Global Engineering at Purdue

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Engineering has become extremely globalized– you may find yourself working with a very diverse team on a project, or designing technology that will impact a faraway part of the world. Being informed about different cultures and regions of the world, having strong soft skills and emotional intelligence, and being capable of communicating with people from various backgrounds can go a long way in your career as an engineer. Working on your global and cultural competency in this way can also balance out and provide a nice contrast to the technical classes and skills we engineering students are used to. Here are some ways in which you can become a global engineer at Purdue.


Studying Abroad

Studying abroad is a great, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There are so many benefits, including familiarizing yourself with a different country and culture, studying course material in a different context than you’re used to, and challenging yourself by stepping outside your comfort zone. You can also improve your foreign language abilities and experience a different type of education system, not to mention that you get to travel to another part of the world and explore the area.


You can study abroad for a semester or a full year while still taking college courses and earning credit, and there are also short-term study abroad trips, including trips over winter break, spring break, the month of May, or the summer. In these short term trips, you usually don’t take a full load of courses at a university. Rather, you typically travel with a group of Purdue students and the program leader(s) and learn about a specific aspect of the country, often one of the country’s important sectors or an element of its culture or history. What’s also nice is that the trip is still counted as a course that you can get credits for– sometimes it can count as a technical elective for your major. 


During spring break 2022, I went on one of these short-term study abroad trips where I traveled with 19 other students and our faculty program leader to England, Wales, and Scotland. Before spring break, we all took a 1-credit course that helped us become more familiar with Britain. During our trip, we visited fascinating sites such as the British Museum, Cardiff Castle, and the Scottish Highlands. I learned a lot about British history and culture, and found learning about the experiences of immigrant groups to Britain particularly interesting. The trip as a whole was extremely fun; some of my favorite memories were exploring cities together with the other students, going up on the London Eye. and enjoying an English afternoon tea time meal. Overall, I learned a lot, enjoyed spring break thoroughly, and earned 3 honors credits that will help me complete the Honors College curriculum. Even though I’m an engineering student, what I learned and experienced will help me become a more well-rounded engineer and better effectively work in diverse teams and contribute to diverse sets of needs. 

Joining GEARE

If you want to study and intern abroad and become better at a language, apply to GEARE! GEARE stands for Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education and is a truly unique opportunity at Purdue. The organization helps engineering students become globally and culturally competent. As a GEARE student, you study abroad for a semester, complete both a domestic and international internship or research experience, take foreign language classes, and complete a global design project. There are other requirements, though by fulfilling all of them, you get a minor in global engineering studies, become a well-rounded engineer, and make yourself more competitive for industry or postgraduate education. GEARE accepts applications from both freshmen and sophomores. 


When I was applying to colleges, one of the reasons why I was leaning toward Purdue was because of GEARE itself. I joined GEARE as a freshman and chose Spanish as my language. I completed my domestic internship this past summer and hope to study abroad for a semester in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Taking Foreign Language Classes

Knowing another language is a great skill to have as an engineer. Purdue’s School of Language and Cultures offers courses for various world languages. I’m currently in “Spanish Level V” and am enjoying being able to maintain and improve my Spanish; it’s a different experience taking a course more so for my own interests and motivations instead of for a requirement. It balances out my engineering coursework well and allows me to exercise a different part of my brain.


Still, oftentimes you can use these foreign language courses to complete humanities or elective requirements that your major might have. There are also specific language courses geared toward helping students apply these languages in STEM fields, such as “German for Science and Engineering” and “Spanish for the Medical Professions” among others for example. The School of Language and Cultures also organizes weekly Language Coffee Chats for students who want to practice speaking in their foreign languages.


Lekha Durai, ABE '24

Recruitment Project Committee

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