U. starts new exchange program

Some University students will soon be able to say that they go to a school that's older than Harvard. President Sheldon Hackney signed an agreement with the 700-year-old Complutense University of Madrid last night, setting up a foundation for faculty and student exchange programs beginning in 1992. Guillermo Calleja, Vice Director of International Relations for Complutense, said he was excited about the opportunities the agreement will present. "I am very happy to establish this," Calleja said. "The programs may be modest initially, but they will grow rapidly." The University has already established two exchange programs with Complutense. In May, Spanish Literature Professor Russell Sebold will be traveling to Madrid to teach a "mini-course." Next fall, Complutense will send a professor to the University. The other program will involve undergraduate engineers. According to Joyce Randolph, the University's international relations director, chemical engineers and materials science engineers will be able to join an intern program at Complutense for six weeks in the summer. Randolph said the program is expected to start next summer and its requirements will stress intensive language studies. The agreement does not specifically set up further exchanges. Instead, it will serve as an official statement of intentions between the two universities. "This works as a general umbrella, then you get more specific," Provost Michael Aiken said. "Eventually this will have many parts. It starts by people who know each other, then others get to know each other . . . it's an ever widening circle phenomenon." Aiken said that the agreement is part of a University effort to improve international programs as part of its five-year plan. He said the University sought out similar schools so exchanges could be University-wide rather than departmental. Other schools the University has partnerships with include the University of Geneva, in Switzerland, and the Katholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. Complutense is a government-run school with 129,000 students. It was founded in 1293 by King Sancho IV as a general studies school in the town of Alcala de Henares, south of Madrid. The school was renamed in 1508 by Cardinal Jimenez de Cisneros when he reorganized it. The school moved to Madrid in 1836. The name Complutense comes from the Latin word Compluto, meaning from Pluto, which was the Roman name for the town of Alcala. Callejo compared the exchange program to the Erasmus program set up by the European Economic Community, which allows students from each of the twelve countries to spend a year abroad at a member school. "Students' opportunities abroad are unique," said Callejo. "In Europe we are aware that to have experience abroad you find richness. You don't only learn questions and answers. It's beyond the textbook."

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