The Undergraduate Curriculum Committee unanimously approved the selection criteria for the Brandeis study abroad applications last Thursday, according to Dean of Academic Services Kim Godsoe.The criteria, according to the minutes from the Advisory Committee to Study Abroad's meeting March 5, is divided into four parts: academic and intellectual fit of the program, intercultural learning plan, academic achievement and preparedness and personal preparedness. Each facet has different weights of importance: academic and intellectual fit of the program is weighted as 30 percent of the application, intercultural learning plan as 20 percent, academic achievement and preparedness as 30 percent and personal preparedness as 20 percent.

Godsoe said that the selection criteria do not represent a large number of changes to the current system but provide a more definitive system for reviewing applications. "This criteria formalizes the criteria we have been using informally. A student's level of preparation for the challenges of living abroad has always been a factor, but the new criteria adds more detail to the framework," she said.

Godsoe initially distributed the selection criteria at the Advisory Committee to Study Abroad meeting on Feb. 5, according to the minutes from that meeting. The criteria were reviewed at the March 5 ACSA meeting before it was presented to the UCC last Thursday.

Maggie Balch, the associate dean of student life and a member of the committee, said that the overall goal of the selection criteria is to ensure that students take the option of studying abroad seriously and think out the process. "The members of the committee want to see that the program for which students are applying meets their academic interests, and that students have seriously considered the implications and challenges of living abroad," Balch said.

According to the minutes from the March 5 meeting, "There was some disagreement voiced early in the discussion with the percentages assigned to various categories, but those who raised those concerns later said they felt comfortable with the categories."

Godsoe explained in an interview that overall, the criteria received "overwhelming support" from the students, faculty and staff on the committee.

Hanna Rosenthal-Fuller '09, a student member of the committee, said, "The criteria seems to be very consistent with students' goals for study abroad because it enables them to articulate specifically why they want to go abroad and is representative of the committee's goals and options as a way of judging students' applications."

While the committee generally supported the criteria, the issue of students' judicial records still remained a source of contention. This issue was brought up at the previous meeting Feb. 11. The minutes from that meeting state that currently students are only ineligible from going abroad if they are on active probation, but students applying to study abroad programs have to give the faculty access to their judicial files.

The March 5 minutes state that "while no consensus was reached, it was very clear that judicial issues are very individual, thus a nuanced and balanced review of any past or pending judicial issues would be necessary."

"The only question that repeatedly emerges is to what degree a student's prior experience with judicial action should impede their ability to go abroad," said Godsoe, adding that there were a "wide range of opinions on the subject."

"I think assessing the judicial aspect on an individual basis is the best way of approaching the issue," Godsoe said.

Rosenthal-Fuller also confirmed the debate over the issue of prior judicial action but did not specify which members of the committee thought it should prevent students from going abroad.

She also did not say which members thought it should not be a factor.