Current trends in communication and information technologies, government deregulation, and interest in environmental concerns and data sharing have led to globalization of the engineering profession. Employers are increasingly stressing the need for a global perspective in engineering curricula. In recent years, engineering accreditation requirements have been revised to emphasize, among other things, an ability to understand societal and global issues of importance to engineers. In response, the engineering academic community is reconfiguring its curricula. One commonly used tool is to offer engineering students an opportunity to study abroad and work on projects in multinational companies in collaboration with students in foreign countries. The feasibility and benefits of this approach have been well documented. The participation of students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in international programs is generally very limited, especially in the engineering disciplines. This proposal is aimed at promoting and facilitating study abroad programs for engineering students at HBCUs. Barriers to student engagement in international programs include travel and other associated costs, fear of losing time and loss of academic credits, effort involved in learning a new language, and general ignorance of international programs at the curriculum advisor level. The proposed project will attempt to minimize the effect of these barriers. The project will involve collaborative work among major HBCUs that have ABET-accredited engineering programs and selected institutions in France, Germany and Spain through the support of the Global Education for European Engineers and Entrepreneurs (GE4) organization, corporate partners and research laboratories. By effectively using the intervening summer periods, the program will be structured to fit within current curriculum requirements without significantly increasing the time-to-degree. The goals of the project are to enable HBCUs in the US and universities in Europe to promote international exchange of engineering students, to enhance the foreign language skills and the ability of students to understand different social and technical cultures, and to learn how to work in multi-national engineering teams. The evaluation of the curricula, development of special foreign language and cultural immersion courses and promotion of the program to potential students are the main activities proposed. The intellectual merit of the proposal is centered on a better understanding of the educational systems in Europe in an effort to align curriculum requirements for engineering students to allow them to spend a semester or more abroad without delaying graduation. The team assembled to work on the project consists of faculty and administrators in colleges of engineering at several HBCUs and European universities, representatives from GE4, and directors of study abroad programs at the campuses. If successful, the project will lay the foundation for significant increases in the number of underrepresented engineers who experience international study and work as part of their education. The broader impact of the project is rooted in the fact that the student participants in the exchange program belong to underrepresented minorities that have traditionally not participated in international programs. The proposed course development to enhance traditional foreign language courses to include cultural issues especially targeted to engineering students will be of value to students in other universities also. The course material will be made available to other universities on request.
