Program Overview

In the first two years of the program, all students will take the basic courses in their home institutions. They will focus their studies in basic courses to complete general education, liberal studies requirements, and/or basic course requirements in their majors. Each student will earn a Bachelor Degree in Arts and Sciences with a major in Business Administration from Linköping University in Sweden. In the U.S., students may select a Bachelor of Business degree in Information Systems, Marketing, Management, or Finance at Western Illinois University or they may select a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information Systems, or Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology from DePaul University.

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At the start of the 3rd year of the program, all students from the U.S. and Sweden will participate in an intensive one-month French language and culture course designed to provide students with professional competencies in French. The intensive program will be equivalent to 6 ECTS credits and fulfill foreign language and humanities requirements for U.S. and Swedish students. Students will then take courses in International Business, Finance, or Marketing, earning 30 ECTS credits. During the second semester, all students will attend Linköping University in Sweden and during the three weeks before the start of term, U.S. and French students will participate in a 7.5 ECTS credit program that introduces Swedish language and culture. Students will then take 15 ECTS credits, applicable to either their Europeon or U.S. degree;  all students will develop a thesis (15 ECTS credits) at the end of the spring term in order to fulfill the requirements of their bachelor’s degree from the E.U.

The 4th year starts with a language and orientation program that introduces E.U. students to American language, culture, and university life. This program will be tailored by each of the U.S. partner institutions. Students will then begin a full year of university study at either Western Illinois University or DePaul University in their selected degree program and earn a minimum 30 credit hours. Each of the U.S. degrees requires a capstone project comparable to the terminal thesis required by the E.U. degree programs. All students completing their US Undergraduate degrees (during their fourth year) will take these capstone courses. The dual –degree program will integrate this capstone project with the next cohort’s thesis project through the Trans-At lantic Virtual Conference Experience. This experience will create an opportunity for students to experience and participate in the global convergence of information technology, business innovation, and global collaboration. Dual-degree students from DePaul will set-up the technology to support an international conference that involves students from LiU in Sweden, CTI - DePaul in Chicago and WIU in Macomb. Part of this requirement will be to teach the 3rd year business students at LIU in Sweden and at WIU how to use the new information and communication technology (ICT). This conference will occur during mid-February and will feature faculty exchanges by the institutional partners. The conference will provide a venue for the student capstone projects and theses; it will also serve as a marketing/dissemination opportunity for the proposed program.

In the fall semester of 2007, the student exchange will begin with the first group of U.S. and Swedish students attending classes in France and E.U. students studying at WIU or DePaul. Later that academic year, the student exchange with Sweden will begin. Next to that, the first Transatlantic Virtual Conference will be held.