Borderless Learning
Iceland’s erupting volcano and the breadth of global disruption it caused last spring is a clear indication of “just how connected the world is,” says Lester Gerhardt, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.
He would know. Gerhardt leads global study programs at the school and is a co-founder and chairman of the New York City-based Global Engineering Education Exchange. The group of nearly 80 U.S. and overseas engineering schools has fostered global study since the mid-1990s.
However, today, more engineering and construction education programs are expanding offerings and connections in international study. “More employers are wanting—and even expecting—their students to have an international or global background,” says Nicole Sanderlin, director of international programs at Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering, a new position at the Blacksburg, Va., school.
More students also are seeking the experiences and added skills to broaden horizons, résumés and their own appeal to prospective employers in these tough times. “There is a cultural and intellectual challenge, which is rewarding beyond expectations,” says Brian Romaskey, a mechanical engineering undergrad at Drexel University, Philadelphia, who spent last year studying at Tohoku University in Japan and working in a research lab.
“Companies value engineers who can appreciate the many cultural, societal and business differences, in addition to engineering,” says Ken Fridley, head of the civil, construction and environmental engineering department at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
Companies agree. “About 50% of our current open opportunities are for roles outside of North America,” says Suzanne Hovhannesian, vice president of talent acquisition for AECOM Technology Corp. “We are focused on providing opportunities for employees to have work experiences in different geographies, and it is our preference to hire new employees who have worked internationally.”
Extracurricular overseas experiences such as Engineers Without Borders have been a draw for students to apply classroom theory to real needs in developing countries. The group counts nearly 13,000 members across the U.S., mostly on college and university campuses, and has spawned similar volunteer programs within schools.
Incorporating foreign language skills into engineering curricula has been a long-standing charter at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston. The school’s International Engineering Program offers a five-year graduate-level dual degree in language and engineering. New York City-based Columbia University’s dual-degree master-of-engineering exchange program with Italy’s University of Bologna certifies graduates for work in both the U.S. and European Union countries, says Feniosky Pena-Mora, Columbia engineering school dean.
Programs also seek to strengthen ties in Asia. “We expect that growth in these regions, including growth in technology-based industries, will be a defining component” for many engineering graduates, says Joseph Helble, dean of Dartmouth University’s Thayer engineering school, which exchanges students with Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.
“Chulalongkorn is arguably the best university in the country,” says Francis Kennedy, the university engineering professor who organized the program. “For 90 years or so, they’ve been in business as an engineering school.” It is adding a program in Hong Kong and considering others in Korea, India or Taiwan.
Rhode Island established a Chinese track three years ago, building a relationship with Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, and hopes to offer Chinese as a major next year, says the program’s executive director, Sigrid Berka. But other program administrators note that, even with globalization, cultural differences remain between U.S. and Asian programs. “We emphasize team and leadership skills here,” says one administrator. “A lot there is memorization.”
Majoring in engineering can be challenging to international study, since both tend to ramp up in a student’s junior year. Columbia is looking at overseas study programs in the spring semester of students’ sophomore year, says Pena-Mora. At other schools, international programs are starting even earlier. “We begin talking seriously about this at orientation now,” says Sheryl A. Snyder, director of student programs and international affairs at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The University of Alabama’s Fridley says even prospective engineering students are inquiring about studying abroad during high school visits.
Although Virginia Tech’s Sanderlin recognizes long-term immersive overseas programs provide students with the most value in terms of cultural learning experiences, the financial burden can prove too much for some, especially during a recession. Short-term programs are becoming more popular. “Students who may not find a really good summer engineering job opt for a summer study abroad program instead,” says Fridley.
Schools and students also are hoping to make overseas internships part of the experience. Currently, the University of Rhode Island requires students to spend their fourth year abroad, completing six months of study and six months of an internship. Berka notes that getting work visas for students in China has been a challenge.
“We do have student interns in many of our international operations,” says George J. Pierson, president and CEO of global engineer Parsons Brinckerhoff. “We do not have a specified program of sending U.S. students abroad to intern,...
...but if interest is expressed, we can and do work with students to determine if there could be a fit in one of our non-U.S. operations.” Tom Haak, corporate director of human resources for Dutch engineer ARCADIS, says international internships are few at the firm. “But for top students with the right profile we are sometimes able to create opportunities,” he says.
Tyler Silverman, a University of Colorado chemical engineering graduate, postponed his graduation in 2008 to qualify for an internship with a Spanish solar technology firm. He now works full-time for the firm as an R&D field engineer. “The benefits are uncountable. I am fully integrated in a developing solar sector working on solar technologies that really only exist in Spain right now,” he says. “And I am working with some incredibly intelligent people here in Spain.”
Partnerships with companies are proving critical for global programs. Last year, the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas, Austin, added a new one-year course that begins by teaching students in the classroom and, ultimately, lands them on international projects sponsored by corporations. The three-course sequence, dubbed Projects for Underserved Communities, starts with a class on project planning and finishes with a construction focus in the field. “It’s basically taking the concept of Engineers Without Borders a step or two further and providing some mentoring and coaching for these students as they progress,” says James O’Connor, UT professor of construction engineering and project management.
This year, the school partnered with Bechtel Group on a community legacy project associated with a liquefied natural- gas project under way in Angola. A team of students will work with Bechtel to help build a school and recreation center in a community near the project site. Last year, teams of students worked on two other projects sponsored by oil and gas companies in Ghana and in Peru.
O’Connor says the international aspect of the course is part of its appeal. “We’ve offered domestic projects to students and tried to cultivate them, but, invariably, they want to go overseas and have that experience,” he says. “The international dimension is the draw.”
Construction management students also are crossing borders. Skyler Holloway, a sophomore CM major at Arizona State University, is studying at Australia’s Griffith University next year. “Because they have construction and civil engineering programs, I will not need to set back my graduate date at all,” he says.
Gaining international experience doesn’t necessarily have to fit the confines of school curricula. In 2008, the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta established the Joe S. Mundy Global Learning Experience Endowment Fund. The $4-million endowment offers students up to $5,000 each for worldwide educational and cultural experiences that increase both the value of the student’s degree and the potential for the student to be a leader in a global community.
Rensselaer’s Gerhardt says study-abroad involvement shows employers early evidence of a potential hire’s initiative and drive. “Firms don’t hire grads because they know a little Korean. It’s because they voluntarily seek out an international experience,” he says. “That’s the kind of person I want working for me.”