Approach & program overview

Find out all about the details that you need to know about the Master's program in this overview below. As you would expect a more detailed explanation of the two years, and on top of that also our approach towards education.

During the Master's program, courses will be given for all of the four learning lines you will be following. The learning lines ensure that you develop knowledge and skills in:

• Digital Technologies
• Systems Engineering
• Practice-Based Research
• Design-Based Working

Each learning line offers four courses during each of the four open-ended challenges. After the four challenges, you will receive tutoring for each learning line on your project in the graduation phase.

Open-ended challenges

The open-ended challenges are intended to let you gain experience in the process of integrating digital technology in an engineering context and are closely related to the learning lines. The challenges provide more depth, and your actions within the challenges are well-founded. You learn to act from theoretical frameworks and you learn to look at challenges from different perspectives. The courses are meaningful because they are related to the challenges.

Year 1

The first year of the Master's program consists of three open-ended challenges that are alternated with weeks of integration, reflection, and testing: the so-called ‘in-between weeks’. During the between weeks, you reflect on how you have applied the theoretical frameworks and the educational offerings in the learning lines to the challenges. The third challenge will be performed while you are working at a company.

• Challenge 1 - courses
• Digital technologies- Data retrieval, basic processing, and data visualization
• Systems engineering- Understanding perspectives in systems engineering
• Practice-based research- Practice-based research - basic skills
• Design-based working- Create and make choices
• Challenge 2 - courses
• Digital technologies - AI: hands-on machine learning and neural networks
• Systems engineering- Designing a value proposition
• Practice-based research- Collecting & analyzing data
• Design-based working- Design thinking
• Challenge 3 - courses
• Digital technologies- Deep dive into data analysis: mastering the state-of-the-art
• Systems engineering- Optimizing and improving product design in an organizational context
• Practice-based research- Communicating research results
• Design-based working- Human-centered approaches

Year 2

The second year of the Master’s program is composed of one open-ended challenge. While the rest will be part of the graduation phase in which preliminary research for the graduation project takes place, and finally the graduation project itself (20 weeks). The open-ended challenge and preliminary research phase in the second year are also alternated between weeks of integration, reflection, and testing. The graduation project will be completed while working at a company.

• Challenge 4 - courses
• Digital technologies- Smart devices - sensors & embedded software
• Systems engineering- Developing solutions: how to make a product successful
• Practice-based research- Visualizing your process
• Design-based working - Human-centered approaches

Graduation phase

The graduation phase consists of the preliminary research and the graduation project. The goal of the preliminary research project is to prepare yourself in six weeks for your graduation project. In pairs, you will do (desk) research, explore and determine what your design approach will be, and come up with a conceptual research strategy for your graduation project. You will get support from one of the coaches and you can make use of expert feedback when working on this project.

During your graduation project, you work in a project group on a real and relevant design question within the context of – and brought in by – an organization that is confronted with a digital transformation. You will develop a digital solution that provides an appropriate answer to the given problem of the organization, taking stakeholder and system requirements into account.

Educational approach: Design-Based Learning (DBL)

The Design-Based Learning approach enables you to solve realistic (design) problems while reflecting on your learning. It emphasizes planning and designing essential activities in the design of products and the realization of ideas within authentic (technical) environments. Within this design process, you make decisions about the steps to take and are constantly iterating. As a result, you get increasingly better at generating specifications, making predictions, experiencing and creating solutions, testing, and communicating.

Overall, you work in a self-directed manner within the Design-Based Learning approach and reflect on the constructive (learning) process. We believe that Design-Based Learningis the answer to the question of how to become a self-directed professional.

The T-shaped professional

The digital technology engineer is a type of professional that can be described through the T-shaped professional model.

• The horizontal bar of the T represents the breadth of expertise, such as the ability to engage with other experts across a variety of systems and intellectual and disciplinary cultures.
• The vertical part of the T represents a depth of expertise in a specific knowledge domain.

Companies are calling for these T-shaped professionals with in-depth knowledge of one discipline and a broad knowledge base in adjacent areas, general business, or entrepreneurial fields. We envision the T-shaped digital technology engineer as a professional who is able to communicate and understand the experts while having a development-driven and entrepreneurial mindset.

What you will learn

• The program allows you to gain extensive knowledge and skills in digital technology and systems engineering. It is designed to let you develop solutions to complex problems posed by digital transformation.
• During the Master's, we facilitate a stimulating learning environment in which you work on real-life challenges, using skills such as collaboration, feedback, and reflection. By working in a design-oriented way, you will experience the problems faced by the industry and understand the stages a digital technology solution goes through from start to finish.
• Upon successful completion of the Master's degree, you will be a digital technology engineer who can implement digital technology solutions and contribute to the digital transformation of organizations. You will be able to contribute to a rapidly changing digital society and have a social impact on the fields of sustainability and ethics

As a Master's graduate, you are results-oriented and can deal with a high degree of flexibility, complexity, and interdependence that the application and integration of digital technology requires. This integration takes place both in the innovation of existing products and/or services and in the change of internal production and organizational processes. To achieve your goals, you combine your advanced technical knowledge (hardware, software, and analytical skills) with your ability to communicate with and assess the needs of the various stakeholders.

Junior positions

• Test engineer,
• Business process analyst,
• Process engineer,
• Production engineer,
• Design engineer
• And many more

Medior/senior positions

• Product owner,
• Project manager/coordinator,
• Project lead NPI,
• NPI production engineer,
• Field support engineer.
• Again, many more possibilities