December 14, 2005 == MEDIA ADVISORY
The list of international opportunities for Calvin College engineering
students just got a little longer.
This month the college's Faculty Senate approved a six-week summer course in
Germany, to begin in the summer of 2006, that combines a regular Calvin
engineering course with a new German course at the University of Bremen.
Calvin engineering professor Ned Nielsen says the new course is vital in
today's global economy.
"I think we do a decent job of exposing our students to the international
nature of engineering," he says, "but we can always do better. This new course
is a great opportunity for our students. It's really exciting."
Students will spend six weeks in Germany with Nielsen (from mid-July to the
end of August). There they will take seven credit hours (four for the
engineering course and three for the German language and culture course at
Bremen).
Yet the course work will be balanced with cultural opportunities. Most
weekends the group plans to leave Bremen on Friday for a variety of
destinations in the country of Germany (Wittenberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, Koln),
returning to their homebase on Sunday ready to get back in the classroom on
Monday morning.
"These will be fun trips," Nielsen says, "but they'll also be great
opportunities for our students to soak up more German culture and to really
begin to understand the country."
Such an understanding, says Nielsen, is vital for students who want to stay in
West Michigan after graduation.
"The Right Place has done a great job connecting this region with Germany," he
says. "There are over a dozen companies here with German ownership and many
other companies that are American-owned and have a German presence. For our
students to have these experiences in Germany is really significant."
Nielsen notes that in the world of engineering currently the two language
skills most in demand are German and Japanese. Next on the list, he says, are
French and Chinese, closely followed by Spanish.
The new course gets added to an arsenal of international engineering
experiences at Calvin.
Currently Calvin engineering students can graduate with an international
specialty designation beside their degree (Calvin offers a bachelor's degree in
engineering with concentrations in mechanical, civil, chemical, and electrical
and computer).
Students get this designation by participating in an international interim
class (Calvin's three-week term in January where students take just one class),
doing an international internship (usually in the summer) and demonstrating a
mastery of the language of their internship country.
Calvin graduates between 60 and 70 engineering students annually with 85% of
its engineering students graduating in four years!
For the full story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2005_06/summer_engineering.htm
Contact Ned Nielsen at 616-526-6440
-end-
Received on Wed Dec 14 09:39:57 2005
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