ABSTRACT

Engineering is now performed in an international marketplace dominated by multi-national companies which are increasingly globally integrated. These companies seek engineers who are prepared to function in this environment, with foreign language skills and international work or study experience cited as desired attributes. U.S. engineering education has lagged in this respect compared to foreign institutions, with relatively few American engineering students proficient in foreign languages or including overseas experience in their academic programs.

EPIC was developed in consultation with industry representatives and the support of SUCCEED (an NSF Engineering Education Coalition) to provide a practical means of adding these key components to virtually any engineering curriculum. Now finishing its fourth year, EPIC recently had its first large group of students abroad on internships. This paper describes the salient features of EPIC, and reports on experiences to date.

INTRODUCTION

While American engineering education is world-class in the technical preparation of its graduates, it has slighted the preparation of these same graduates for competition in the global engineering arena. For many years the economic dominance of the US in the world economy permitted us this luxury. However, the development of the economies of Europe and the Pacific Rim has brought us into a new era. Foreign owned companies are found throughout the United States just as "domestic" companies are found overseas. An important fact is that manufacturing and engineering companies have become multi-national in their operations. For example, automobiles assembled in the US have components produced in many countries, and American auto manufacturers are major players in Europe and other markets. The design of new products or manufacturing plants involves teams spread across multiple continents. Moreover, US engineering graduates are now often competing with engineers educated abroad for positions in this global engineering/industrial arena. European and Asian engineers commonly speak multiple languages, and have broad international experience, while neither of these attributes is typical of US engineering graduates. Competition in the world marketplace demands that the US educational system produce engineers capable of functioning effectively in a global engineering/industrial environment.

The growing need for US engineering graduates who are prepared to work in this international environment has certainly not gone unnoticed. For example, a workshop addressing international engineering education issues was held by the Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education in 1990.⁽¹⁾ In 1992, the National Science Foundation sponsored workshops to address US-German interaction in engineering research as well as in education.⁽²⁾ Industry representatives emphasized the need for US engineering graduates prepared to function professionally in European countries. The primary issue is not in placing US engineers in permanent positions in Europe or elsewhere, but preparation for short term assignments and interactions between US engineers and others from different cultures. Specific requirements cited for this include foreign language proficiency, and experience in engineering work or study in a foreign culture.

At Clemson University, we have adopted or developed several programs to provide for the international preparation of our engineering students. The Engineering Program for International Careers (EPIC) is discussed in detail below. EPIC provides students with a language and cultural proficiency and an international work experience. Other international programs available to our students include the Clemson University - Bristol (England) University Student Exchange Program, the Clemson University-Hiroshima (Japan) University-Ryobi Corporation Exchange Program, the Clemson Engineering/Science Summer Study Abroad Program, and the Global Engineering Education Exchange (GE³) Consortium.

Why is Clemson University so interested in international issues? Consider that there are 160 foreign-owned companies with US headquarters operations in South Carolina. Of 457 international facilities in the state in 1993, 70% are located within fifty miles of Clemson University. Adding to the international flavor provided by foreign owned companies are numerous US-owned global manufacturing and engineering concerns in the area. As the land grant university of South Carolina, Clemson has a mission to provide for the needs of State industry. In responding to this obvious need to enhance the international component of its undergraduate programs, our College of Engineering and Sciences had to address the following key problems:

• Although there is some recent improvement ⁽⁴⁾, few US secondary school graduates have more than a passing knowledge of a foreign language; this is especially true with respect to some languages important from an industrial viewpoint (e.g., German, Japanese).
• As a land-grant school, many engineering students come from middle to low income families. Thus, significant additional costs to the student might prevent students from electing the program.
• ABET and institutional general education requirements constrain curriculum content.
• Many engineering students are unaware of the implications of economic globalization.
• At Clemson (and many other institutions) engineering students select a specific major at the end of the first year. Thus, program entry after the first year must be accommodated.

Considering these factors, the international option which became EPIC was developed based on the following principles:

• The program cornerstone is a company sponsored International Internship of significant duration in the foreign environment. Among the advantages of this approach is minimizing the additional costs to the student. Moreover, an industrial internship provides a particularly valuable form of international experience. The program also offers an optional study-abroad period to complement and extend the internship experience.
• At least three years college level study of the foreign language, including a period of "immersion" language and cultural preparation just prior to the overseas internship.
• At least one domestic internship to provide experience (in English!) in the engineering work environment prior to the international internship.
• The program provides continued exposure to the foreign language following the overseas experience, and includes courses addressing global culture and economics.
• Industrial guidance in development, evaluation, and operation of the program is provided through an Industrial Advisory Board.
• A Certificate provides a credential for students completing the program.

