Off-Campus Study

Studying in another part of the world or country can be a valuable part of your academic journey, and an additional formative experience in your engineering major. Employers are seeking graduates with international experience, and since few engineering graduates have this experience, those who do are highly sought after.

Considerations

It is best to start planning early. If you are a first-year engineering student and you are considering studying off-campus, you should speak with the engineering department chair as soon as possible. This is important to do even if you have not yet declared your engineering major.
Most engineering students complete some of their general education requirements while studying abroad; we advise you to save some of these courses in your academic plan.
It is essential to meet with your academic advisor regarding courses you plan on taking off-campus and how this fits within your academic plan, particularly credits counting toward your major (and provide appropriate course descriptions).

Summer Program in Germany

Hope Engineering students in front of the Louvre Museum with a Hope flag To participate in the program, freshmen engineering students take German 101 during the spring of their freshman year instead of an Anchor Plan course. Then, the students come to the Hope campus on the Monday after the Fourth of July, at which time they start taking a required sophomore engineering course. On Friday of that week, the students and the Hope professor travel to Berlin, Germany, where they stay for five weeks. The Hope professor continues teaching the engineering course using the facilities of the Technical University of Berlin. The students also take a second course in German Language and Culture taught by a T. U. Berlin Professor. Students who have taken German language courses in high school may be exempted from taking the German 101 course at Hope College.

While in Germany, the students have class four days a week, which leaves us with four three-day weekends in which we travel throughout Germany via a German rail pass. The travel focuses on religious, cultural and historical sites. The travel includes a three-day excursion to Heidelberg, Koblenz and Koln. We visit the Holy Ghost Church in Heidelberg, where the Catechism was written, and worship in the Koln Cathedral. We also visit Wittenberg, where Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church. We worship in the Castle Church and tour Luther’s home.

We have one-day excursions to Bremen, Lubeck and Sachsenhausen. In Sachsenhausen the students visited a WWII concentration camp. This is a somber experience, but it is something that the students should do.

The teaching part of the program and the group excursions will end on Friday of the fourth week. This leaves a week in which the students are free to travel around Europe on their own. In the past some students have visited Spain, Paris, London, Denmark and many more places before returning home. Parents are invited to meet up with their son/daughter at the end of the program for a family vacation in Europe.

The German Language and Culture course that the students take at the Technical University of Berlin fulfills the Hope College language requirement but the credit does not transfer back. The students do receive an official certificate from the T. U. Berlin indicating that they have successfully passed the course. Therefore, students who participate in the program are able to include the Technical University of Berlin on their resumes. This often puts their resumes on the top of the pile. I have been told by many graduates that having T. U. Berlin on their resume and being able to speak a little German was a huge advantage for them when they sought employment upon graduation.

Program details

While in Berlin we will be staying at St.-Michaels-Heim. Thanks to a generous donor, we have funds to be used as scholarships for the program. The scholarships are awarded on a need basis.

The program cost includes:

Round trip airfare to Berlin
Ten day German Rail Pass
Bus/train pass for Berlin
Housing in Berlin at St.-Michaels-Heim
Hotels in Heidelberg and Koln for the three day outing
Each student will be given funds for food money
Weekly group dinners
T. U. Berlin course fees
Hope tuition for the 3-credit Engineering 220 course
Entrance fees for cultural visits.
Travel Accident Insurance

This program is open for all engineering concentrations.

All engineering freshmen are eligible to participate in this program since the engineering course is required for all engineering students. Non-freshmen who haven't take the specific engineering course being offered yet are also elibible for the program

If you have an interest in participating in this exciting program and have questions regarding the program, please contact Dr. Polasek or Dr. Abrahantes.

Full-Semester Programs

As an engineering student, your schedule is full of courses that have to be taken in a specific order. For students wanting to spend an entire semester abroad, the recommended timeframe varies depending on your engineering concentration.

	Even-Year Graduates	Odd-Year Graduates
Biochemical	Spring, Sophomore	Spring, Junior
Biomedical	Spring, Sophomore	Spring, Sophomore
Chemical	Spring, Sophomore	Spring, Junior
Civil	Spring, Junior	Spring, Junior
Computer	Fall, Sophomore	Fall, Junior
Electrical	Spring, Sophomore	Spring, Sophomore
Environmental	Spring, Sophomore	Spring, Junior
Mechanical	Spring, Junior	Spring, Junior
No emphasis	Spring, Junior	Spring, Junior

Featured Programs

IES Nantes, France
IES Madrid – Engineering, Architecture and Science (Spain)
University of Aberdeen (Scotland)
IES Shanghai – Engineering (China)

These programs offer engineering courses that may count toward your major. It is important to communicate with the off-campus study office and your academic advisor about your interest in these to determine your options and decide on the best one for you.

If you plan on taking general education requirements only during your semester off-campus, you can study at nearly any location that Hope offers.

May and June-term Programs

Sometimes it's difficult to fit a full semester off-campus experience in an busy engineering schedule. Because of this, many of our students take advantage of 4 week programs that take place over the summer in May or June.

FEATURED PROGRAMS

In these programs, you will take one course during the 4 weeks abroad and this course will fulfill one of your general education objectives.

“Studying abroad in Ireland during my sophomore year was one of my best decisions in college. I learned a lot about myself and the person I want to be. Living in Dublin was the first time I had ever lived in a city, lived in an apartment and lived in a country where I knew absolutely nobody when I stepped off the plane. I learned how to be more independent, creative, flexible and empathetic during my time abroad. This carried over during my last two years of college and helped me succeed in the remainder of my engineering classes.”
—Payton Hoff ’17, IES Dublin Direct Enrollment, Trinity College, Ireland