Bunker Hill Community College Wins National Science Foundation Grant

News provided by

Oct 15, 2010, 11:44 ET

BOSTON, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bunker Hill Community College has received National Science Foundation funding to provide international experience for computer information technology students. With the grant, up to eight BHCC students planning to continue their technology degrees at the University of Massachusetts Boston will study next summer at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. At the end of the summer, the students will return to attend UMass Boston as juniors in computer science or information technology.

BHCC will receive $55,000 of the $100,000 grant. The students traveling to Scotland next summer will have completed their second year of computer information technology studies. In Scotland the students will conduct research projects with Glasgow Caledonian students and choose internships in technology firms including CISCO, Oracle or Microsoft.

Boston-area Advanced Technology Connections (BATEC) will administer the grant. "It is extremely important in this global arena to have a working knowledge of other countries and cultures. There's no better way than to experience it first-hand," said BATEC Principal Investigator Deborah Boisvert. "This unique opportunity brings three colleges together to address the critical need for an international perspective that will help our community college students become even more competitive as they pursue their career goals."

Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in Massachusetts. The College enrolls more than 12,000 students on two campuses and at four satellite locations. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in Massachusetts. Six in ten students are people of color and more than half of BHCC's students are women. The College also enrolls more than 700 international students who come from more than 90 countries and speak 75 different languages.