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Ac 2007-736: the Shaping of Virginia Tech's International Engineering Education Program
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Scales, Glenda Gunter, Rebecca E. Peed, Cheryl |
| Copyright Year | 2007 |
| Abstract | Virginia Tech’s strategic plan recognizes the need for its engineering graduates to have a more global outlook. Today’s engineer is more likely than ever to interact with people from a variety of cultures and to be involved with projects that span across continents. The institutional goal of increasing students’ global awareness put more focus on establishing an international department at the Dean’s level in the College of Engineering. This paper will discuss the development of this office and the administrative efforts to raise the percentage of the university’s engineering students going abroad. It will show how to use existing resources such as faculty members that have individually developed international programs that reflect their passions, university level service departments, and student involvement. The faculty resource was drawn upon to create an International Programs Faculty Committee with the charge of setting policy and procedures involving the designation of target countries and the review of program and funding proposals, leveraging existing relationships, and creating new international opportunities. One key question for the faculty committee is: “How can this committee help the College of Engineering Faculty with their international collaborative research efforts?” will be addressed. To further administer this program, a study abroad advisor position was established to facilitate the development of a Student Engineers’ Abroad Council and to chair the departmental international contacts committee. To accomplish the strategic goals several databases were established consisting of alumni working/living abroad, international university contacts, and collaborative overseas company branches. These databases will be used as resources to expand student and faculty global experiences. Databases with grant and scholarships were also populated with step by step processes set up to alleviate the hurdles for engineering students to go abroad. This paper will show guidelines on how an Engineering Education Abroad Fair was organized, measures to energize students and motivate faculty, the preliminary process for developing performance measures and assessment tools, and processes used in getting support from key stakeholders of the university. Next steps will be outlined with a plan of development and implementation to increase the international awareness and opportunities for the engineering student. Background Although international programs have been important to the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech for many years, widespread commitment to this area has recently seen a marked increase in the college as well as the university. The university as a whole has several offices in place which support international programs. The College of Engineering utilizes these resources with the goal of not duplicating the services that they offer. For example, the Education Abroad Office operates under the auspices of the Office of International Research, Education, and Development. Bilateral exchange programs, faculty-led study abroad trips, and other international education experiences are all coordinated through this office. Students can also enroll in international co-ops through Career Services. For international students, faculty, and their dependents, the Cranwell International Center serves as invaluable resource. Here, an abundance of pertinent information can be found about topics ranging from visas to general orientation to the area. The Cranwell Center also sponsors English conversation programs and an international friendship program to match students to local residents. Another university-level resource is the Center for European Studies and Architecture (CESA) in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland. In the early 1990s, Virginia Tech purchased an approximately 250 year old villa in this town located in the Italian-speaking Canton of Ticino. A variety of semesterand summer-long study abroad programs are held at or based out of CESA. During the summer of 2002, this included an opportunity for incoming engineering freshmen to complete two required first-year courses through the combination of two weeks of classes on campus in the U.S. with two weeks of learning in Europe. Not only did this give a group of advanced students the chance to get an early start on their college careers, but it also gave them a taste of studying abroad with the hope that they would later take part in a longer program. Virginia Tech also participates in some organizations that are beneficial to the College of Engineering. For example, the Atlantic Coast Conference International Academic Collaborative (ACC IAC) brings together 12 universities to sponsor international opportunities for students and faculty. An engineering faculty member participated in the faculty development program in Southeast Asia last summer and another is the co-sponsor of a study abroad program in Vietnam beginning in the summer of 2007. Additionally, in spite of this wealth of both internal and external resources, many faculty members work independently to develop partnerships and connections with colleagues and universities abroad. One key sign that the College of Engineering is committed to its international programs is its focus on Virginia Tech’s international strategic plan, which includes the goal of increasing “the number of students engaged in education abroad by 10% per year for seven years.” Figure 1 shows the number and destinations of students who had an international experience in 2006 that Engineering’s International Programs Office is aware of at this time. International experience refers to a variety of activities, including semesterand year-long study abroad programs, summer study abroad programs (which can include classroom, laboratory, and/or service components), and senior design projects that combine prolonged virtual cooperation with students at a foreign university with approximately week-long trips overseas to collaborate in person. The number of students counted for these experiences is calculated according to the standards of the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors Report, which states that, “study abroad is narrowly defined as only those students who received academic credit from a U.S. accredited institution of higher education after they returned from their study abroad experience.” Figure 2 indicates the new locations for international engineering opportunities in 2007 and the number of students who are projected to take part in each program at this time. 2006 Countries Number of Students Australia 12 Canada 1 Costa Rica 1 Egypt 7 England 21 European Mining Course (England, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands) 2 France 16 Hungary 1 Italy 1 Korea 1 Spain 2 Total 65 Figure 1: Countries where engineering students traveled abroad in 2006 Countries with New Program Projected Number of New |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.icee.usm.edu/ICEE/conferences/asee2007/papers/736_THE_SHAPING_OF_VIRGINIA_TECH_S_INTERNATI.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://peer.asee.org/the-shaping-of-virginia-tech-s-international-engineering-education-program.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
