More Brazilian Students To Come To LTU For Engineering
SOUTHFIELD -- Lawrence Technological University and the Maua Institute of Technology in San Paulo, Brazil, have signed an agreement to bring Brazilian students to LTU to study mechanical engineering for a year.
The two private universities, which are similar in size, hope to extend the arrangement to civil engineering, electrical engineering and perhaps mechatronics.
During the past academic year LTU hosted 18 students from Brazil who have scholarships to study in the United States through the Brazil Scientific Mobility Program. Under the new agreement, if a Brazilian student can't take advantage of that program, LTU will provide a $10,000 scholarship for one year.
"The demand from Brazilian students who want international exposure is growing," explained IMT Dean of Engineering Marcello Nitz during a recent visit to Lawrence Tech. "We have been looking for reputable universities in the United States, and I've heard from the Brazilian students that they like it" at LTU.
LTU and IMT previously had an umbrella agreement to increase cooperation. The new agreement sets in motion plans to develop summer exchange programs at both universities in mechanical engineering and civil engineering, and a shared graduate program in renewable energy.
Nitz said his university wants to bring LTU students to Brazil. "We want to see what the needs are (for LTU students) so that we can develop a program that is attractive to them," he said.
Dean of Engineering Nabil Grace signed the agreement for LTU. "The global economy often requires engineers to cooperate across international borders, so we continue to expand our interaction with universities in other countries," he said.
LTU now has academic exchange agreements with more than 30 universities around the world.
Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, is a private university founded in 1932 that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management. Payscale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation's top 7 percent of universities for return on undergraduate tuition investment, and highest in the Detroit metropolitan area. Lawrence Tech is also listed in the top tier of Midwestern universities by U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review. Activities on Lawrence Tech's 102-acre campus include over 60 student clubs and organizations and a growing roster of NAIA varsity sports
