University senate passed a motion Monday for Miami University's first joint international degree program to begin enrolling students in fall 2010.
The degree, a master's in gerontology, would take two years to complete and involves one year of study at Miami and one year at Mahidol University in Thailand, according to Bruce Cochrane, dean of the graduate school.
"The proposal is that we have a master's degree in gerontology that would be a complete collaboration between the two institutions," Cochrane said.
Bob Applebaum, professor of sociology and gerontology, said partnering with Mahidol would greatly benefit Miami students.
"Mahidol probably has the leading medical school in Thailand and is probably one of the top universities (in Thailand) overall," Applebaum said. "It's probably the best university in Thailand for this kind of research."
Scott Brown, assistant professor in the sociology and gerontology department, said this program is beneficial because the issue of aging is very prevalent in the world today.
"In many ways this degree answers an issue that's similar to issues of population over the last 30 years," Brown said. "A lot of master's programs, including Mahidol's, address problems of staff professionals in parts of Asia (and) Africa. They add the population expertise."
Applebaum agreed both Miami and Mahidol would work well together in this program.
"Essentially we're relying on their population experience and work and they're relying on our gerontology," Applebaum said.
Applebaum said this program would not require any new faculty resources.
"All of the courses that students will take already exist," Applebaum said. "There will be a little more effort in the recruitment process and admissions, though."
Brown said the program would span two years and would end with the completion of a thesis by each student.
"It's designed as a two-year program," Brown said. "Mahidol's term schedule works a little bit differently, so students will have about a month and a half at the end to complete their thesis but they would be working on it throughout their second year."
Brown added the classes students will take in Thailand are all on Mahidol's main campus in Bangkok, but Mahidol has stations across Thailand that would be available to students for research or internship opportunities.
Applebaum said the program would be small with only about six students per year, but all six would receive assistantships while in their first year at Miami.
Cochrane said funding for these assistantships would come from existing resources and through the re-allocation process the university has just experienced, and that external funding would be investigated.
"It's not envisioned that external support would be there to increase the number of students, but rather to take the pressure off of the internal sources," Cochrane said.
Cochrane said he hopes to enroll three students in the program through Miami and three through Mahidol.
