Students across the globe have returned to Lamar University as its foreign exchange program has returned from a COVID-19-related pause.Five students -
Students across the globe have returned to Lamar University as its foreign exchange program has returned from a COVID-19-related pause.
Five students — three from South Korea, one from Germany and one from France — came to the campus in January to begin their studies while one Lamar student began their semester in France at the ESC Rennes School of Business.
These students will spend the spring semester at Lamar and then return to their home campuses in May.
Lamar is partnered with six universities in Germany; France; Alicante, Spain; Taiwan; and two in South Korea.
Study Abroad and Student Exchange Coordinator Mary Alice Haas said the university chooses partnerships based on their programs and how they align with the programs Lamar offers.
“In all of our partnerships, we have usually what’s called a ‘3 v 3 exchange,'” she said. “We send three students and we accept three students. So, no revenue or tuition is lost for either university, all it does is provide students with an opportunity to take classes on a different campus.”
Zeppelin University in Germany, for example, has a business program that aligns with the one offered at Lamar. Junior Ricarda Scheel is spending her spring semester at Lamar’s College of Business, around 5,200 miles away from her school in Friedrichshafen.
Haas said it’s her and other faculty and staff members’ job to let students know that opportunities to study abroad — both short- and long-term — exist and are more attainable than students may think.
“With our university culture, I actually see students who need the idea of exchange to be introduced to them or they don’t know it exists, or they haven’t been encouraged to go out of the country for a long period of time,” she said.
Scheel said at her university in Germany, studying abroad is quite common in a student’s sixth semester. Scheel is in her fifth, but she said her friends were starting to study abroad, so she did, too.
Beaumont was not Scheel’s first choice — she originally wanted to go to South America, but COVID-19 was surging there when she applied.
“I debated going anyways because no one would know how it looked in one year, but it was kind of not a smart thing to do,” she said. “(Lamar) was kind of a spontaneous decision because I just scrolled through the partner universities and I (was) caught by the stadiums and a lot of the sports that American universities do.”
Scheel said she had wanted to exchange in the United States when she was 16, but her parents thought she was too young and that it was too far. The decision to study in Texas confused her parents, who would have preferred her to attend a school in New York or Italy.
“It felt right,” she said. “They had to live with my decision.”
Scheel said she was intrigued by the differences across U.S. states but still make up a cohesive community.
“I always thought that Western countries are kind of similar,” she said. “But they for sure aren’t. I have family in Michigan and I always thought that I knew how the US is like and how they act. I read American newspapers, but I never got the whole picture. I was interested in how the different states of the country interact. I already got some insights I wouldn’t have had in Germany.”
Studying abroad is an immersive experience and has allowed her to build independence, Haas said.
“Students in terms of health and safety are fully supported,” she said. “But it’s an incredibly independent experience. A student goes to another country, another campus knowing no one, immersed in courses taught by faculty at that university — speaking English, all of the courses at the exchange programs are all taught in English, that’s a common misconception.”
The impact of studying abroad encompasses all aspects of a student’s life, Haas said.
“They take that personal growth into their academics and their career, because they approached new tasks with a completely different confidence,” she said. “We see employers look for students who have a global experience because they know, ‘We’re a global-minded company, we hire international professionals and we want someone who can respectfully communicate, who can navigate cultural differences,’ and just have a different global perspective.”
Scheel said she tries to participate in multiple activities and get different perspectives about a lot of issues. She’s enjoyed experiencing different aspects of American culture such as sports and food.
“I was at a basketball game and it was really cool to see how big the (court) was,” she said. “I love sports. I don’t do American sports but I really like how they’re so important here. And I spend a lot of time after school just at the (recreational center), not only doing sports but just being there because everyone is there. I really like the climbing wall. I think a gym like this would add so much value to German universities.”
There have been a few surprises, too, she said.
“You have huge parking spaces,” Scheel said. “Cities (in Europe) are trying to reduce cars and trying to be more sustainable. In Germany, everything’s just smaller.”
Academically, the United States and German school systems are different, Scheel said.
“I think the American system is a lot more like high school. It’s frequent tests, frequent assignments, but it’s a lot easier than in Germany,” she said. “In Germany, it’s more like you have three months of going to classes, reading stuff, maybe doing presentations, and then you have one month where you have your exams and you have to know all the stuff and your grade depends on your last exam.”
Lamar has courses that Scheel’s home university doesn’t offer, which she is excited to take advantage of, she said.
“I want to someday go into the management side of healthcare, it always has been a dream,” she said. “I have this healthcare entrepreneurship class, which doesn’t exist in Germany at my university. I’m really looking forward to it and I hope I can get something out of it.”
Haas said the health and safety of students is of the upmost importance, which is why the study abroad programs had to be suspended in March 2020. But, she’s glad that they have been able to resume.
“There’s so many beautiful aspects about study abroad and pausing it was so difficult on students,” she said. “(The program still) puts health and safety at the forefront as well. When students go on exchange, it’s very similar to how they’re living on campus here. So, they have their own independent housing there, they have our international health insurance. And so they’re able to experience an exchange semester very, very safely, which is key within this pandemic.”
Even though the pandemic is still ongoing, Haas said the program follows State Department travel advisories and Texas State University System guidance. TSUS has said that universities can allow educational travel to countries designated “Level 4,” or “Do not travel” if the designation is due to COVID only.
“There’s definitely a risk in terms of contracting COVID, I think just about anywhere at this point,” Haas said. “But it is now our job to safely give students the opportunity and allow them to choose.”
Countries have different requirements regarding vaccinations and quarantining and Haas said that she helps students understand all of the conditions that need to be met as well as keeping them informed.
“We need to make sure our students are following what the border is requesting that’s of high importance, but we do not ask them to disclose their status,” she said. “We make sure that they’re informed and well aware of what they need to do.”
Haas said one of the most common misconceptions about student exchange is that it is extremely expensive. In a lot of cases, that isn’t true, she said.
“If you are a business student, we offer an incredible scholarship for student exchange. It’s up to 75% of your entire program covered in scholarships,” she said. “If you’re in the Honors College, there’s a $1,000 scholarship that you qualify for. If you’re in neither of those colleges, it’s still extremely affordable for a semester because you pay your tuition here, the only expenses you’re acquiring is what you would pay on the Lamar campus.”
Expenses include accommodations, meals, public transportation, books for classes and the flight to and from the exchange country. Haas said she walks students through their budget to help them figure out a way to plan for a semester abroad.
“I want students to know that they should really come and explore this because it is far more affordable than they think,” she said. “It’s those common myths that students have that prohibit them from a life-altering experience. Just get the right information and then make an informed decision is my best advice.”
Scheel said she will probably do another exchange-type program in the future. Her school requires one internship abroad and she’s already thinking that she wants to earn her master’s degree in another country.
“I think it’s a great experience,” she said.
For more information, visit the study abroad page on the lamar.edu website, or contact Haas at [email protected].
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