Cockrell Study Abroad Programs Enhance Engineering Skills and Cultural Learning
- Feb 11, 2025
- Education Abroad
A growing initiative in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin is offering engineering students study abroad experiences that can accommodate their regimented degree plans, which previously may have inhibited them from going abroad.
Led by Cockrell’s International Engineering Education (IEE) unit, these programs prepare Texas Engineers for leadership in the globalized marketplace, allowing them to explore and devise solutions to international challenges during study abroad opportunities.
IEE offers a variety of opportunities, many of which are shorter in duration than other exchange programs. Many typically happen during May Term, a window between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of summer. In 2024, nearly 500 students participated in international experiences; IEE aims to double that number in the next three years.
Cockrell’s study abroad opportunities include faculty-led courses focused on solving infrastructure issues in international communities, such as developing solar-powered water filtration systems for rural villages in Kenya, as well as international internship opportunities in Spain, South Korea and the U.K., to help students build the soft skills they need for working on global teams and leading international projects.
“Hiring boards want students with international experience,” explained Helena Wilkins-Versalovic, director of IEE. “There are no borders for air pollution, water pollution, the issues today’s engineers are passionate about solving. As engineers, [they’re] going to need to understand how the world operates.”
Wilkins-Versalovic has made a career in study abroad programs, knowing that the perspective gained by living and working in a new culture opens cognitive windows that can boost a graduate’s career. The combination of internship experience and coursework also bolsters early resumés, enabling swifter progression up the internship-to-job ladder.
“We really push first-year students to study abroad,” Wilkins-Versalovic said, “because afterward, they get busier and busier.”
To learn more about IEE and study abroad via the Cockrell School, visit Texas Engineer magazine.
