1. IUPC Debate Item
5.1 ‘Should BU consider establishing joint/dual degree programmes with global partners?’

2. Joint Degree One programme Partners 1 &2 &3 Certificate
Full definitions of Joint, Double/Multiple and Dual Degrees can be found in QAA’s ‘Qualifications Involving More Than One Degree-Awarding Body Characteristics Statement’, October Printouts will be provided at the meeting.

3. Double/Multiple Degree
One programme
Partner 1 Certificate
Partner 2 Certificate
Partner 3 Certificate

4. Dual Degree Initial joint curriculum – Partner 1 or 2
Block 1 – Partner 1
Block 2 – Partner 2
Partner 1 Certificate
Partner 2 Certificate

5. Background (1) Some Benefits
Joint/dual degree programmes can:
Involve international academic collaboration and can bring important benefits to students, professors, institutions, and national and regional education systems
Be seen by some as an extension of exchange and mobility programmes
Utilise the expertise of two or more universities shapes the academic programme
Result in curriculum innovation, exchanges of professors and researchers and access to expertise and networks of the partner university
Increase an institution’s reputation and ranking as an international university by collaborating with partners of equal or greater status
Points in the Background section taken from ‘Are double or multiple degrees leading to ‘discount degrees’?’, University World News, Jane Knight, October 2014, Issue No:337

6. Background (2) Some Questions/Concerns
Different regulatory systems, academic calendars, quality assurance and accreditation schemes, credit systems, tuition and scholarship programmes, teaching approaches, entrance and examination requirements, language of instruction and thesis or dissertation supervision
Question of best method of accreditation of double/multiple degree programmes – national, binational, regional or international accreditation?
Are these programmes sustainable without additional internal or external supplementary funding?

7. Provision of Double/Dual Degrees at Alliance Universities
Alliance University
Double/joint degree programme
Cardiff Metropolitan University ?
Coventry University
yes
Kingston University
Liverpool John Moores University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Nottingham Trent University
Oxford Brookes University
Plymouth University
Sheffield Hallam University
Teesside University
The Open University
University of Greenwich
University of Hertfordshire
University of Huddersfield
University of Lincoln
University of Portsmouth
University of Salford
University of South Wales
University of the West of England

8. IUPC Debate Item:
‘Should BU consider establishing joint/dual degree programmes with global partners?’

9. Themes for Debate
What is the strategic value of establishing joint/dual degree programmes with global partners?
What are the risks, and how can they be mitigated?
Which programmes, partners and countries would most lend themselves to such arrangements?