A Brief Overview Of The Program
he
program is designed to prepare you for a career in the
global market by offering you the opportunity to experience
first-hand the practice of engineering in another industrialized country,
Germany. The program prepares you for work with any of the thousands of
companies that have gone global and need engineers that can work in a
variety of cultural settings.
This five_year
program leads to a dual degree, a BA in German and BS in engineering and
includes a six_month internship in Germany. The program is open to any
qualified engineering student and requires no previous knowledge
of German. Students electing EUROTECH receive the same quality engineering
education that UCONN has always provided, i.e. programs accredited by
the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).
EUROTECH
consistently links the two majors, German and engineering, at all levels
of instruction. The program introduces you to German-speaking engineering
faculty and engineers from Germany from the very beginning.
Students
start learning German in special EUROTECH tracks of German 131 and 132
taught by experienced faculty members. In their course design, the instructors
take into account EUROTECH students' interest in math, science, and engineering.
At the intermediate level, in the second year, students continue German
in special tracks and begin a series of one-credit modules: German 220,
221, and 222. Here they get to work with German_speaking engineers from
the university and from industry who address a variety of topics in science
and technology (see pp. 21). As
juniors and seniors, EUROTECH students take all the upper_level German
classes necessary to earn a degree in German Studies. Many of our students
take some of these classes before or after their internship in Germany
at one of the German universities nearby.
In the
past, we have arranged at least one field trip per year to local companies.
Every other year, we organize study trips to Germany for groups of EUROTECH
students to give them a chance to visit Germany before their engineering
internship abroad. Students are encouraged to do one or two summer internships
with companies in the U.S. before embarking on their six_month internship
abroad (see p. 22). The German industrial
experience usually takes place in the fall or spring semester of the third
or fourth year of study.
To ensure
that the program will meet the needs of Connecticut's industry, the administrators
of EUROTECH invited the presidents of German and U.S. firms to join an
Advisory Board that oversees the program, assists in its development,
and guarantees the students' appropriate preparation for cross_cultural
work (see p. 36). The university's initiative
has been received with great enthusiasm by industry. The EUROTECH Program
sends out an annual newsletter, which not only informs German and U.S.
firms of the up-to-date progress of the program, but also gives potential
and current students a close and personal overview of the program.
Each year
about 10% of all first year engineering students enroll in EUROTECH. As
word spreads, the number is expected to increase due to students' growing
realization that cross-cultural awareness and competence is a great asset
for their careers.
Upon graduation,
EUROTECH engineers will bring not just sophisticated technical know_how
to their jobs but also foreign language skills, cultural sensitivity and
an international awareness that U.S. companies are finding more and more
desirable.
During the early years of this program we have:
• Developed a consensus among industries and the University of Connecticut that EUROTECH will be a permanent offering.
• Developed a Board of Advisors to review our progress and provide advice on reaching our objectives.
• Enlisted German-speaking scientists and engineers as seminar lecturers.
• Visited nearly 30 companies in Germany explaining our program and receiving suggestions about preparation for internships in Germany.
We are now:
• Continuing to explore various sources for setting up internships in Germany.
• Developing relations that will lead to more summer employment opportunities in the USA for students in the program.
• Developing a fund that students can use to help with their transportation expenses to and from Germany and with some of the other costs incurred during completion of the program.
• Developing a scholarship fund to allow students to participate who cannot afford the extra year of the program.
• Increasing our recruiting and retention efforts in order to make the program accessible to more students.
EUROTECH
was started with the help of a grant from the Fund for the Improvement
of Post_Secondary Education (FIPSE, Department of Education) in the Fall
of 1993. Our graduates typically work for US and German companies that
operate in both countries (Bosch, Proctor & Gamble, Bayer, Trumpf),
some also pursue graduate degrees upon completion of their BA and BS.
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