This five-year program leads to a dual degree, a BA in German Studies and a BS in engineering and includes a six-month internship in Germany. The program is open to any qualified engineering student and requires no previous knowledge of German. Students electing EUROTECH receive the same quality engineering education that UCONN has always provided, i.e. programs accredited by the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).

EUROTECH was started with the help of a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE, Department of Education) in the Fall of 1993. Our graduates typically work for US and German companies that operate in both countries (Bosch, Proctor & Gamble, Bayer, Trumpf), some also pursue graduate degrees upon completion of their BA and BS in Germany and US.

Baden-Württemberg Exchange Program

The Baden-Württemberg Exchange Program provides opportunities for students from all disciplines to receive credit for studies at institutions in Connecticut’s partner-state of Baden-Württemberg. Baden-Württemberg is the home of some of Europe’s oldest and finest universities: Heidelberg, Freiburg, Tübingen, Konstanz, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Hohenheim and Ulm.

Stuttgart and Karlsruhe are technical universities (similar to MIT) and enjoy international acclaim with extensive programs in civil, chemical, electrical, mechanical and aerospace engineering, as well as strong computer science and business management programs.  The University of Ulm, located on the Danube in Baden-Württemberg’s science city, specializes in electrical engineering and computer science.

With a population of 10 million, Baden-Württemberg is the third largest of 16 German states and one of the most prosperous regions in Germany. It is the center of major automotive (Mercedes, Porsche), electrical (Bosch), chemical and biomedical industries.

The Baden-Württemberg Exchange can be customized to fit the individual Eurotech student’s needs. The program consists of three flexible modules to enhance each student’s experience:

• A month-long intensive language course in medieval Heidelberg,
• one semester of academic studies at a university in Baden-Württemberg,
• an internship with a company in Baden-Württemberg.

It is important to note that students attending Baden-Württemberg’s universities have access to regular university courses, as well as Deutsch als Fremdsprache courses aimed at strengthening the international student’s German language skills.

The cost of the Baden-Württemberg Exchange is approximately the same as one year or semester of study at UConn. Most exchange participants are awarded generous merit and need based scholarship to help cover airfare and living expenses. For further information, please contact the UConn Education Abroad Office.

ACADEMICS

EUROTECH consistently links the two majors, German Studies and engineering, at all levels of instruction. The program introduces you to German-speaking engineering faculty and engineers from Germany from the very beginning.

Students start learning German in GERM 1001 and 1002 taught by experienced faculty members and graduate assistants. In their course design, the instructors take into account EUROTECH students’ interest in math, science, and engineering. At the intermediate level, in the second year, students continue German with GERM 1003 and 1004 and begin a series of one-credit modules: GERM 3220, 3221, and 3222. Here they get to work with German-speaking engineers from the university and from industry who address a variety of topics in science and technology. As juniors and seniors, EUROTECH students take all the upper-level German classes necessary to earn a degree in German Studies. Many of our students take some of these classes before or after their internship in Germany at one of the German universities nearby.

LIVING AND LEARNING WITH EUROTECH

Currently, the EUROTECH Living Learning Community or EUROTECH club arrange at least one field trip per semester to local companies. Every other year, we organize a short term study trip in May to Germany for groups of EUROTECH students to give them a chance to visit Germany at the end of the first or second year of study. Priority for this study trip is given to EUROTECH Living Learning Community members. Students are encouraged to do one or two summer internships with companies in the U.S. before embarking on their six-month internship abroad. The German industrial experience usually takes place in the spring semester of the fourth year of study.

Upon graduation, EUROTECH engineers will bring not just sophisticated technical know-how to their jobs but also foreign language skills, cultural sensitivity and an intercultural awareness that U.S. companies are finding increasingly desirable.