Internationalization Of The Lafayette College Engineering Curriculum

Three key features serve to internationalize the Lafayette College undergraduate engineering curriculum. Semester-long study abroad opportunities for students in all Lafayette B.S. engineering degree programs. A five-year, two-degree program in which B.S. engineering students acquire in-depth knowledge of a foreign language and culture and complete a semester-long capstone experience working abroad as an engineer during their fifth year. An Interim Session Program, a three-week long foreign study program, usually conducted in January, is also available to Lafayette Engineering Students. This paper discusses the first two programs in detail. It also presents recent developments, including the use of two-way video conferencing to offer necessary technical courses to Lafayette engineering students studying abroad. Interim Session courses offer three-weeks of full-time foreign study under the on-site direction of Lafayette faculty members to groups of fifteen to twenty-five students. Several Interim Session courses are available each year. This year’s courses are being taught in Africa, China, Germany and the Czech Republic, and Great Britain. Interim courses are equivalent to three-credit oncampus courses and are usually considered to social science or humanities electives for engineering students.