Engineering in Berlin, Germany

The Virginia Military Institute, in partnership with Studienforum Berlin, is pleased to present two summer four-week programs in Berlin, the capital of Germany.

Dates: May 19 - June 21, 2016

Cost: $4,900 plus airfare (subject to BOV approval).

Fees include tuition, books, accommodation with host families, two meals/day, public transportation (pass for the subway, trams and buses), sightseeing tours in Berlin and Potsdam, excursion to Weimar and Buchenwald, museum entrance fees, as well as airport pick-up and drop-off service. International airfare is not included.

Program Director

Mrs. Patricia Hardin will serve as the Program Director. Mrs. Hardin, who was born in communist Romania, immigrated to Germany when she was 10 years old and spent many years living, and attending school, in Germany until coming to the US to attend college at Wake Forest University in 1984. She received her Master’s degree in Germanic Languages and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

COL Michael Hardin, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at VMI, received his PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998. During the summer study abroad program In Germany, COL Hardin will be teaching two Mechanical Engineering courses:

ME 302 - Dynamics
ME 360X - Global Engineering

COL Hardin developed the Global Engineering course specifically for this summer abroad program in an effort to expose cadets to multinational companies and to allow cadets to become globally competent.

List of excursion in conjunction with the Global Engineering class:

Science Park Adlershof
BMW Motorcycle Plant
Siemens
Transparent VW Factory in Dresden, Germany
Technical University Berlin
Frauenhofer Institute of Production Systems and Design Technology
Museum of German Technology

Academic Facilities

The engineering classroom is located in a quiet residential area within walking distance to the heart of Berlin and to the subway stations.

As part of the engineering cultural program, students will learn about Imperial and Nazi Germany as they visit the Jewish Museum and the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald. They will learn about the division and re-unification of Germany as they visit the former German Democratic Museum, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Stasi prison Hohenschönhausen as well as cities such as Dresden, previously under the “iron curtain.” They will experience the cultural life of contemporary Germany as they visit contemporary art exhibits and concerts, and shop at the most trendy boutiques and one of the largest department stores in Europe, KaDeWe. Since Berlin is the capital city of Germany, students will learn about the German government and political system through a visit to the Reichstag, the German Capital Building. Students will alsovisit the Sanssouci Palace, the summer residence of the Prussian King Frederick the Great, and the Cecilienhof Palace, site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference.

The program also offers one optional weekend excursion to the Southwestern part of Germany as well as to the Alsace region in France. This optional excursion includes a day trip to the Black Forest for the customary German hiking (Wandern). The group will take a car ferry across the famous Rhine River. The first stop on this day trip is a guided tour at the Maginot Line Museum followed by a visit to Colmar, a typical Alsacien city. There, the group will visit the museum of Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty and will dine on the typical meal of Tarte Flambée (Flammenkuchen).

Room and Board

Students will be living with German families who speak English. This allows students to see German culture ‘up close and personal.’ Students will share two meals a day with their German family.