International Collaboration In Engineering And Technology Education: A Case Study

This paper describes an engineering and technology education collaboration between the Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT) housed in the Bethune campus of the Universite ′d’Artois in France and the Altoona College of The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State Altoona). This collaboration embraces faculty exchanges, short-term student industrial placements, teleconferencing, and curriculum development. The Universite′d’Artois houses programs in engineering, engineering technology and management at its Bethune campus. As a new university located in the northern part of France, it has a strong commitment to internationalism. Graduates from IUT Bethune must satisfy a foreign language proficiency requirement and an industrial placement component in their curricula each year. Penn State Altoona offers the first two years of 182 majors available at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park Campus, as well as six associate degrees, and four bachelor degrees including a bachelor of science in electro-mechanical engineering technology, a bachelor of science in business, a bachelor of arts in letters, arts, and sciences, and a bachelor of science degree for registered nurses. In carrying out collaborative activities with Penn State Altoona, the primary motivation of the IUT is to expand its faculty and student awareness of “American” English and American culture. The IUT provides financial support to its faculty for short-term exchanges to the United States. The IUT also provides limited support to the Penn State Altoona engineering technology faculty for short-term exchanges to Bethune. Because of the English language proficiency requirement at IUT Bethune, the US faculty members are expected to teach courses in English. The primary motivation of Penn State Altoona is to provide international experiences for its engineering technology faculty. This paper completely describes the activities that are being conducted both at IUT Bethune and at Penn State Altoona as a result of collaboration between the two institutions. The paper also describes the obstacles encountered by both IUT Bethune and Penn State Altoona in carrying out the collaborative activities. Finally, the paper describes present success and future promises of the collaboration between the two institutions.