The UMH has expanded its presence in the United States thanks to a new agreement signed following a visit by Deputy Vice Rector for Internationalization at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), Alberto Rodríguez, to Utah Tech University, located in the city of St. George, from the state of Utah in the USA.

During Rodríguez’s stay at Utah Tech, with which the UMH has mobility agreements for all degree programs, a new agreement under the ERASMUS+ KA171 program for student exchanges was signed.

While there, Rodríguez met with Shadman Bashir, the executive director at the Office of International Programs at Utah Tech University. Their meeting aimed to strengthen ties between both institutions and to promote study abroad programs, a type of mobility that allows students to enhance their higher education achievements at their institutions of origin and contributes to the internationalization of their curricula vitae.

Furthermore, the UMH Deputy Vice Rector for Internationalization also gave a training seminar on COIL, or Collaborative Online International Learning, while he was at Utah Tech. COIL endeavors facilitate international collaboration between distant institutions in addition to intercultural learning. COIL efforts at the UMH are a part of the PRODIC (Teaching Projects for Internationalization at Home) program.

The UMH and Utah Tech University have maintained international links since 2023, and it was during the 2023-2024 school year that a group of students from that American university completed a STEM-styled study abroad stay at the UMH on science, engineering, and technology.