Life at ECIR

Fifty students and visiting scholars from approximately twenty nations currently live at ECIR. 10% of residents are undergraduate students while the remaining 90% are graduate students or scholars from the U of M or nearby colleges. The Residence differs from ordinary apartment living in that residents are from many different cultural, national, racial, and religious backgrounds and choose to live in community with one another so that they may learn from one another. Our residence program has been in operation since 1965, but our new residence building with additional apartments and community rooms was dedicated in 1997. The ECIR is a smoke-free building.

The ECIR alumni network spans approximately 3,000 former residents from the following 54 countries:

Algeria Australia Bangladesh Belgium Brazil Bulgaria Canada China Chile Colombia Costa Rica Croatia England France Germany Guinea Bissau Guyana Hong Kong Iceland India Israel

Italy Japan Kazakhstan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Laos Lesotho Lithuania Malaysia Mexico Mongolia Morocco Nepal New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria North Korea Norway Palestine Pakistan Paraguay

Peru Philippines Portugal Puerto Rico Russia Sierra Leone Singapore Spain South Africa South Korea Sweden Syria Taiwan Turkey United States Uzbekistan Ukraine Venezuela Vietnam Zambia Zimbabwe

Residents from two or three different countries share each of our 21 apartments. Each resident has his or her own room, and shares a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. Couples are also welcome. Each resident is expected to participate in residence programs and community life. A committee of residents helps plan regular programs and activities that enable them to learn about and better understand cultures, attitudes, and world views very different from their own.

See what some of our residents have to say.