The third annual Global Opportunities Fair, Tuesday, September 24th, Alden Memorial Hall, attracted an estimated record of 600 visitors, according to the Office of Global Programs. Fourteen different countries, eleven project locations and eight exchange universities were represented at the fair. "From our perspective it was a great success" said Marché Haddad, Associate Director of the Global Programs Office, and director of this year's Global Opportunities Fair.
The WPI Global Perspective Program came along with the adoption of the WPI plan, more than 25 years ago. The first exchange agreement was signed in 1973 with "City College", London, United Kingdom. Washington, D.C. was selected in 1974 as the location for the first off campus residential project center. In 1987 the first overseas residential project center was setup in London. Now 30% of undergraduate students at WPI will study off campus before they graduate. "We are also the national leader in 'Study Abroad' for science and engineering majors" said Haddad. According to her, only about 2% of U.S. undergraduate college students have a 'Study Abroad' experience compared to the 30% base for WPI students. Haddad reasoned that "students with a technological edge are most likely to work abroad". An increasing number of employers have said that it is important for them to have employees that have already gained a global perspective or work experience.
At the present time WPI has project centers in Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Italy, Puerto Rico, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and in C Term, India will be added to the ever-growing list. WPI also has exchange agreements with some of the finest and most reputable institutions in Canada, Germany, Holland, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland. Although the project centers and exchange programs can encompass a Sufficiency, IQP, or MQP, most students complete their IQPs during the visits. The average IQP program lasts for 7-8 weeks during which a group of WPI students work closely with at least one WPI faculty member, a local coordinator and a project sponsor.
There are some plans for new project centers, and on average a new project center has been added to the list every second year the exchange programs seems to be lagging behind. Partly due to the misconception of what exchange programs are many students avoid pursuing the opportunities that lay hidden there. Unlike the project programs, exchange programs last for a semester or a whole year, and the students travel and study independently, without an accompanying WPI faculty member. Haddad also pointed out that students have the misconception that off-campus project programs and exchange programs are more expensive than normal schooling at WPI and in a survey distributed to attending students of the Global Opportunities Fair, Haddad stated that 9 out of 10 students said that financing was the major reason for not pursuing one of the programs. "Programs are not expensive" said Haddad, "The cost is very similar to attendance at WPI". Additional financial aid is also available to help with any extra financial costs that may arise. Referring to the misconception that conflicts with their academic program at WPI might arise, Haddad said that if students "plan ahead, there should be no reason why this should be a problem."