We have experience managing the organization of educational programs, regarding the philosophy, the contents, the organization, the infrastructure, new teaching methodologies, etc.

Examples are:

1. Organizing and carrying out short courses on Transportation Engineering and Mechatronics.

2. Member of the management board of the department of Transportation Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Delft University.

3. Member of the management board of the faculty of Mechanical & Marine Engineering, Delft University.

4. Educational director of Mechanical & Marine Engineering, Delft University, responsible for renewal of the curriculum, introduction of new teaching methods, fund raising, infrastructure, etc.

5. Project supervisor MHO5/6 project, building a College of Technology at Cantho University, Cantho, Vietnam. 

Below is an example of the educational program of the Delft University of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, we organized.

Mission of the Education of Mechanical Engineering

In relation  to social and technological  developments in society and in accordance with the strategic vision of Delft University of Technology, the Faculty of Design Engineering and Production formulated the following mission with respect to the education of mechanical engineers:

The education of highly qualified mechanical engineers, with a high level of technical and scientific knowledge and abilities, who can carry the responsibilities for their activities towards society. These Mechanical Engineers have the ability to design and to innovate. They also have the ability to continue their education and to ensure their functioning in the future.

With its educational and research program, the Mechanical Engineering Division wants to make a substantial national and international contribution to the education of highly qualified Mechanical Engineers. Co-operation with other universities, research institutes and companies, is also encompassed within this objective.

Qualifications of the Mechanical Engineer.

Mechanical engineering is the technical science that deals with mechanical systems and processes and the associated equipment that enables the social and technological development to proceed.

In addition to the technology, attention is also paid to the logistic, economic and managerial aspects of the field of study.

The academically educated Mechanical Engineer has the ability to apply scientific methods and means to the solution of technological, scientific and social problems related to the field of mechanical engineering. This problem-solving ability is one of the most important aspects.

The academically educated Mechanical Engineer is capable of personally carrying the responsibility of his/her activities.

The academically educated Mechanical Engineer carries out assignments as a scientist, as a designer/developer, as a technical or project manager, as a technical/commercial consultant or as a teacher. During course of the career of the Mechanical Engineer, the content of the work may shift from  the technical to the managerial side.

The Delft University Mechanical Engineer should be a scientifically-thinking, problem-solving engineer. The ability to translate theoretical knowledge into solutions to problems is of much greater importance than the area of the problem. The process of problem solving is the main issue.

To gain a thorough command of the problem solving process, it is necessary to have excellent theoretical knowledge and the skills to apply this knowledge. 

The program philosophy.

Since the learning methods and the capabilities of each student differ, the perfect teaching methodology does not exist. Choices can be made between inductive (bottom up) and deductive (top down) learning and between the means of implementation, like classical lectures and project or problem based education. Depending on the character of the knowledge or skills to be taught and on the capabilities of the student, there may be an optimum teaching method for the student in question.

The Mechanical Engineering Division of Delft University of Technology is convinced that the teaching system should be focused on the learning abilities of the student and not on the teaching abilities of the scientific staff. The teaching should be student-centered and the teaching staff should adapt itself to this principle.

The Mechanical Engineering Division of Delft University of Technology is also convinced that it is the aim of the education to focus on the knowledge and skills a student possesses at the time of graduation. This implies optimization of the curriculum as a whole and not sub-optimization of individual courses or projects.

This process of optimization also aims to obtain a high efficiency, a short average time between starting the study program and graduation and  high motivation of the students.

Depending on the type of knowledge, inductive or deductive teaching methods or a combination of these has to be used. Theoretical knowledge requires that the student undergoes a process of growth and learns how to acquire profound knowledge. This usually requires the use of inductive methods, while the skills to put the knowledge to practical use can be acquired by following deductive methods. Encyclopedic technical and non-technical knowledge and skills can best be taught by deductive methods. It is not the aim of the academic engineer to memorize such information, but rather to be able to use his knowledge and experience in the context of tackling scientific, technical or social problems. This is also the case with non-technical knowledge and skills like economics, management, law, ethics, environmental issues and  sustainability. These aspects of mechanical engineering knowledge and skills should also be placed in the context of scientific, technical or social problems.

From these points of view, the Mechanical Engineering Division has developed Thematic Project Education (TPE) for the general part of the curriculum.

The width of the field of study of mechanical engineering led the Faculty to decide to split the 5-year MSc study into a general phase of 3 years (Kandidaats or BSc) and a specialization phase of two years (Ingenieurs or MSc).

Thematic Project Education is comprised of approximately 50% lectures and 50% projects. The projects are supported by introductory lectures and briefings and have a project or problem based character. TPE is founded on the philosophy that students have to develop their problem-solving ability to an academic level. In this approach, methodology is just as important as knowledge and skills.

The theoretical (inductive) courses comprise Mathematics, Solid and Fluid Mechanics, Materials Science, Thermodynamics and Control Engineering.

The project and problem based education comprises the non-theoretical, economic, managerial, ethics, environmental issues, sustainability  and social subjects and the skills to make the theory operational.

Figure 1 shows a scheme of the Mechanical Engineering Education Program.

Figure 1: The educational program
(The figures between brackets indicate the number of credit points).

