credits for graduates with a 50% Teaching Assistantship / Project Assistantship
Dissertators: 3 credits
There are very few acceptable reasons that international students may be authorized to enroll below full time. In order to maintain their legal status, the students must first obtain approval from ISS before they reduce their course load. As part of the approval process, students need to fill out an application with their academic advisor, who should confirm the reason for the student’s need to drop below full time. If you have any questions about re-duced course loads , please feel free to contact ISS.
mote gender equality, and to improve maternal health so that women and children have a better chance of living healthy lives.
Since its inception, MDGAP has provided presentations on the Goals, held an annu-al forum bringing together faculty presenters, student organizations, and commu-nity agencies working in MDG areas, and has linked students with relevant pro-fessional and skill-building opportunities, including internships, volunteer op-portunities, community services projects, confer-ences, and workshops.
The project hosts an in-formative website at http://www.iss.wisc.edu/mdgap/ and recently began edu-
The ISS - Millennium Devel-opment Goals Awareness Project (MDGAP) was intro-duced in the spring of 2009 to help establish a connec-tion between the University and the United Nations and to open new career fron-tiers related to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for students.
The eight MDGs work to address the world’s most urgent global challenges by calling on member nations to take aggressive action to halve extreme poverty, re-duce child mortality, halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, and reverse environmental deg-radation. The Goals also obligate members to work toward universal education at the primary level, to pro-
cating about the goals by utilizing social media heavily. The project Facebook account (Mdgap Uw) is constantly advancing new information and opportunities for engagement and use of Twitter (MDGAP_UW) is under experimentation.
In 2010, the project began leading study tours to the UN in New
(Continued on page 4)
FORGING CONNECTION BETWEEN THE UW AND THE UN
Page 3
MDGAP, holds one community service event each semester. These day-long projects have focused on different Millennium
Development Goals. This Fall, a group of 17 international students from 7 different countries and three ISS staff members went to
Second Harvest Foodbank to help sort and package 15,643 pounds of donated food, equivalent to 13,036 meals. The food was
then distributed to 300 food pantries throughout the SouthernWisconsin region by Second Harvest Foodbank staff. This particular
project’s focus was on MDG 1 to eradicate hunger.
Other community service projects have included trips to Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, Growing Power in Milwaukee,
Community Action Coalition, Habitat for Humanity,
Fitchburg Fields, Porchlight, and The Ronald McDonald
House. The day begins with a presentation on the
MDG’s focus and how the organization is working to
combat the goal locally and/or globally. It ends with a
debrief including the students’ perspectives of the day
and how the experience in Madison relates to similar
experiences in their home countries. The debrief al-
lows the students to unpack what they have learned
and see similarities and differences between the U.S.
and their home countries which perhaps they did not
recognize before. To learn more about the goals and
community service projects, visit
http://www.iss.wisc.edu/mdgap/.
MDGAP IN THE COMMUNITY
An International Student at UN Headquarters in New York City
Page 4
CHECK OUT THE INTERNAT IONAL STUDENT GUIDE
If you have not yet
discovered the ISS
website, please visit
www.iss.wisc.edu.
You will find a wealth of
information and re-
sources for new and
current international
students.
If you work with new
international students
please refer them to
the Students link and
make sure they are
aware of the infor-
mation available under
Arrival and Orientation.
We highly recommend
viewing the Interna-
tional Student Guide,
an interactive E-tutorial
funded through an MIU
(Madison Initiative for
Undergraduates) grant.
This is a popular way our
new and prospective stu-
dents learn about UW-
Madison and prepare for
their arrival here.
http://iss.wisc.edu/
Tutorial/index.htm
York so that students could learn more about the Goals first-hand by meeting and interview-ing representatives of UN programs, funds & special agencies tasked with implementing MDG projects. Thus far, the project has led three tours and is planning a fourth over spring break 2013.
The study tours inspired invitations to UN staff to speak at UW-Madison. Balasubramaniam Murali, Programme Advisor for Afghanistan & Iran in the UN Development Programme’s Re-gional Bureau for Asia & the Pacific, was the project’s first speaker in 2011. World Food Programme Spokeperson and UW-Madison Alumna, Bettina Luescher followed this past spring. The project is set to host Shams Banihani from UNDP on March 7-8, 2013. Fac-ulty wishing to give extra credit to students for attending Ms. Banihani’s presentations are welcome to do so.
MDGAP works with many dedicated campus partners to achieve its goals, including Global Studies, Global Health Institute, CALS-International Programs, WUD – Global Con-nections, SOB-International Programs, WAA, and numerous student organizations.
The project may be reached at mdgap@studentlife.wisc.edu.
FORGING CONNECTION BETWEEN THE
UW AND THE UN (Continued from page 3)
ONLINE COURSE OPTIONS ARE LIMITED FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
MDGAP Study Group students on New York UN trip
716 Langdon St. Rm. 217
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608-262-2044
Fax: 608-262-2838
E-mail: iss@studentlife.wisc.edu
Web: www.iss.wisc.edu
FRIEND, L IKE, OR FOL LOW ISS!
If they only enroll in online credits
in the US or abroad, they will lose
any work permission opportunities
in the US.
These rules are very different for
US students so it is important that
international students are made
aware of the requirements
through advising with academic
advisors and ISS advisors. Please
send any students with questions
to ISS and feel free to contact our
office with questions:
ISS@studentlife.wisc.edu or
608.262.2044.
If you are interested in the actual Fed-
eral Regulations notation, it can be
found here under: 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(f)
(6)(i)(G)
http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/
SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-11261/0
-0-0-17197/0-0-0-17636.html
(Continued from page 1)