Nine students and two faculty members from Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) University of Applied Sciences in Giessen, Germany, arrived at Arkansas Tech University on Monday, Sept. 16, to begin a week filled with cultural immersion and learning.
The visit is part of an ongoing student exchange collaboration between THM and ATU. The program was established in 2018.
This is the third consecutive year that Dr. Benjamin Löhr, professor at the THM Business School, and Heike Siebert, THM international exchange coordinator, have led a group from Germany to visit ATU.
“We’re happy that you are here, and the reason we’re happy that you are here are the interactions that are going on,” said Dr. Adolfo Santos, ATU executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, during a gathering of ATU and THM students and faculty at ATU’s Rothwell Hall. “So many great ideas, concepts and inventions start when young people like you get together with people who don’t necessarily think like you. You start talking with each other, and next thing you know an idea is brewing. So many great companies in this country and around the globe were started by people like you, sitting around tables like this and chatting with each other.”
The delegation from THM University of Applied Sciences will participate in a variety of academic and cultural experiences during its visit to the United States. In addition to their time on campus at ATU, the THM representatives will also visit northwest Arkansas, Little Rock and Memphis, Tenn. Among their stops will be the headquarters for Walmart and Tyson Foods, the Arkansas State Capitol, the Clinton Presidential Center, the National Civil Rights Museum and Beale Street.
The German students will also attend the football game between the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys and the Henderson State Reddies at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in Arkadelphia on Saturday, Sept. 21. The THM delegation will return home to Germany on Monday, Sept. 23.
Dr. Ahmed Elkassabgi, ATU associate professor of finance, and Gaby Haulmark, ATU director of international education and senior instructor of German, are ATU’s facilitators for the partnership with THM.
As a result of the agreement, ATU students have opportunities to take business administration, business information systems, logistics management, information technology and systems engineering classes taught in English at THM University of Applied Sciences in Giessen.
ATU students visited the THM campus at the conclusion of the spring 2024 semester. In addition to cultural immersion opportunities for the ATU students, the meeting in Germany allowed students from both universities to conduct in-person collaborative work on simulated business plans.
Arkansas Tech students with an interest in participating in this and similar programs are eligible to apply for study abroad scholarship funds through the ATU Miller Center for Global Engagement.
Additional funding for the ATU-THM partnership is provided by Erasmus+ grants, which are awarded by the European Union to support study abroad programs and include considerations for minority, lower income and first-generation students.
Arkansas Tech students with an interest in study abroad or study away opportunities can learn more at www.atu.edu/studyabroad.