Thematic Project Education is based on four fields of interest (themes) that the Mechanical Engineering Division is focused on: Transportation Engineering, Process & Energy, Mechatronics and Design and  Production & Organization. These four fields of interest form the basis of the themes as implemented in the general part of the study and reflect the width of the Mechanical Engineering Division. A theme can be subdivided into smaller projects; each of a project or problem based character. These small projects, however, are coherently based on a few main teaching objectives and one main subject.  This results in a series of projects that have to be carried out sequentially. Over the years, the teaching objectives will stay the same, while the project subjects change e.g. every two years within the scope of the theme, to match the actuality. The integration of theoretical and non-technical issues is called ‘Theme Linking & Embedding’ (TLE).

To explain TPE a short description of the Transportation & Energy themes followed in the first year will be given. In 97/98 and 98/99, the Transportation theme was based on the container transportation process, where the movements of containers were considered from a ship via a container terminal to their final destination. In 6 small projects the student had to look at the logistics of the terminal, at the design, construction and systems engineering of different types of equipment used and at the non-technical issues like the responsibility for accidents occurring at a terminal. In 99/00 and 00/01 a virtual Paris Dakar race will be considered, again encompassing the logistics, the equipment, the planning and the organization.

The Energy theme for 98/99 and 99/00 is based on natural gas from exploitation to end-user. Some issues that are covered, are the world wide energy issues, environmental issues, a system description and the equipment required.

Projects are carried out by groups of 8 (1^st year), 4 (2^nd year) or 2 (3^rd year) students.  Two mentors, a member of the staff and a 3rd or 4th year student guide each group.

The projects are developed by the scientific staff under the guidance of a theme coordinator.  The scientific staff developing the projects includes a specialist on the subject and members of the staff who give the theoretical courses. This guarantees that the content of the theoretical courses is linked to and embedded in the projects.

The projects are completed by the submission of a report, an Internet or poster presentation or an oral examination. The theoretical courses are followed by the traditional written examinations.

The choice and the implementation of Thematic Project Education guarantees the width and the multidisciplinary character of Mechanical Engineering. The concept satisfies the objective of flexibility and familiarizes the student with the fields of interest of mechanical engineering Division in the general phase. Selection takes place by means of the theoretical courses in the propaedeutic phase, although there is no binding advice on the continuation of the study.

Because of the daily contact between staff and students, the concept also guarantees  online monitoring of the educational processes.

The chosen educational concept requires that the members of staff develop a new way of working and thinking. The education is no longer teacher-centred, but is now student-centred. The education of the staff still requires a lot of attention, as does the embedding of TPE in the organization of the faculty. This is especially true with respect to the roles of the theme co-ordinators, the staff who develop the project assignments and the staff who supervise the students as they work on their assignments.

When a student has completed the general phase of the  Mechanical Engineering curriculum (the Kandidaats or BSc phase), the specialization phase (Ir. or MSc phase) follows. It is the custom and also an objective of the Delft University that every student who satisfactorily completes the BSc phase will also carry out the MSc phase, leading to the award of the Degree of Ingenieur (MSc). The specialization phase of two years comprises specialization courses, a practical training period and a graduation assignment. In the  Mechanical Engineering Division there are twelve possible specializations,  sometimes with sub-specializations.

Goals, aims and objectives.

The final goals of the  Mechanical Engineering education program describe the aggregation of knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes of the graduate Mechanical Engineer, who is prepared for his/her first professional position and who has the capacity for further development during his/her professional career. These goals are made attainable by relating them to specific courses, to projects within themes and to the theses of students following the  Mechanical Engineering Education Program. The high demands of modern technological developments and of society require that the graduate mechanical engineer should possess the following qualities:

1. A solid grasp of the basic engineering sciences including their generic and instrumental functions.

2. A broad knowledge and understanding of the related engineering sciences and their applications in mechanical engineering.

3. A broad and thorough knowledge and understanding of mechanical engineering disciplines and of the skills required in the practice of  mechanical engineering

4. Knowledge of and insight into general engineering practice and in particular to mechanical engineering applications.

5. A scientific technical attitude to professional problem solving.

6. Communication skills.

7. Understanding of the context in which mechanical engineering is practiced.

8. Understanding of his/her own capacity and interest.

A solid grasp of the basic engineering sciences including their generic and instrumental functions.

The basic sciences have to be restricted to those subjects that are of interest in the field of mechanical engineering, these are:

1. Mathematics (analysis, differential equations, linear algebra, statistics & probability and numerical analysis)

2. Thermodynamics and fluid mechanics

3. Solid mechanics (statics and dynamics) and materials science

4. Systems and control engineering

The knowledge of the basic sciences is generic and not object-related. It basically concerns the physics and mathematics for engineers. The mechanical engineer requires considerable skills to make use of this knowledge in the typical engineering disciplines. The depth must be sufficient for understanding of the interconnections and coherence between the typical engineering subjects. The in-depth knowledge should be used in physical and mathematical modeling. The teaching method followed for the basic sciences is the provision of inductive theoretical courses. The results of these courses form the main selection criteria in the propaedeutic phase.

A broad knowledge and understanding of the related engineering sciences and their applications in mechanical engineering.

The related engineering sciences are those engineering subjects that will confront the Mechanical Engineer  in high-tech industry and society, these are:

1. Electricity

2. Chemistry

3. Informatics