USF Engineering major says education abroad provides skills for workplace success

At 22, Yves Uwimana, a track and field star and USF senior who is about to graduate this spring with a degree in Industrial Engineering, is already a world traveler. “I've been to quite a few countries in Europe: Norway, France, Belgium, England, Italy, and Greece. Outside of Europe I’ve been to Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates and have also traveled a bit in the Americas too, to Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama.” 

Uwimana, who is bilingual in French and English, enjoys talking to students about the ways in which international travel can enhance their academic careers and give them life-long skills that they can take with them into the workplace.

Uwimana, who grew up in New Orleans, has worked with USF’s Education Abroad office for almost his entire academic career. Serving mostly as a recruiter for all USF study abroad programs including faculty-led trips, affiliate and exchange programs, Uwimana organizes tabling for the Education Abroad office at events, leads classroom presentations, and even uses his quantitative skills to provide data analysis for the office. He says that studying overseas brings students another level of awareness about themselves and the world around them.

“I started right from the jump start with studying abroad. I applied the summer before I came to USF. What attracted me to study abroad is that my parents are both from overseas; my mom is from Tunisia and my dad is from Rwanda. We traveled a lot when I was young so that international experience influenced my decision to work for the study abroad office at USF.”

Uwimana, who is bilingual in French and English, enjoys talking to students about the ways in which international travel can enhance their academic careers and give them life-long skills that they can take with them into the workplace. He won an entrepreneurship competition called Hustle at USF last year and as a result he and his team were given the opportunity to run a start-up vending machine company called JustBaked for a semester. He already has a job lined up with General Electric after he graduates. He says working at USF’s Education Abroad office contributed to his ability to secure a job offer prior to graduation. “Whether it’s securing collaborations or working on projects with multicultural teams, studying overseas introduces you to new cultures and experiences and makes you realize that people may not see things the way you do. That translates into the business environment.” 

Many students Uwimana meets are concerned about the cost, so he makes sure to let them know it’s more affordable than they might think. “Especially for some of the longer programs, sometimes there’s the option to apply their financial aid, which is a big help. A lot of students don’t know that. "Your USF financial aid award package can travel with you—but meet with a financial aid advisor to go over your specific award package." Uwimana explains there are also separate scholarships to cover the cost of airfare for that as well. If all else fails, he has some tips for scoring affordable tickets for flights abroad. “I recommend checking a variety of airline websites at different times and on different days of the week, to find less expensive tickets for days when flights are not full. I was able to go to Torbole [Italy] and back for $380 last spring break for 10 days. It was a great trip that I booked at the last minute, two days beforehand.” USF's affiliate programs offer additional opportunities to reduce costs. “We have partners that offer study abroad programs around the world and often provide their own scholarships.”

The college years are, or should be, a time for young people to expand their horizons and try new things. Studying overseas is a great way to do that, Uwimana says. “I feel like the biggest thing [study abroad offers] is that it makes you recognize how big of a world it is and how different people are.”

USF Education Abroad offers a wide variety of programs applicable to many fields of study. “We have something for all majors. Whether it’s engineering, business, or the medical field, students should take full advantage of the career-enhancing skills and life-changing experiences that study abroad can offer.”