How to Obtain Academic Credit
Students participating in ICRPS may be eligible for academic credit towards their respective programs. Students should consult ICRPS faculty members from their institution to determine how academic credit can be obtained.

Canadian Universities:

MSc/Diploma/PhD Student Credit

• Register at a consortium institution. Typically register for the program as a “special topic course” or a “reading course”.

• Attend two ICRPS summer institutes.

• Take part in field study, lectures, group work and assignments at the summer schools. Receive a grade for this work from the home institution.

• Develop a proposal to conduct a comparative rural policy research project.

• Complete the research project upon returning to the home institution. Write a report which is graded by the core faculty advisor. Many students use the report as the basis for a Masters or PhD thesis.

• Upon successful completion of two summer schools and a comparative policy research report, a student is awarded an ICRPS certificate.

Professional Development Credit

• Attend one summer institute.

• Develop a proposal to conduct a comparative rural policy research project, which will be completed upon returning from the summer school.

• Upon successful completion of one summer school and the comparative rural policy research report, a participant will be awarded an ICRPS Professional Development Certificate.

Other

• There are three distance learning courses available on a variety of rural policy topics. Additional online courses are currently being developed.

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona:

Post-graduate Diploma
The students registered with the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona will obtain a Post-graduate Diploma upon completion of:

• Take part in one ICRPS Summer School.

• The successful completion of two on-line courses: (one on Rural Development Programme Evaluation and the other on Policy Analysis).

• Presentation of a comparative research project.

Masters Degree
The programme for those students wishing to obtain a Masters Degree is as follows:

• Take part in two ICRPS Summer Schools: One in a European Country and the other in a North American country.

• The elaboration of a Comparative Research Dissertation: Comparing some aspect of rural policy in a European versus a North American country.

• The successful completion of at least three on-line courses

For those students who only wish to attend the ICRPS Summer School, they will be given a Certificate of Assistance.

American Universities

For information on obtaining academic credit, please contact an ICRPS faculty member.