Freshman program to germany: An introduction to German engineering

Many exchange programs within engineering have suffered from low participation rates in the past. The reasons for this have been multi-faceted, but include such factors as lack of language skills, price of programs, concern over time-to-degree, curricular challenges and fear of the unknown. The University of Kentucky (UK) College of Engineering has developed a program designed for freshmen and possibly sophomore engineering students, which addresses some of these concerns. Beginning in 2007, the College of Engineering took a group of students to Germany for a four-week, intensive Calculus III program that included a German Engineering component. Students stayed with English-speaking host families and completed their coursework in English. The Calculus III class is part of the engineering students' core curriculum, and fits well into the sequence as a summer class after the freshman year. The German Engineering component, through which students earned two hours of credit, consisted of company visits and discussions with engineers and business leaders. Following completion of the program, a post-experience survey confirmed that the students would be more willing to work or study abroad in the future, and that they felt more internationally competent and ready to interact with people from other countries and cultures. Students also reported a higher awareness of how other people view them. Three of the eight participants who had no prior German language skills enrolled in German 101 after the tour.