KINGSTON, R.I. – Jan. 24, 2025 – Sitting adjacent to the University of Rhode Island’s Alumni Center are two nondescript buildings. Contrary to their unassuming gray or white color, the buildings house a unique program, the International Engineering Program (IEP).

Studying abroad is not a novel concept for students. Almost 330,000 U.S. students study abroad each year, according to the U.S. State Department’s study abroad website. But URI’s IEP program isn’t just giving students the chance to have fun and study in a different country, it has literally turned students’ dreams into reality.

That’s the case for Patrick Raczkowski, a senior in the College of Engineering. The Attleboro, Massachusetts, resident has always been fascinated by engineering, in particular cars. His aspiration was to work for one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers, BMW. His favorite is the BMW M3 CS. 

Raczkowski’s dream started the second after he raced down Route 95 and got on to Kingston Campus, where he took a tour and learned about the IEP. 

“It was certainly eye opening,” said Raczkowski. “They had a lot of alumni that worked at companies that I wanted to work at, like BMW and Porsche.”

The IEP boasts a rich history dating back to the mid-1980s. Professor John Grandin and the former dean of the College of Engineering Hermann Viets established the program as a way to increase enrollment in Grandin’s advanced German language courses. 

Their discussions led to the idea of facilitating internships at prominent German companies like BMW, Bosch, and Siemens. Though there was a fence that separated their two houses, Viets and Grandin agreed on one important component.

“When they started talking Dr. Grandin said, ‘Well, if they want to do these internships, they have to learn the language,’” said Sigrid Berka, a professor of German and the executive director of the IEP program.

Engineering students who are interested in the five-year IEP program must double major in their engineering field and in the native language of the country where they hope to study abroad during their fourth year. For some it’s French, Italian or Spanish, for others it’s Chinese or Japanese. For Raczkowski, it was of course German.

Raczkowski says, “I decided to learn the German language in particular because that met directly with my interests in German car manufacturers.”

Language proficiency is half of what makes the IEP unique. Students must not only become fluent in the language; they must learn the culture. But that half of the equation is that the program provides intercultural competence coaching.

“When the students apply to go abroad, they have to go through certain training,” said Berka. “They have to meet with us in addition to all of the classes they are doing to understand the country-specific differences in education systems, work environment and lifestyle.”

Despite comprehensive training, students often experience culture shock upon arriving overseas. They are forced to adapt very quickly and rely on their training, in part because they’re by themselves. Program advisors are on the other side of the pond.

“It’s a whole new experience once you arrive,” said Raczkowski. “You are required to navigate on your own. There’s no one waiting to pick you up at the airport that you can rely on.”

“For example, you quickly have to become adept at the public transportation system. This is just one of many things the IEP prepares us for throughout our classes. From the moment you set foot in a foreign country, you are confronted with challenges that push you to grow,” said Raczkowski.

IEP students typically spend a year abroad. The first six months they spend in the classroom and the other six months they spend in an internship. Every part of their schooling at URI is essential once they are overseas. Students have to take engineering and language classes in another language but also have to work for companies where a significant amount of communication is also in that language.

For Raczkowski and others, there’s often an additional layer of complexity. Often, dialects can vary across regions. Raczkowski spent several months at Technische Universität Braunschweig, which is in the northern part of Germany. But his internship was in the southern part of Germany.

Raczkowski was able to do his internship at none other than Bavarian Motor Works, or BMW, in the main research and development center in north Munich.

“It was another culture shock when I got to use the German I learned in a professional setting. For me in particular, I used German on a day-to-day basis,’’ said Raczkowski.

The IEP program not only allows students to study abroad but it creates global citizens, and changes lives. 

“Students sometimes discover new personalities or identities because it’s easier for them to express themselves in a different way if they speak French or Spanish,” said Berka. “A shy person can suddenly become outgoing.”

The program has humble roots, said Berka, but it has grown to allow students to apply to study and intern abroad in six different countries. Nationally, less than 1% of engineering students go abroad for an entire year but at URI, thanks to the IEP program, that number is between 15% and 20% of engineering students in a given year, or about 25 to 50 students. In contrast to peer institutions that have global programs where students go abroad in a faculty-led team, the IEP’s philosophy is to prepare students on campus technically, linguistically and culturally so that they can hit the ground running abroad on their own.

Raczkowski was able to fulfill his dream and work at a company that makes his favorite car, and it was all thanks to the IEP program. After graduation, he will continue his racing forward by working for his dream company, BMW, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. 

He will be working in a leadership development program that allows incoming employees a chance to work in three different departments to see where they excel. 

“In the two-year program, I will work in three different departments to rapidly expand my network and skills as a young professional,” said Raczkowski. “In one of those placements I will take on a role similar to that of my time in Munich as a steering systems engineer and continue my work as an acoustic engineer.”

He says so many people put off studying abroad until it’s too late, but as the world is changing it’s crucial to have that language and cultural experience.

“Going to a whole different country and being thrown in the deep water, forces someone to be resilient,” said Raczkowski. “I’m certainly very grateful that I had the opportunity to do it.”