The International Engineering Program (IEP) at URI keeps growing. The distinctive academic program, which enrolls nearly 200 undergraduates a year, is now expanding to include graduate students.

IEP students study language and culture each semester along with their engineering curriculum.  The five-year undergraduate program includes going abroad the fourth year for internships with engineering-based firms in Europe or Latin America.

The new dual master’s degree program in German/engineering follows that model. German master’s degree IEP students will spend half their time studying at URI, and the other half in Germany.

IEP Executive Director John Grandin worked with the Technische Universitat Braunschweig in Germany, a partner school to URI, to create the unique dual master’s degree program.  Grandin was motivated because of the rapidly expanding global economy.  “Engineering is practiced internationally today and graduates at all levels need to be sensitive to different cultures and prepared to work with colleagues throughout the world.  Having intensive experience in another engineering culture and degree recognition from both a North American and a European university provides outstanding credentials for young engineers today.  They will be better prepared for the global workplace and will be readily hired by global firms,” Grandin said.

Graduate students enrolled in the program are required to complete half of their course work at URI and half at Branschweig, enabling them to receive two degrees, an M.S. from URI and a Diplom from Braunschweig.  A grant from the German Ministry of Economics and Labor is contributing to the development of the program, and is also matching scholarship dollars for students who accept the challenge of the program.

The German government has provided travel grants for faculty to coordinate activities. In January 2004, six professors from URI, including John Grandin, Harold Knickle, Wayne Lee, Hamouda Ghonem, Godi Fischer, and Robert Tyce, flew to Germany to examine the German educational system, discuss details of the exchange program, and explore potential research and teaching collaborations. Several months later, in March 2004, a team of professors from Germany visited URI to familiarize themselves with URI and College of Engineering, and to meet with dual degree candidates.

The new program has already attracted potential students. Graduate student Eric Sargent, who just completed his first year at URI, will go to Braunschweig in September and be the first URI student to complete the program.

Grandin plans to expand the program to other languages and cultures, as well as to more advanced degrees.  A joint doctoral program is already being talked about, along with the potential of trilateral degree programs involving universities from at least three countries.