The ISU engineering program is expanding overseas learning opportunities for its students with a new exchange program. Six German mechanical or industrial engineering students are studying at Iowa State this year and will complete internships at John Deere in Waterloo this summer. The corporation-sponsoring program is the first of its kind at Iowa State, said Julia Apple-Smith, engineering career services program coordinator. The John Deere offices in Waterloo and Mannheim, Germany, are sponsoring the exchange students, who will take two semesters of classes before they begin their internships in Waterloo. These students are enrolled in Fachhochschule in Mannheim, an engineering and technology school of about 2,500 students. Bruno Burbaum, professor of engineering at Fachhochschule, is spending six weeks in Iowa. He said about half of their students go abroad, although most of them leave the country for internships rather than studies. “It’s very popular to go abroad,” said Florian Kratzer, one of the German students. Burbaum is at Iowa State to encourage the growth of this new program, to tour some Iowa industries and to help teach a class. “[Study abroad] is a great time to see another world,” he said. “You get an understanding for another country.” A group of ISU faculty will go to Fachhochschule this fall to enhance the relationship between the two schools, Apple-Smith said. “Facchochschule is a very important partnering institution for the College of Engineering,” she said.