Exchange Students Gain Scientific, Cultural Knowledge On Visit

by LoAna Lopez

Baylor University is hosting 10 students from Belgium and the Netherlands for an exchange program designed to give international students a cross-cultural education in computer science. The Knowledge Engineering program, organized by the computer science department in the School of Engineering and Computer Science, is a collaborative effort between Baylor and the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.
Cynthia Fry, lecturer in computer science and engineering and program director, said the exchange students are taking mostly technical courses such as computer graphics. They also are gaining skills in the business world via the Premier FastTrac Entrepreneurial Training Program through the Hankamer School of Business.
Academic portions of the program are only the beginning of the learning experience in the Knowledge Engineering program, now it its third year.
"The students arrived on July 4, just in time to have a barbecue and watch fireworks from the apartments in which they are staying," Fry said. They have since visited Six Flags Over Texas, Houston and Galveston, and will wrap up their studies at Baylor on Aug. 9.
Their favorite spot, however, is the McLane Student Life Center. "They absolutely love it," Fry said. "They love Buzzard Billy's, too."
They also journeyed to Fry's hometown of Clifton for the Central Texas Fair and Rodeo.
Four sponsors have accompanied the students, most of whom have never been to the United States. The students attend either the University of Maastricht or Limburg University Center in Diepenbeek, Belgium.
For more information about the Knowledge Engineering program, contact Fry at 710-4874.