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Session 2560

An International Cooperative Education Experience for Engineering and Technology Students

Patricia L. Fox, Stephen P. Hundley, Claudia Grossmann Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Kay Wilding Berufsakademie Mannheim, Germany

Abstract

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and the Berufsakademie Mannheim (BA-M), a cooperative education university located in Mannheim, Germany, have a unique student cooperative education exchange program that has served a total of forty IUPUI students and forty-eight BA-M students for the past 10 years. Sixty-eight percent of the students who have participated in the program have been engineering and technology students.

The IUPUI exchange students spend approximately eight weeks working in a business or industry in Germany, while students from the BA-M do the same in the Indianapolis area. Work assignments and housing are arranged for the students by the hosting institution. The German students normally begin their exchange in mid January while the IUPUI students commence in mid-May. In most situations, all students are normally placed in a family home while participating in the program.

This paper will provide a review of the program over the past decade from an IUPUI perspective. It will include all benefits, challenges, results, and rewards for the participating students, companies, and the institutions.

I. Introduction

Foreign language education at the post-secondary level in the United States has been battling declining enrollments, with the notable exception of Spanish as a foreign language, despite the fact that the term ’globalization’ has evolved from a fancy buzzword to a common household word. Even Kindergarten teachers nowadays make every effort to introduce world cultures into their curriculum. A number of institutions of higher education offer coursework in international business; many offer degrees in the field. Nevertheless, the number of U.S. students studying a foreign language or participating in a study abroad program still remains a minority. For instance, less than 1 % of American undergraduates study overseas, many of them majoring in humanities and social sciences. Since English is the self-declared ’global language’ which rules not only the Internet but also the corporate world and popular culture, graduates and young professionals in business, engineering, technology or science do not see the need for

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright 2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Wilding, K., & Grossman, C., & Hundley, S., & Fox, P. (2001, June), An International Cooperative Education Experience For Engineering And Technology Students Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9457