The University of Dortmund exchange offers UI students a unique blend of courses that combine language and culture courses with academic work in their major and minor subjects. University studies and life outside the classroom are synthesized in a holistic learning process. From the start, the program focuses on the tools that will enable participants to live independently in their new cultural environment. University, city, and region together function as a large intercultural laboratory. This includes language practice but goes far beyond it.
Special attention is given to integration with local students and the people living in the area.
The University of Iowa and the University of Dortmund operate a direct exchange program in which students from both schools remain registered at their own institution, and at the same time receive student status at the guest university. While staff in Dortmund will help you to find your way inside and outside the university, studying abroad is a great challenge. If this were not so, international exchange would not have the transforming effect it is so well known for. By stepping outside of your normal routine, you will gain a new perspective and also learn to take a new look at yourself. This newly acquired insight into your background provides a foundation for innovative creativity and an experiential understanding of the growing interdependency of nations and cultures.