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Belgian students

Twenty-nine Belgian students are enjoying six weeks in Clemson as part of the Thomas Green Clemson University Brussels Center (CUBC) academic programs. All 29 are business majors at their home institution. Seven students are from Clemson’s partner institution’s Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) and Institut Catholique des Hautes Études Commerciales (ICHEC). All visiting students are enrolled in Clemson’s Summer Session Two and are studying marketing and English for business writing.

This is the third year Clemson has hosted summer students from Belgium as part of CUBC. This year's program is designed to introduce them to marketing and communications set in the unique environment of the Carolinas and Georgia. The students will visit a number of venues that support their course objectives: Biltmore Estate and Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C., downtown and harbor tour of Charleston, day trip to Helen, Ga., outing to Hagood Mill in Pickens for bluegrass music and barbeque, July 4 celebration and Greenville Drive game in Greenville.

The Belgium students enjoy the warm and friendly atmosphere of Clemson and are actively engaged in their classes. Many have Clemson University roommates and already made a number of friends. They have embarked on projects in the business writing course that involve making promotional materials (brochures, posters, presentations, and web sites) for their program — tying together the goals of both the marketing and communication courses. Demand for classes at Clemson is such the university anticipates enrollment to double next year.

This past Maymester, CUBC in Brussels hosted 58 Clemson students. They participated in a number of programs: bioengineering, marketing, psychology, communications and honors. The students toured Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp and visited the partner institutions UCL and Ichec. High on the list of favorite visits were the tour of the chocolate factory and the comic strip museum.

Clemson and CUBC are sponsoring a spring 2009 program designed for business minors. The program is open to qualified students from other schools. For information and a list of courses visit http://www.clemson.edu/ia/abroad/cubc_bbs.html. Next year's summer programs in Brussels will run over two sessions and will expand to include courses in food science and packaging science. It will also include a comparative humanities program whose content will draw upon the American, Belgian, and German response to World War II.