College of Media and Communication’s Germany study abroad poster
After receiving an email offering scholarship money to foreign students who wanted to study abroad at Texas Tech, Linus Pohler, from Wilhelmshaven, Germany, figured studying at Tech would be a great opportunity, and applied.
“Texas Tech is pretty great, and Texas is pretty great,” said Pohler, a senior studying mechanical engineering at Tech.
“I’m having lots of fun. I’m already wearing cowboy boots. So, I arrived in Texas finally. Everything, as you probably know, it’s much bigger than in Germany.”
Monica Hopkins, a study abroad adviser and international exchange coordinator at Texas Tech, said Tech receives and sends students from all over the globe, such as Asia, Africa and Europe. In a reciprocal/exchange program, Hopkins said students pay tuition at their home institution and swap places with students at a foreign institution.
“It’s not independent study work,” Hopkins said. “They’re taking courses on the campus just like they would be if they were at Texas Tech. Now what our office does is we put them in placeholder courses so they don’t have to reapply to come back into Tech.”
Once received, Hopkins said, the transferred courses replace the placeholder courses on a student’s transcript. Since the students pay Tech tuition, Hopkins said, the grade earned does incorporate into a students’ Tech GPA.
Hopkins said reciprocal/exchange programs are considered study abroad, but in a regular study abroad program, students pay tuition to their destination institution or a third party and receive transfer credit from their courses. Courses are pre-approved before students leave, Hopkins said, to make sure they will receive credit.
The study abroad office will help a student become prepared, Hopkins said, but reciprocal/exchange program students are responsible for their own travel needs and plans. This includes figuring out transportation, housing, meals and excursions. Hopkins said this is why reciprocal/exchange programs are for independent-minded students.
“They don’t want someone that’s gonna hold their hand through their experience,” Hopkins said. “They want to get out of their comfort zone and do it themselves.”
She said the study abroad office maintains a 24-hour cellphone number that students can call in case of emergencies. The study abroad office receives emails from the Overseas Security Advisory Council to learn what is going on in each country every day, she said. The office will not send students to a country that has an advisory warning, she added.
Hopkins said the only program currently offered in Mexico that she is aware of is a consortium ran by the law school. Some students chose consortium programs, she said, which is where students chose their top three preferred European institutions. Then, the student will be told where he or she will be placed after the competitive process.
“So, let’s just say I send one student to a location in Estonia, but in this case, the university in Estonia doesn’t necessarily have to send a student back here to Texas Tech,” Hopkins said. “They can send one over to Kansas State University. So, we’re kind of like twirling students around in a little circle.”
However, she said, the popular program is where a student switches with a student from a particular institution in their preferred country that Tech has already made a deal with.
The University of New York in Prague and the Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom currently receive the most Tech students, Hopkins said, and Australia is Tech student’s third top destination choice.
Hopkins said it is not uncommon for professors from different departments to teach a summer course at an institution in another country. The study abroad office helps departments set
COMC’s Study Abroad Opportunities Poster
up faculty-led programs of their choice, she said.
Hopkins said the engineering faculty-led program in Germany allows Tech students to study at Jade Hochschule University over the summer, and in return, a group of German students studies at Tech for a semester or a year.
The Rawls College of Business has a similar program in Norway, and the College of Media & Communication offers a faculty-led program in London during the Maymester.
The COMC will also be offering two new faculty-led programs during the Summer II semester open to all Tech students.
Journalism and Electronic Media Communication Instructor Jerod Foster and Robert Peaslee, assistant professor of electronic media, will teach a photography and an electronic media and communication course in New Zealand.
Journalism and Electronic Media Communication Instructor Jerod Foster
Foster said his fast-paced photography class will allow a lot of student independence and will concentrate on the country’s culture. The program, he said, will provide his students with a significant amount of experience working with professionals in and around the industry. He said no other class introduces as much exposure to behind-the-scene environment for a movie franchise or the various cultures that New Zealand offers.
Journalism assistant professor Kelly Kaufhold will bring a group of students to Wilhelmshaven, Germany. In addition to teaching a journalism course entitled “Storytelling by Smartphone,” he will assist a German professor from the host school teach an electronic media operations class.
Check out today’s MCTV Coffee Talk to learn more about the program.
Kaufhold said the program’s host school, Jade Hochschule University, has had a relationship with Tech through the engineering college for more than 10 years.
“We already have a relationship, a personal relationship with some of the folks there. They’re really looking out for us. They arrange lodging. They arrange all of the excursions that we take. They’ve answered every question we’ve had and more. So, they’re really excited about it so they’re going to take very, very good care of us. It’s not going to feel like the first time we’ve done this trip. It’s going to feel very familiar from the get go.”
German engineering student Linus Pohler said studying at Texas Tech has made him confident if he comes back to America to work or study in the future, and he thinks everyone should try to study abroad.
“I’ve heard the Texas Tech engineering school makes everyone go abroad, and I think it should be, like, developed for every course, every degree,” Pohler said.
The most important part about studying abroad is have fun and meet people, he said.
If a student is interested in studying abroad, Study Abroad adviser and International Exchange coordinator Hopkins suggested students attend an open information session, which begins at 4 p.m. every weekday at the Study Abroad office.
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