Saint Martin’s University (SMU), an institution of Catholic origin, places a strong emphasis on community values and personalized student attention.

 

Outdoors enthusiasts at SMU enjoy breathtakingly rugged landscape and nearby Mount Rainier, while those in search of a weekend in the city will find bustling Seattle a mere hour away.

 

At SMU, students have the opportunity to pursue academics amongst sustainable, newly-built facilities, such Cebula Hall in The Hal and Inge Marcus School of Engineering which is “the highest scored Platinum LEED building in the Western Hemisphere.”

 

With foreign students from Asia, Europe and South America now comprising ten percent of the student body, SMU has become adept at facilitating the success of its international student community. SMU boasts a twenty-eight-year-strong intensive English language program, which has unwaveringly received positive feedback from Brazilian and other foreign students alike.

 

“Our strategic plan looks at growing the presence of international students and sending our students abroad. We feel it’s an important part of higher education.” - R. Heynderickx

 

Brazilians at SMU have thrived in STEM fields such as civil, mechanical, and software engineering, as well as nursing and pre-med biology. SMU’s well-connected career services department matches students with internships and research assistantships, and the Brazilian students benefit from “once in a lifetime” experiences such as technical visits to local industry leading companies including Microsoft and Boeing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global outreach is at the core of SMU’s institutional goals. “Our strategic plan looks at growing the presence of international students and sending our students abroad. We feel it’s an important part of higher education,” said SMU President, Roy F. Heynderickx. The university partners with CEFET-Rio de Janeiro and continually seeks out collaborative opportunities to benefit student and faculty research and cultural exchange. This fall, SMU students will also visit Rio de Janeiro to participate in an immersion program.

 

SMU is positioning itself as a key facilitator of Washington State-Brazilian academic relations as in November of this year, SMU will invite eleven Brazilian universities to Washington for a conference to openly discuss exchange opportunities. SMU Vice President of International Programs, Josephine Yung, described the importance of this forthcoming event. “Washington State and Rio de Janeiro; two different states. One from Brazil and one from US will come together. We'll learn from each other and talk about student exchange. We'll get our Brazilian students involved in the discussion.”

 

The university represents an academically strong choice for international students in addition to being a campus that is becoming increasingly connected with Brazil, thus creating new opportunities for collaboration and growth for all students, alumni, and faculty.