Ireland added to list of expanding UM exchange programs

Last weekend, Sabrina Burton ran into some old friends while hiking Mount Sentinel.

She didn’t recognize the three men at first, but one spoke with a distinct Irish accent that reminded her of her stay at the University College Cork two years ago.

By: Jeff Windmueller
Montana Kaimin

When she stopped to gab with them, she found that they were two professors and the president of UCC, where she’d been on a six-month exchange from the University of Depaw in Greencastle, Ind.

“I could tell when he talked that he’s a Corker,” Burton said.

Burton’s exchange allowed her to pay the tuition from her own school while attending UCC, an opportunity no UM student has been allowed in Ireland — until now.

During the last five years the Office of International Programs has expanded nearly two-fold to include more than 30 schools across the world in its international exchange program. Earlier this week, UCC became the latest one.

UM President George Dennison signed an agreement with President Gerard Wrixon of UCC to form an exchange that allows students to pay their own university’s tuition while attending another school.

For the Office of International Programs, it is one more step toward diversifying UM’s campus. Dennison addressed the University in a public speech shortly after his appointment more than a decade ago recommending that UM’s international programs expand until everyone benefited.

“I made a challenge in ’92, maybe ’91, that any student has to have an opportunity for an international experience,” Dennison said. “Increasingly international education is changing the curriculum in the nation.”

His hope is that a more diverse campus will strengthen students’ educations at UM and help them succeed in a global environment.

Nearly 30 visiting Pakistani students and teachers arrived at Missoula’s airport Thursday night.

Mehrdad Kia, assistant vice president for research and director for the Office of International programs, was among those who welcomed them to kick off their summer study of the U.S. educational system.

“This is putting UM on the radar in Washington as a university that can provide first-rate training for foreign teachers,” Kia said. Since Dennison’s mandate, the members of OIP and Foreign Student and Scholar Services have tried to bring that vision to light.

In the last two years, the OIP has moved from the basement of University Hall to new offices in the linguistics building.

In addition to the schools that provide an equal exchange, the University can send UM students to 130 institutions in 35 different countries. Right now, 65 UM students are studying abroad.

The OIP helps traveling students by providing information about the countries they visit, the importance of health insurance and a schedule of classes and study times.

“Marja (Unkuri-Chaudhry) is really great and she has everything organized,” said Deidre Haggerty, a senior in communications and Spanish who spent last year in Spain.

Unkuri-Chaudhry is the assistant director for Study Abroad and among the staff that helps UM students about to set sail.

Haggerty said that with Unkuri-Chaudhry’s help filling out paperwork, getting a passport and applying for a Visa, she was able to get through the complicated process before leaving for Spain.

While helping with the practical difficulties, the OIP also tries to teach departing students about their destination’s customs, practices and culture, Kia said.

“Each and every country has its own culture and customs,” he said.

It is important for UM students going abroad to remember that they are guests, Kia said. They have to be conscious and aware of the customs, as well as alert to any cultural issues that may arise.

In the end, the lessons they learn abroad will be important in today’s expanding global relations, Kia said.

He said the students who leave are also ambassadors who might help dispel an image that those countries have of America.

“It’s so important to see how other people from other cultures and societies view us,” he said. While the OIP sends students abroad, Foreign Student and Scholar Services is helping bring students across oceans and continents to Montana.

In 2004, 419 foreign students attended UM, about the same number as the last four or five years, said Yukari Zednick an administrative associate in Foreign Student and Scholar Services.

“We are under the student affairs so we provide the support and service to foreign students and scholars,” she said.

The program helps students from about 73 countries, about 80 percent of whom are here to receive a degree. The remaining 20 percent are part of short-term exchange programs.

Zednick said that many foreign students favor UM for its physical and social environment. “The campus is beautiful, and if students are interested in the outdoors they come here,” she said.

Many others don’t like big cities because they prefer the safety of a smaller town, she said. The FSS spends the bulk of its time helping students adjust to their new surroundings through general advising and counseling, as well as making sure those who stick around comply with immigration standards. The program often holds workshops and most recently held one that helped foreign students understand and deal with credit cards.

Money is a big issue for many foreign students since they are not eligible for financial aid, and must always pay out-of-state tuition, Zednick said.

“They can work on campus so we’ll always introduce them to career services to find positions,” Zednick said.

The FSS also hires three students a year to help with the popular International Culture and Food Festival held every spring.

For international students whose native language isn’t English, there are classes to help them integrate into UM’s academic system. Dr. Tully Thibeau is the supervisor of the English as a Second Language Program and makes sure that students who have had to learn English as a second language are expressing their ideas fully.

“We try to get them thinking in complex ways to accomplish academic tasks using a second language,” Thibeau said.

In other words, they are not teaching the students how to speak English, but how to process things like arguments in English. Each foreign student is tested on their arrival and is placed into four different classes ranging on their English skills.

Thibeau said that while there is not statistical data to prove that the programs work, traditionally international students have higher GPAs than other students.

Since foreign students can sometimes be overwhelmed by culture shock, a number of Missoula residents have volunteered to make them feel more at home.

Udo Fluck, a UM professor of multicultural education, is also the president of the Missoula International Friendship Program. While he teaches classes that help students to better understand the world outside the United States, he is welcoming foreign students to Montana.

MIFP is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that “promotes international awareness and friendship between international students and scholars at the University of Montana and the greater Missoula community,” Fluck said.

At the beginning of every semester, the organization asks Missoula residents if they would like to meet and greet foreign students, he said.

In many cases the resident can request a person from a particular area of the world that they would like to know more about.

“Sometimes you get lucky and you get a perfect match,” Fluck said. If not, it is generally still a good experience and not one that lasts for only a semester, he said.

“I have past friends I knew in the ‘90s who are still friends with Missoula community members,” Fluck said. “The reason I joined MIFP was because I was fascinated with the service they provided.”

As a former student from Germany, Fluck was without a car and was often given transportation by volunteers, even to places like Fairmont Hot Springs and Snowbowl Ski Resort.

In the end, the University and Missoula have done a good job making foreign students feel welcome, said Martin Twer, president of the International Student Association.

“I felt very welcomed here, and it’s a very nice environment to study,” said Twer, a German graduate student. “Usually, when you say you’re from a foreign country people are interested.”

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