The University of Maryland Eastern Shore welcomed its first group of foreign exchange students in the campus’s nearly 140-year history, according to a Mar. 25 announcement. Four students from the University of Lorraine in France—Nathan Millot, Yanis Choucha, Elliott Wagner, and Flavy Seminara—are spending the spring semester at UMES in Princess Anne.
This development marks a significant milestone for UMES as it expands its academic partnerships internationally. The initiative allows both institutions to host up to five students per semester each year, aiming to foster global learning experiences for their student bodies.
Phillip Broussard, Director of Global Opportunities at UMES’ Center for Foreign Language Instruction & International Education, said the partnership began with direct outreach between the two universities and involved a year-long dialogue focused on aligning their business programs. “We organically found this partnership through a direct reach out – the university contacted us,” Broussard said. “There was a year-long dialogue between the two schools and ultimately, it came down to finding the most synergy between our business programs.”
Dr. Derrek Dunn, Dean of the School of Business, Engineering, Applied Sciences, Technology, and Tourism Management at UMES said: “Having the partnership between UMES and the University of Lorraine demonstrates the international reach of our academic programs. Allowing our students to study abroad offers them a learning experience that is essential in our institutional mission of creating global citizens.”
Last year saw recent graduate Jalen Gourrier become UMES’s first participant by spending a semester in France under this program. This spring marks an important step forward as three juniors—Choucha, Wagner, Seminara—and sophomore Millot take part as accounting, finance, and marketing majors on campus while exploring American culture.
Millot shared his impressions about studying abroad: “One of the things I’m hoping to take away from this experience is to see the difference between French and American ways of teaching and learning,” he said. “So far, the biggest difference I’ve seen was the length in classes. In France one class is often three hours long where here…it passes fast.” He added: “Being in a new country and not knowing anyone can be a scary and stressful situation… But during my time at UMES people have been welcoming.”
Broussard noted that among various options available for University of Lorraine students seeking an exchange partner abroad this year; UMES was their only United States partner institution. The four French students pay tuition fees at their home university while only paying auxiliary fees at UMES—a structure made possible by their memorandum of understanding (MOU). Broussard said: “We wanted to bring down those barriers to bring them here… Without that kind MOU we would likely go another 100 years without having exchange students on campus.” He concluded: “Hosting these exchange students is a vital step in expanding UMES’ global footprint and reinforces our mission as a globally engaged HBCU.”