Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — This story has been modified from its original version. USAID stands for the United States Agency for International Development. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.
The United States Agency for International Development, a government organization that seeks to assist countries recovering from disaster or trying to escape poverty, and helps engage democratic reforms, has collaborated with Virginia Tech to provide Haitian students the chance of a lifetime to study at Virginia Tech to enhance their learning and travel back to their native country with the hopes of improving their school's computer science program.
Five faculty members including professors from technical institute Ecole Superieure d'Infotronique d'Haiti in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, will come to Blacksburg next week for a two-week tenure. When they arrive, Tech and affiliates will work with them to strengthen their curricula, review their teaching methods and help improve their English, as well as assist them in other areas.
Along with the short-term visit of the professors, the program will also fund the enrollment of five Haitian students, two women and three men, at Tech for two years. The students will transfer in as juniors, complete their final two years of undergraduate study at Tech through the program and earn a degree in computer science.
As an integral part of the program, the Haitian students will travel back to Haiti at the end of the program with their acquired knowledge and experience to help increase the quality of education at ESIH and utilize their acquired knowledge and skills in Haiti.
"They are going back with an experience and degree that is so valuable," said graduate student Rebecca Raab, who is also working with the program and the department of curriculum and instruction.
Not only will the students earn a degree but they will have an unforgettable experience that perhaps would not have been available to them without the support of the USAID. Patrick Guilbaud, program director for Information Technology in International Education said that this is an exchange that impacts all involved.
"It's not just Virginia Tech giving back to the student, its an opportunity for the student to give back to Virginia Tech by sharing culture and experience," Guilbaud said.
The students move to Blacksburg on June 20 and will live on campus as a way to begin absorbing the Tech culture.
The university is involved with the exchange through the Office of International and Research Education and Development.
The English Language Institute is helping the Haitian students become acclimated to American culture and is working to strengthen their English language skills. The Pamplin College of Business is starting to become involved by mentoring various faculty members and preparing for the foreign students' arrival.
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This is terrific!!! This sort of transformational exchange education program is what can produce sustainable change in our country.
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This is very positive...It's a great start , let's hope that other universities will follow the path of VT and help us in other areas including electrical engineering, agriculture, etc...
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