The School of Global Engineering provides an opportunity for students to study at our partner institutions Harvey Mudd College and Pitzer College, in California, US, to complement our own ECP and CSGE courses. This programme allows third-year students to study English intensively for three weeks and to take part in engineering classes and clinics at the partner institutions. We also have an exchange programme with ESIEE/ESTE in France.
Every year, two or three students from each side study at the other for a few months. The School, thus, provides an atmosphere of encouraging students to speak English. In 2005, we started a similar programme with James Cook University (Australia) and we plan to introduce similar programmes with Seattle University (US) and University of Lisbon (Portugal). Every student at the School of Global Engineering now studies at one of our partner institutions abroad.
Students have a number of opportunities where they present their studies and achievement abroad in English. Exchange students from our partner institutions also make presentations in English, allowing Global Engineering students to experience live English in use.
You can watch a video of the presentation session on 25 July, 2007, by clicking the image on the right.
Mélanie Tran, Adrien Martens, Matthieu Parizy, and Laurent Verdoïa, from ESIEE, France, and Andrew Kuntjoro from Harvey Mudd College, USA, studied at Kogakuin from May till August, 2007. The video shows their presentations.
I participated in a project on centrifugal separators for DNA extraction. I knew little about the subject but my team mates explained all I needed to know in plain English. I ran into many problems in the beginning. For example, it was difficult for me at first to express myself to my team mates because of language problems. It became easier after trying various approaches including the use of drawings. When we were working in an engineering workshop, I discovered that the names for tools were quite different from what I had been used to. The frequency of team meetings and video conferences with industry liaisons amazed me. Those were only a few of the many experiences during my stay in the US.
Hideyuki Aoyama
(Studied at Pitzer College and Harvey Mudd College, USA, in February 2007.)
In our study abroad program at Harvey Mudd College (HMC), we participate in student research projects as well as intensive English classes. My research team was working on a project on developing a system for aircraft landing assistance.
This system would find the precise position of the aircraft from cameras on the aircraft, LEDs placed on runways and the global positioning system, calculate the runway visual range, and automatically decide whether the aircraft could land or not. This was a very big project. I remember very well our team leader saying, "if we make this system operable, it will be used in airports throughout the world!" I was moved not just by his words but also by the passion with which everyone was working on the project. Stimulated to see how highly motivated they were, I also did my best to contribute to the project.
The three weeks at HMC passed very quickly. Now back in Japan, I wish I had been able to speak better English so that I could contribute to the team more, but I am also glad that I had the opportunity to have experiences that made me feel like this.
Hiroki Fujimori
(Studied at Pitzer College and Harvey Mudd College, USA, in February 2007.)
Arriving in France, very anxious about life in a country new to me, I was met with many encounters: with the ESIEE professors who taught me programming from scratch as I was working on a project designing a digital filter using MATLAB and XILINX; with friends who gave me a lot of useful advice on my research and who took me to ESIEE parties and to Paris; and with my host family who were very kind to me even though I spoke no French and gave me a first-hand feel of the French culture and customs.
Despite my worries at the beginning, I ended up enjoying my life in France to the utmost, supported by all those people. On weekends, I would visit not only Paris but also Lyon, Champagne, Normandy, Belgium, and other places to experience yet more encounters and discoveries.
I had been a bad language student, but my days in France gave me a lot of confidence in communicating with others from different backgrounds in foreign languages. I am very glad to have participated in ECP Abroad which allowed me to have precious experiences that I would not otherwise have been able to have.
Yuka Nishiura
(Studied at ESIEE, France in January-March, 2007.)
