Twenty URI students and seven students from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany were the first to occupy the house in November. I could not imagine a more ideal place to live than the IEP house. The IEP was strong before the house was in existence, but now it is even stronger. The IEP house is a physical representation of who we are and where we are going, said Smith. The IEP is a five-year program in which graduates earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in a language and a Bachelor of Science degree in a selected field of engineering.
Many students also opt to spend a semester studying abroad to further absorb the culture.
The program was the first of its kind across the nation, and has been cited as a national model for international engineering programs. The University of Connecticut and RICE University in Texas are currently developing programs based on URI's model. The program has received a prestigious national award for innovation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology and has a 100 percent employment rate. Past graduates have gone to work with prestigious firms both locally, such as Brown and Sharpe in N. Kingstown, and abroad, such as DaimlerChrysler in Germany. All rights reserved.