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Tailoring the International Experience in the UAE and the USA Abstract

The notion that engineering students need international exposure as part of their preparation for professional practice has become firmly enough established that there is now a track record of innovative programs from which to derive best practices and models for program enhancement. This paper suggests that the international experience, if carefully shaped, can be made to counterbalance the most prominent limitations and misconceptions of students stemming from their original culture and social backgrounds. There is no one global model of international experience that serves the best interests of all students and the profession: in fact engineering educators would do well to think as carefully about the social and intellectual needs of their students as they do about the development of their technical and professional competencies when guiding their students toward international experiences. Using the United States and the United Arab Emirates as examples, this paper examines some of the assumptions students hold about work, people, organizations, gender and beliefs that need to be challenged in order for them to be able to practice and live successfully in the global society, and suggests what type of international experience would be best suited to support the students’ personal and professional growth.

Introduction

The good news is that the number of US students studying abroad has doubled in the past decade. The bad news is that during these last ten years the percentage of those students who are majoring in engineering started low (2.3%), varied little (between 1.9% and 2.9%) and remains low (currently 2.9%).1 The destinations of US study abroad students have become more diverse over the past decade, with China being a big gainer. Very few US students, however, want to study in the Middle East, since it is perceived as a dangerous place. Students from the Middle East, by way of contrast, want to study in the US, although world politics continue to conspire against that. All of these students need international exposure, but for quite different reasons. It is informative to consider what US engineering students should aim to achieve through international experience, in comparison with what engineering students in the United Arab Emirates should focus on.

Preparation for international practice for Emirati engineering students

The United Arab Emirates is an oil-rich country of about four million people located on the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Abu Dhabi, although Dubai is better known. The UAE was formed in 1971 by seven emirates – 84,000 square kilometers of land – banding together into a federation. The principle language is Arabic, the religion of the country is Islam, and literacy supposedly stands at 90%.2 Only about 20% of the people who live in the Emirates are nationals, with the rest coming from a wide variety of countries such as the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Sudan, the UK and the US.

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Jones, B. (2006, June), Tailoring The International Experience In The Uae And The Usa Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--554