As internationalization was an important attribute of the vision of SUCCEED (an NSF Engineering Education Coalition) for the engineering curriculum of the 21st century, SUCCEED funding was sought and obtained to support the development of the program. As such, it was developed as a model to be adopted by other SUCCEED institutions, and by other engineering schools in the U.S.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

Recruitment of Industrial Partners

The most critical early activity in the project was the recruitment of companies to participate in the program, and provide the international internships which are at the core of EPIC. Would there actually be sufficient corporate support to make the program viable? Corporate response to EPIC has been strong. To date, seventeen companies have joined the program and are represented on the EPIC Advisory Board. Moreover, company representatives on the EPIC Board are unanimous in the view that there is a real and growing need for engineers prepared to function in an international environment. It is worth noting that participating companies include "American" as well as "foreign" companies, and some relatively small companies as well as very large multinationals. The quotes above reflect the fact that it is becoming ever more difficult to distinguish between "American" and "foreign" companies.

Program Structure/Curriculum

The program structure outlined above was developed with the close collaboration and approval of the EPIC Board. Additional features adopted are:

• Entry into EPIC requires completion of all freshman requirements with a grade point average of at least 3.2/4.0, and registration in first year (or higher) language courses.
• EPIC internships are arranged by US operating companies (either US or foreign owned).
• The selection process includes interviews of student applicants by EPIC companies.
• The overseas internship is scheduled after students have completed most junior level engineering courses.
• Language options include French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. This choice is based on the overseas internship opportunities with the current sponsoring companies.

A "typical" EPIC program schedule incorporating these features is shown in Table I. Italics highlight variations from standard (non-EPIC) engineering curricula. In terms of academic credits, the primary change is incorporation of twenty foreign language credits. Many of these credits qualify as electives within the base engineering curriculum. Clemson curricula, for example, include several "free" elective credits plus 16 credits of humanities and social sciences, allowing up to 14 language credits to qualify as electives within the curriculum. However, EPIC does require about six "excess" credits, equal to the credits in the intensive language course. As in the case of co-op programs, the inclusion of two internship terms results in a total program duration of five years. The EPIC entrance requirements are set reasonably high to assure that students have a good probability of meeting the academic demands of the program. While academic credentials are significant in company assessments, personal attributes such as self-reliance, resourcefulness, flexibility (i.e., ability to cope with new situations), and willingness to take risks are also very important in evaluating candidates.

In addition, factors such as vision/ ambition, communications ability, leadership, and interpersonal skills are important as in any professional hiring situation. Judgments on these factors are subjective, and thus the interview process is highly important to the participating companies, with many of them conducting follow-up interviews at plant sites after an initial on-campus interview.

The admission criteria and program structure will be reviewed and revised as experience is gained. Both are interpreted flexibly to take advantage of opportunities and suit the needs of EPIC companies.

Student Recruitment

With the program structure established, student recruitment began in March 1993. For the past several years, Clemson freshmen enrolled in engineering were provided information on EPIC and other programs, and follow-up contact was made via a survey designed for use in program evaluation. The survey has consistently suggested that only about 20% of freshmen engineering students at Clemson have any interest in a career involving international assignments or experiences, and even fewer expressed specific interest in EPIC. These results clearly indicate the need for greater awareness on engineering globalization both in our curricula and our society. Programs like EPIC address this issue both directly, by increasing the number of students having international experiences, and indirectly, through the presence of more engineering students on campus who have had international experiences.

Participation in the Program has grown despite some early logistical problems. In Fall, 1993, only four EPIC companies were available to interview the 10 interested students who met the requirements for EPIC. Given the small number of both students and companies, some companies had no applicants to consider in their desired language/major combinations. Similarly, some students found no companies interested in their language/major. As a result, only two students were placed as interns in 1993. This situation has improved with time. The pool increased to 21 qualified students, including one from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, another SUCCEED school, and 9 companies by Fall, 1994. In Spring, 1995, freshman were permitted to interview for the first time. This action enabled freshmen who were considering co-op opportunities to simultaneously consider EPIC and to get a head start on matching language and companies. In the 1996-97 academic year, 21 students are on assignment with EPIC companies and of these, 9 are on assignment overseas.

Just as important, EPIC has prompted an increased interest by engineering students in other international programs. For various reasons, not all qualified students fit into the EPIC model. Yet over 34 Clemson students are overseas in one of our international programs this year. Our College medium range goal is to have 10% of our students have an overseas experience as part of their Clemson program (or, about 70 annually).

Flexibility in working with host companies is important to gaining their participation. As one experience, BMW, whose first US plant was then still under construction, selected two senior-level students (both with superb academic credentials) for internships in Munich beginning in the summer of 1994. These two BMW internships were invaluable in that they gave us early experience with sending students abroad. As it happens, one of the students had co-op experience (but minimal German), while the second was fluent in German (but had no prior engineering work record). Both had fine experiences, despite some minor inconveniences attributable to being our first international EPIC pioneers, and BMW was pleased with the overall performance of both students. However, BMW concluded that the tenets of the standard EPIC plan were sound: future interns should have both prior work experience and good German competency.

Operational Factors

The financial terms for the internships (domestic as well as international) are of considerable practical importance to the students. The agreement reached by the EPIC companies is that they will compensate EPIC students at the same rate as their normal practice for co-op students and summer interns. However, for international internships consideration will be given to cost of living, travel, taxes, etc. In this regard, the EPIC companies agreed to provide round trip transportation to the host country, and to address the key cost of living issue by assisting the students with housing arrangements. As a general rule, the goal is for the participants to "break even" during their international assignment.

