Foxconn, UWM partnering in new international co-op program for engineering students

Karen Herzog | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee engineering students will have a chance to study in Taiwan and gain work experience at the Foxconn Technology Group there as the international company begins growing its Wisconsin workforce.

Recruitment for the new Foxconn co-op program through UWM will begin this fall, and the first five students will be chosen under an agreement signed Thursday by UWM, Foxconn and Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan. UWM already has an engineering study abroad partnership with the Taiwan university.

Foxconn has said it will need thousands of engineers for the $10 billion manufacturing complex it is building in Racine County. The UWM co-op program could eventually be replicated at other universities in Wisconsin and the Midwest, according to the company and UWM.

"We definitely want to grow it," Brett Peters, dean of the UWM College of Engineering & Applied Science, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "How big and how quickly is yet to be determined."

It's possible more students would be accepted into the program in the fall, but only five will be chosen to study and work in Taiwan as part of the paid co-op program, Peters said.

Under the UWM agreement, students from the engineering college initially will spend time in Foxconn's new facility in Mount Pleasant before going to Taiwan in February.

Once in Taiwan, they will pay UWM tuition to take classes in culture and language, and begin work on applied research projects. They will continue to work on their research projects at one of Foxconn's facilities in Taiwan through June 2019, then return to Wisconsin to complete their degrees, possibly while working at Foxconn's new Mount Pleasant complex.

The co-op program will introduce engineering students to liquid crystal display fabrication technology and processes. Ultra-high-definition display panels, which the company will produce in Wisconsin, are used in a variety of high-tech consumer electronics products, such as smartphones.

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“We are delighted to host Foxconn’s first international co-op program in Wisconsin and be a model for other universities in the state,” UWM Chancellor Mark Mone said.

“Many of us in higher education have talked for years about the need to collaborate more closely with each other and with our business partners, and Foxconn has encouraged us to accelerate that work to benefit our students and our state. Companies throughout Wisconsin need the well-trained engineers that programs like this will provide.”

The co-op will give students at UWM "a valuable hands-on international working experience and apply their learning in a real-world, global environment,” Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn founder and CEO Terry Gou, said in prepared remarks.

“We are committed to supporting Wisconsin in expanding the existing strong talent pool and nurturing knowledge workers in the state," Woo said. "This will not only make Wisconsin more attractive to other companies but also contribute to its transformation as a global technology hub."

Woo cited UWM's strong engineering program, diverse student body and experience with international educational partnerships.

Thirty-one UWM students have participated in an existing engineering study abroad program at the same Taiwan university since that program started in 2009, according to UWM.

A key feature of the existing program is that students from UWM and other universities in the United States collaborate with students from CYCU and Southeast University in China on engineering projects sponsored by Taiwanese industrial companies.

Eighty-nine percent of UWM engineering students complete at least one internship or co-op before graduation, according to the university. UWM attracts students from around Wisconsin, and 80% of its graduates stay and work in Wisconsin.

"The UWM College of Engineering & Applied Science is proud to provide this unique opportunity to our students and to be a key player in supplying the talent needed to meet Foxconn’s sophisticated requirements,” Peters said.

“Advanced manufacturing is an area of expertise for our college. This program builds on a strong tradition of partnership between our college and industry in support of Wisconsin’s economic growth and development.”

The new Foxconn co-op program will be the second international internship/co-op program at the UWM College of Engineering & Applied Science.

Rockwell Automation established an internship program with the college in 2016 in which engineering students work at its facility in Shanghai, China, in partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

