Student exchange programs in engineering sciences between USA and Germany

In the Unites States of America (USA), as well as in Germany, the international mobility of students in engineering sciences is rather low in comparison to students of other disciplines. While the USA are the most attractive host country for German engineering students, American students´ interest in coming to Germany is not equally great. Facing different teaching languages and semester times, summer school formats seem to be a good solution for German universities to attract students from the USA. However, summer schools might not always be the most suitable way of providing possibilities for the development of international skills. At the Ruhr University Bochum, the project ELLI works on the further development of student exchange programs in engineering education. This short paper represents work in progress. It gives an overview of the context of student exchange in and between the USA and Germany and describes the results of one case study that was made in Bochum.