<p>I understand not many schools offer study abroad for engineering students, so my s is fortunate to attend one of the few that does have that option. The "best" program in terms of classes that are equivalent to keep on schedule seems to be in England. Thoughts?</p>
<p>This largely depends on where he’s going. Schools like WPI and Cal Poly have study abroad that are designed around doing engineering related course work and/or projects. Many schools don’t. As a result, you have to take non-engineering core classes while away and that can mess with your course flow.</p>
<p>It does depend on the college your son attends and the college he is interested in attending. My university has a strong connection with multiple exchange programs geared towards engineering. I’ve found that there are generally two or three universities that match up with certain disciplines at my university. A university in Canada matches up seamlessly with my schedule, while the ones in England did not. Germany was also another good match for me.</p>
<p>Best thing to do with deciding to figure out where to go is to get your son’s home university’s flowchart and required classes and compare it with the exchange university’s list of course offered. It’s nice to keep an equivalency chart and note all the prerequisites. This way he can really see which schools keep him on track and which courses he’ll have to try to squeeze in before he leaves or take the summer or semesters after he comes back. </p>
<p>It’s important to check up on the transfer policy’s for your son’s college of engineering. Sure, the course may be equivalent, but it would be a waste of time if the college doesn’t accept them! </p>
<p>Additionally, it’s never to early to get aquatinted with the study abroad office! Have them know your son’s name especially, if he’s going to be traveling in the future whether it be for another engineer-focused study abroad or international internship .</p>
<p>Thanks - he’s at Maryland, and he has already done the due diligence about classes with the study abroad advisor. Supposedly, he will still be able to graduate on time because Manchester has a lot of engineering classes available. I guess what I’m asking is the value of study abroad for engineering students compared to just having an extended vacation abroad upon graduation kind of thing…?</p>
<p>Don’t underestimate the “extended vacation abroad” for a college aged kid.</p>
<p>My company has international locations in a dozen countries, each with its own local ‘culture’ and ways of doing work. Exposure to such variation is helpful. So far the most ‘significant’ difference in terms of how they work and how we work has been Germany. We do a lot of KISS engineering (Keep It Simple etc) and our German buddies meanwhile favor the approach where every project is the one that will save humanity from the giant asteroid… </p>
<p>If you can find a study abroad program that allows you to actually work in such a setting, it would be very valuable. Taking Calc III or some such at the TU Munich on the other hand… Same as Purdue probably except at TUM they probably pronounce Leibnitz and other Calculus deities properly 
</p>
<p>China or Japan is also worthwhile for similar reasons especially if you build stuff overseas. This is for EE/CS type work.</p>
<p>Personally, as a parent, I like the structure around a study abroad program, vs. letting my dd backpack across Asia for 3 months. In a study abroad program, they will have afternoons and weekends for exploring, and a system for making friends/travel companions (who are likely other engineering students and not some random person they met on the train). They also will still be making progress toward a degree, so I have the illusion of getting my money’s worth out of the trip.</p>
<p>Then again, I may feel differently when child is 22 or 23 and not an 18 year old freshman. 8-| </p>
<p>I don’t have much industry experience at this point, but I don’t think it’s valuable myself and I think it’s mainly a gimmick that universities are running now just because some parents and students are interested. I don’t see why people are so driven to go overseas considering what we have in North America, but for those who are so driven to leave I don’t see why bother with a study abroad with the exception of that parents think there’s some value in it. Instead, it seems much more sensible to simply visit. Some will point out that it can be cheaper, but it’s my impression that that’s a rare case, and in almost all cases as well course options will be very limited and unless you go freshman year you are going to take very few/no classes going towards your major. </p>
<p>Sure, many extremely large companies have offices overseas. Even my company (which is not that big) has a few [very small] offices in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. But the chance that you’re going to work overseas coming from the US is extremely low and there’s no preference for those who studied abroad over those who didn’t. I think there are very few companies which would consider study abroad as a serious positive, likely only those where the student is applying for a job overseas directly and the company has less worry that they will leave due to culture shock or home sickness. </p>
<p>UMich is going through this campaign where they want the majority of engineering students to do a study abroad and learn a foreign language. This is a gimmick/false wish. Very few engineering students really have any interest in this and the school has done a terrible job of ensuring that there are enough courses that can be taken abroad (typically it’s only the prerequisite classes that are taken freshman year but there’s one in China that has a few 200-level EECS classes often taken in sophomore year) to justify doing so. </p>
<p>You/Your son can look into it, but I don’t expect it to be a valuable option. </p>
<p>Vladenschlutte’s post has a lot of truth to it. Studying abroad for engineering may be a gimmick, but I don’t think it is completely without value. Sure, global education may not be a major concern for engineering students, but I would not discount the invaluable experience studying/traveling abroad may bring. </p>
<p>I know engineering students are engineering students. They focus in engineering, but not all of their education must be engineering focused. I have stepped out of my engineering discipline quite a bit and am prancing a bit in the humanities. I’m studying abroad this summer and might leave again next academic school year. Engineering is a focus, but it’s not all I’m involved in. </p>
<p>Don’t throw out the idea of studying/traveling abroad just because it won’t increase your job chances…</p>
<p>One can do study abroad by attending a school abroad which offers engineering degree programs which are accredited by an organization with mutual recognition with ABET. Of course, this means studying abroad for the entire degree, not just a semester. Some of these schools are not expensive by US standards, even at their international student prices.</p>
<p>If we’re looking at the same list (ABET accredited programs) I am only seeing one program in Spain, a few in Turkey, one in India, and a handful in less, ehem, exciting parts of the world (say, Kazakh National Technical University in Kazakhstan). There’s a handful of ABET’s in the Gulf region.</p>
<p>Degree programs accredited by organizations with mutual recognition with ABET are much more numerous than non-US degree programs accredited by ABET:</p>
<p><a href=“Mutual Recognition Agreements | ABET”>http://www.abet.org/mutual-recognition-agreements/</a></p>
<p>Some engineering programs have a “summer abroad” program which might be a good second choice if you can’t find an option that would not result in a delay in graduation. My non-engineering son took a semester abroad and only had a few courses transfer back toward his degree. That doesn’t make the semester abroad a bad choice, you just have to understand the consequences.</p>
<p>DS is studying abroad this semester in Asia. His college has a direct exchange program, so I pay tuition (minus scholarship) as usual. Still he had to arrange things ahead of time and knew there was not much course synergy at junior level. So he is doing all electives and courses of interest, some which won’t count (he is auditing). </p>
<p>In this case, room/board is actually much cheaper than his home college. Other abroad programs I checked were more (plus extra travel), but we would have considered them too. I’ll admit this is all about life opportunity. Academically he would have been fine either way. </p>
<p>I did study abroad as an engineering student, and I have to say that while I didn’t learn as much in the classroom as I would have if I had stayed home, I gained so much in other areas that I would recommend it to anybody. The only thing that makes it more difficult for engineering students is the typically heavier courseload. I planned my classes for two years to be able to do study abroad for a semester.</p>
<p>There are quite a few engineering schools that offer programs in “international engineering”. See my post in this thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1201485-should-i-consider-different-major-if-i-want-work-abroad.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1201485-should-i-consider-different-major-if-i-want-work-abroad.html</a></p>