Starting this spring, up to five ASU students will have a chance to study engineering abroad.
The chance comes from the University’s recent membership in the Global Engineering Education Exchange program, also known as Global E3.
“Membership in Global E3 gives us greater opportunities to offer our students some of the most important learning experiences they’ll need to succeed in engineering today and into the future,” said Deirdre Meldrum, dean of the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, in an e-mail.
“Knowing how to approach engineering challenges from an international perspective, and understanding how to collaborate with people in different countries and from different cultures, is going to be an invaluable skill for young engineers,” she said.
Claudia Navarro, director of global outreach for Global Outreach and Extended Education in the engineering school, said Meldrum supported the idea of membership in the program from the beginning of the application process.
Global E3 started in 1995, she said. ASU’s application process started about six months ago, and this fall students will be recruited into the program.
“[Global E3] definitely is in line with the priorities of the engineering school,” Navarro said.
Each year, five students total will study abroad, which can be split up between the two semesters. Five students from other countries will also be coming to ASU each year, she said.
“[The aim of the program] is to offer these international experiences to students before they graduate,” Navarro said. “It’s very common to find professional engineers working on global teams.”
There are more than 80 education institutions students can study at worldwide, with more than 50 education institutions available for students from U.S. schools, according to the Global E3 Web site.
Navarro said she thinks students will have greater job and internship opportunities in foreign countries and in general once they’ve participated in the program.
“It definitely adds an edge to their education, and they will stand out,” she said.
Laura Ventoza, a civil engineering junior, studied abroad in fall 2008 at the Institute of Technology and Higher Studies of Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico.
She’s planning on studying abroad this fall in the same place, as well as in the future.
“The biggest thing I saw was in the difference in the styles of teaching,” Ventoza said.
She said the classes had more hands-on work, projects and group work at the school in Mexico.
“It was a completely different teaching style — a lot more structured,” Ventoza said.
She said she thinks her study abroad experience will help her get jobs in the future.
“I’ll be able to communicate with engineers from Latin America,” she said.
Cori Oversby, a civil engineer student who graduated in May 2008, was the construction manager for an Engineers Without Borders project in Ecuador last summer.
She said she spent two months in Ecuador in the program, which partnered with Escuela Politecnica Nacional, located in Quito, Ecuador.
“I really think it gives you the bigger picture of how your work actually affects the people you’re serving,” Oversby said.
The village she worked with had about 300 people, including the Shuar tribe.
“The phase that I was a part of was stabilizing the water system,” she said.
Oversby said she helped rebuild a dam and repair an underground water storage tank, among other things.
“This experience definitely taught me how, when you’re engineering in a third world [country], it’s just not the same [as in the United States],” she said.
She said her experience in helping with an engineering project abroad helped her obtain her current job as a water resource engineer.
“For my current job, a lot of our top clients are Native Americans,” Oversby said. “That cultural background [from the program] was what made me attractive to the company.”
Reach the reporter at
reweaver@asu.edu