Issues such as visas, work permits, residence permits, and tax regulations for international workers need to be addressed before arrival in the country. For instance, in Germany the duration of an internship has a major effect on the income tax liability, with substantially higher tax liability for internships exceeding six months.

Student Experiences

To date, 10 students have completed their EPIC overseas internships. Three of these have graduated, with one now employed by his EPIC sponsor (BMW) and two engaged in graduate study (one at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland). All have been very laudatory as to the value of their overseas experience as a part of their education. It is noteworthy that they have been unanimous in the view that what they learned had little to do with technical issues. Naturally, they learned to cope with some different technical standards and procedures than they might have encountered on a U.S. internship. However, the real value was in the human and cultural dimension - learning to adjust to many differences in society, ranging from the German predilection to never leave doors open, to French reverence for meal time, food, and drink. As they all noted, they learned that different cultural values are not better or worse in any absolute sense, just different. Among other things, they learned to look at America - and themselves - from a completely different perspective. And, they are convinced that their experience in adapting to one foreign culture - German, French, or Japanese - will enable them to adapt far more easily to still other cultures.

One cannot leave the discussion of the student experiences abroad without noting that they also universally found their time abroad to be "great fun". As part of their education, they experienced the Oktoberfest in Munich, the sidewalk cafes of Paris, wine festivals in the Rheinland and in Burgandy, the Alps, and much more. We expect to use these enthusiastic pioneers as recruiters to drum up even greater interest among our freshmen and sophomores in taking advantage of the opportunities offered by EPIC, and by our other international programs.

Evaluation Plan

As with any project, it is important that the value of the EPIC program be assessed to determine its effectiveness, to follow up on the question of whether it is meeting a real need, and to provide information for use in improving the program. Data gathered from successive entering classes, and follow-up data from graduates, will enable assessment of the impact of EPIC in altering the international perspective of engineering students. Data from employers, EPIC students, and EPIC graduates will be used to evaluate and improve the EPIC program. Obviously, gathering these data will be a multi-year undertaking.

Study Abroad Linkages

Discussions regarding enrollment of EPIC students in engineering courses in the semester following their internship have been held with German and French schools. All indicated an interest in having US engineering students enroll, and expressed a willingness to assist students with housing, special exam arrangements, etc. Details of course equivalencies will have to be worked out for each major and each institution. While the previous EPIC students have not elected to do a study term, at least one of the students scheduled for 1997-98 plans to do so.

Development of the Language Institute

The initial offering of the Institute was in July-August, 1995, in French and German. In 1996 Japanese was added, and Spanish is planned for 1997. The Institute is tailored to students with technical backgrounds who have completed basic study of the language. The institute is specially targeted at meeting the needs of engineering students about to embark on an overseas internship, bringing them from basic language understanding to a reasonable level of conversation, including an introduction to appropriate technical vocabulary. EPIC students who have gone abroad after taking the immersion program report that the EPIC language program has accomplished this very well.

IMPLEMENTING EPIC AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS

We certainly encourage others to implement their own version of the EPIC program. The key steps to doing so are fairly simple:

• Identify a core of enthusiastic supporters from international companies that have strong ties to your school, and invite them to form the charter membership of an advisory board for your international engineering program;
• Lay out a "curriculum" for the international program which shows students (and companies) how the language courses and internships fit into a program of study;
• Identify a mechanism for the students to participate in an "immersion" language program prior to the overseas experience.

The first item is clearly the most important if the EPIC concept of providing international experience through internships is to be used. Enthusiastic supporters will help "make things happen" within their own companies and can help in recruiting additional industrial partners. The curriculum plan is important as a way of conveying to the students an orderly way through the program. Finally, it is our view that the immersion program is an essential part of the language preparation. Of course, it is not practical for every university to offer such an immersion program. However, existing programs in the US (such as the Clemson program) or abroad (e.g., the Goethe Institute in Germany) can be used.

CONCLUSIONS

The strong corporate interest in EPIC confirms the need for an international dimension in US engineering programs. It has been well received by students, in part because it addresses a key issue (cost) which prevents some students from pursuing other international education programs. Our experience to date clearly shows it to be important to have a critical mass of companies and students so as to minimize supply/demand imbalances in the various major/language combinations.

Overall, our experience to date validates the premises upon which EPIC is based, and its practicality in terms of meshing with existing engineering curricula. Coupled with the strong company and student interest, this indicates EPIC to be a viable model for similar programs at other institutions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Funding for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation through SUCCEED (Cooperative Agreement No. EID-9109853). SUCCEED is a coalition of eight schools and colleges working to enhance engineering education for the twenty-first century.

REFERENCES

1. "Internationalizing Engineering Education: A National Workshop", FIPSE, Washington, DC (May 4-5, 1990).
2. Workshops on "US-German Cooperative Programs in Chemical and Mechanical Engineering", NSF, New Orleans, LA (March 29-April 1, 1992).
3. "Open Doors 1994-95", Institute for International Education, New York (1995).
4. Draper, J.P., "Foreign Language Enrollments in Public Secondary Schools, Fall 1989 and Fall 1990", Am. Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Yonkers, NY, 1991.

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