Memorandum to increase engineering study abroad opportunities
November 4, 2015
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Bagley College of Engineering is in the process of completing a formal agreement designed to benefit more students interested in overseas study.
A memorandum of agreement soon will be signed by university and college administrators and their counterparts at France’s Albi School of Mines. Since 2013, both institutions have initiated a limited memorandum of understanding detailing mutual collaborations in developing education, experience and research for both students and teachers.
Melnychuk and 22 MSU students visited the French city of Cordes sur Ciel this summer with Albi students and program coordinator.
The memorandum of agreement aims to establish a student exchange program between the two schools in order to strengthen cooperation and promote mutual knowledge. Currently, Albi hosts the BCoE faculty-led class “Engineering Economy in France” for two weeks during the summer. Under the new agreement, both institutions would agree to accept a specific number of full-time students each semester or year.
International Programs Coordinator Galyna Melnychuk said signing this memorandum will continue providing beneficial experiences for students.
“Our overseas experience is priceless for students,” Melnychuk said. “It’s very important for students to have international experience because a lot of companies want to make sure that if they send their employee overseas, this person can survive, can get adjusted to a different culture, and talk with people who think differently.”
Melnychuk said the new agreement also will ensure the continuing availability of Albi facilities.
Senior aerospace engineering major Joseph Brown was among 22 MSU students taking part in the most recent Albi experience. During the five week program, Brown and the others had opportunities to visit other French cities, including Paris and Toulouse, as well as London, England, and Barcelona, Spain.
The Amory native said studying abroad has helped him develop a more international outlook.
“It was an absolutely amazing experience, just experiencing different cultures under the light of engineering to understand how people do things differently in other parts of the world,” Brown said. “I think a study abroad opportunity that specifies in a course in engineering and has some engineering related activities gives a potential engineering student a much broader view of the world around them and allows them to understand that the way we teach and the way we think here isn’t the only way it’s been done.”
A special component of the study abroad program allowed participating MSU students to pair with peers at Albi through a pen pal connection and become acquainted prior to arriving in France.
Patrick Irizarry, a sophomore in aerospace engineering, said he was glad to have made Albi friends before setting foot on the campus.
“It was really cool just to meet them and actually know someone that was over there,” Irizarry said. “I think actually interacting with the other students beforehand and getting to meet a lot of them made the trip a lot better.”
Irizarry said studying abroad has helped him develop a clearer post-graduation plan.
“I learned that I do want to live abroad,” Irizarry said. “I have always been one of those people that wants to travel the world, but the trip actually showed me that I would enjoy if I got to live somewhere just completely strange for five or 10 years where I don’t know anybody and just learn things. You learn a lot about yourself and others in situations like that.”
For more information about study abroad through the BCoE, visit http://www.bagley.msstate.edu/programs/study-abroad/.
For more information about the BCoE, visit bagley.msstate.edu.
By: Jen Nguyen