University Engineering students now have an opportunity to gain a new perspective in their field through a partnership with transportation company Bombardier Inc. in South Africa.
According to Robert Swap, a leader of University programs in southern Africa, the Engineering School will work with students and faculty at numerous U.S. and South African universities as well as the Canadian-based company, Bombardier, to create a new light rail line ready in time for the 2010 World Cup. The light rail will connect Johannesburg, Pretoria, and the South African international airports. Bombardier has entered into a contract with the South African government to construct the light rail. Swap said this contact includes an extra 15 years of maintenance work in relation to the project that University students could be a part of.
Swap first became involved in southern Africa in 1992, doing graduate research work through the University, he said.
As a professor, Swap continued to work on numerous joint programs bringing University students to southern Africa for academic and service-related trips, he said. In 2003 he began working with "Engineering Students Without Borders" as a regional advisor on the trips.
Swap, along with Engineering School Dean Jim Aylor, helped build a relationship with Bombardier through a close relationship to University alumnus Mike Fetsko, vice president of international programs in the total transit system division at Bombardier, he said.
The partnership came out of a desire to help both South African universities and Bombardier increase the engineering workforce in South Africa as well as to expand the scope of engineering education at the University, Aylor explained.
The prospect of research, the creation of new classes and an exchange program on both sides of the Atlantic have been discussed for the consortium, Aylor said.
"We are ... trying to create relationships with universities in South Africa ... so that we can share students," Aylor said. "I'm really interested in getting more and more of our students international experience because more and more of our engineering talent is going ... global."
Swap explained that engineering work in South Africa would also be beneficial to students on a cultural level.
"Students would be ... immersed in the private sector dealing with real world problems in similar and different cultures, simultaneously having to get a job done" he said. "Their knowledge would be put to the test outside of the books."
Talks about the partnership began in July, during a visit to South Africa, Aylor said.
Further discussions to finalize the plan among the universities, Bombardier and the United States and South African governments are projected to take place by early next year.
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