Globalization in Engineering Education: the German Experience

Engineering is a profession increasingly performed in a multi-cultural environment, with work groups spanning countries, if not continents. Yet engineering education was not among the first to respond to these challenges of the workplace. In Germany, federally funded programs intended to increase the number of foreign students studying here have provided universities with a unique opportunity to create special curricula combining instruction in engineering with an international experience. The authors coordinate the "Communications Technology" M.Sc. program at the University of Ulm and report on their experiences with the incorporation of international students into the university, and the impact of the new program on inter-university cooperation at a European level.