Global Technology Initiative at San Jose State University: Results of Seven Years of an International Experience for Students

Prompted by the outsourcing of knowledge-based jobs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in the United States and by the resulting necessity for students to adapt to and capitalize on the global economy, the College of Engineering at San Jose State University established a one-million dollar Global Technology Initiative Study Program to provide American students with a global perspective. The initiative has sponsored an annual program study tour for 25 undergraduate students on a two-week all-expense-paid study tour to Taiwan/China or India during 2004 to 2011. We reported our 2004 experience at the 2005 ASEE Annual Conference and developed new and improved study programs for 2005-2011. This paper summarizes the programs of the past three years, focusing on program development and assessment, with a brief discussion of student selection and logistics. 1. Purpose of the GTI Program In the globally competitive 21st century, corporations have been aggressive in expanding markets and their workforces across the globe. In order for engineers to thrive in such an environment, they need to understand and prepare for this new reality and to develop skills to navigate it. They, for example, need to have intercultural competency skills for them to work effectively with their global collaborators and customers. To this end, we established the Global Technology Initiative (GTI) program at San José State University (SJSU) in 2004. Its goal is to expand students’ horizons about the opportunities and challenges of a global economy, to expose them to global environmental and energy problems in which technology plays a central role, and to motivate their learning of global issues and different cultures. Providing students a first-hand, immersive learning experience, the GTI comprises a semester-long course that culminates in a two-week study tour to India or China/Taiwan. These destinations are selected because of their strong relationship with Silicon Valley’s information technology companies and their competitive technology industries. Moreover, India and China, each with populations over one billion, have a significant impact on global environmental and energy issues. One distinguishing feature of the GTI study-tour is that it is 100% sponsored; GTI fellows are selected independent of their financial standing. It has been supported by the GTI fund as well as the College's endowment fund of over $22 million. This is a key component of our program as most of our students come from middle-class and working-class families. Value is placed on students’ leadership experience and potential as we expect the GTI fellows to share their learning and influence their peers after their study tour. So, the impact is not limited to those 23-25 GTI fellows we select each year.