Interdisciplinary co-operation in engineering science education

1. Interdisciplinary co-operation in engineering science education Jetse C. Reijenga and Lucas J. Asselbergs Eindhoven University of Technology The Netherlands

2. Population density: 400/km2 (compare Greece: 80/km2) Higher Education: • 10 General Universities • 1 University of Agriculture • 3 Universities of Technology

3. 9 Depts, 10 (3-year) Bachelor programs, 19 (2-year) Master programs Eindhoven University of Technology (founded 1956)

4. Team work gaining emphasis: 25% in new Ba Chemical Engineering & Chemistry • Lectures (n=1) • Exams (n=1) • Practicals (n=2) • Group work (n=4 to 8) • Exercises (n=1 or 2) • Design projects (n=1) • Research projects (n=1) • Industrial internship (n=1) • Graduation project (n=1) 1+1>>2

5. Senior engineers • Mechanical engineers • Computer programmers • Electronic engineers • Building contractors • Financial advisors.......

6. Inter-disciplinary project work • Departments submit project proposals • Selected projects on university website • Students can register each trimester, giving 3 prefs • Final group composition depends on • Subject, required disciplines (2-4) • Required group size (4-8 students) • Student preferences • Other priorities • Departments organize own projects • All projects (8 ECTS) are equivalent

7. Categories of projects, proposed by staff members, part-time professors or industrial clients: • Feasibility studies • define application areas for a new material • Scenario studies • what’s the outlook for wind energy in 2020? • Prototype design studies • design, build and test refrigerator on solar cells • Business plans • which market is most promising for intelligent smelling devices?

8. Educational goals • deal with practical problems (definition and analysis) • combine existing technical knowledge, locate and acquire new information • cooperate with with students with different specialization, working in a team • independently incorporate non-technical aspects, such as economic, management, environmental • project work: planning, monitoring progress, costs, time registration, archiving, evaluation etc. • all communicative aspects

9. Role divisions • the client (staff member or from a company) • students in group • project leader • rotating chairperson and secretary • tutor (a PhD student) • consulted experts • department coordinator

10. Student evaluations • educational goals largely achieved • inter-disciplinary group considered most vital asset • an industrial assignment preferred to an academic one • many individually different educational goals are recognized • personal evaluation in performance interview a valuable aspect • expert guidance in team competence training appreciated

11. Summary Keeping the right balance on all levels Reality Teamwork Process Product Role-playing Individual

12. Recommendations • Incorporate more disciplines • More realistic assignments • Involve industrial partners • Extend to and implement in non-engineering disciplines • Involve foreign universities (distance co-operation….) See: Reijenga, Siepe, Wang and Yu, Chem. Eng. Education 37(2) 181-187 (2003) interested in co-operating? j.c.reijenga@tue.nl