U. forms French Institute

American students are "abysmal" at learning foreign languages, according to Emeritus Romance Laguages Professor Frank Bowman. Bowman said that University students can't match up to their European counterparts who are often trilingual by college gradaution. Bowman, who directs the University's recently-formed French Institute for Culture and Technology, said he wants to bring an international perspective to campus. The Institute will focus on student exchanges and scholarly visits between the Univeristy and France, which Bowman said are necessary for American students to stay competitive in the future. "It's quite clear that in every respect we are becoming a more and more internationalized world," Bowman said. "Unless the United States and Penn get into that, we will be left out." Francoise Huysseune, an Engineering junior, is part of an exchange program between the University and her French school, the University of Technology of Compiegme. She said the program works by swapping equal numbers of students from each school. "I think every university in France would be interested in belonging to an exchange program," Huysseme said. "In my class there are 200 students and all of them are interested in coming to Penn. The problem is that the students of Penn don't want to come here." Bowman said that he thought the institute would help "make a difference" in the way American students perceive the world. "As far as institutes go, it can encourage a degree of international understanding that facilitates making the transition to the world of the future," Bowman said. According to Institute employee Mimi Sharp, the institute will be a "clearinghouse" for all interaction that takes place between the University and France. It is currently trying to identify all of the University's collaborative efforts with France. "We have joint ventures in the medical field, in geology and in psychology," Sharp said. "We are doing all kinds of things." The Institute, which is based in the College, was partly funded by a $100,000 grant from the French government.