As scientific activities, both in private industry as well as university and government laboratories, become increasingly international in scope, it is essential that science students become familiar with foreign cultures, languages, and economic systems. One of the most effective vehicles for addressing this problem is through exchange programs in which students spend a year abroad, living much like the students at the foreign university. The goal of the present program is to facilitate these opportunities for science students. Science students face unique problems because of the large number of required courses in the standard four or five year curriculum, and because of the vertical structure of the science curriculum.

The TASSEP exchange program for science students is a vehicle that lets students study their chosen discipline at a foreign university. The agreement ensures that students receive full credit for courses taken at the foreign university. Students pay tuition and fees to their home institution and thereby receive student status at the foreign university. The exchange program is based on 1:1 reciprocity in which one foreign student replaces a student from the home institution. Each institution retains control of student selection as well as the number of students that participate in the program. The program is limited to students enrolled in the participating universities.