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jaargang 43, 28 september 2000 English page

SAI Model for Future at TU/e Stan Ackermans Institute (SAI), center for technological design, is the place where TU/eís future educational climate is taking shape. The goals formulated by the Executive Board - internationalisation, courses taught in English and design-driven education - are already in place at SAI. The Stan Ackermans Institute is one of the most international parts of TU/e. Seventy per cent of new first-year students in the ten available two-year design programmes is non-Dutch. Intake last year was about fifty per cent foreign. Almost all classes at SAI are taught in English (nine out of ten programs). And all Master of Technological Design courses are necessarily design-oriented. Dutch and foreign teachers at SAI are doing the best they can to teach in English. The switch to classes taught completely in English was quite recent and effectively took place in January 2000. Ir. Johan Wijers from the Process and Product Design program comments: ìI was one of the people who thought it was going to be very difficult. Some of my colleague lecturers with a commercial background are bilingual because they have spent a lot of time abroad. My experience has been mainly at TU/e. But teaching in English is working out well, better than I had expected. The groups we teach are small and our students are well motivated. It would be much harder to teach a large group of freshman the basics of a subject in English.î Dr. ir. Krzystof Ptasinski teaches one of his classes at Stan Ackermans Insitute, in English of course. Photo: Bram Saeys. Nonsense English Part of the problem of teaching in English is the level of studentsí language skills. For most students and teachers English is a second language, and everyone has their own specific accent and problems. ìAs a teacher, I have to make sure we donít start to use a kind of nonsense English, just to understand one another,î says Wijers. According to this lecturer, TU/eí Eastern European guests are coping quite well with classes in English. The Asians are having more difficulty. ìWe are being extra careful in screening people for English language skills and weíre sending them to an intensive English language course on arrival. We used to send them to a Dutch course, but we have now decided this can come later. Having said this, I do feel that Dutch students are getting less out of classes than before. Teaching and learning in a second language is not ideal. But it is necessary if we want to attract an international student population at TU/e.î Practical Skills People working toward a second Masters degree are of course not comparable to students starting their first year at university. ìWe at SAI offer a special kind of education,î says Pierre Lamers, co-ordinator of Master of Technological Design courses at SAI. ìOur people are paid by TU/e to learn to design, or to apply their skills. They are graduate students, but they already have a Masters degree in their chosen field. We teach them the practical skills to make a transition to an engineering job in the Netherlands as smooth as possible.î ìThis is the added value of a SAI program. A Master of Technological Design can expect more rapid career advancement than would otherwise be the case because of the practical skills he or she has already learnt. We try to encourage people to be creative and to step of the beaten track in their chosen field. We tell our people that they can design their own future.î The Dutch central statistical office (CBS) has figures showing there will be a shortage of some 6000 scientists and engineers by the year 2004. SAI is aiming to help fill some of those 6000 technological jobs. ìWe are attracting the best foreign graduates, those who show the most initiative,î says Lamers. Development Each of the MTD programs at SAI pays extensive attention to interdisciplinary teamwork, modern design techniques, cost awareness and manufacturability, quality and the realisation of concrete solutions through projects. In the first course year of the two-year full-time day programs the focus is on increasing and broadening knowledge and on improving non-technical skills. This knowledge is applied in the second year by means of a design assignment, which is preferably carried out in-company under supervision of experienced design engineers. SAI also organises various courses for the development of non-technical skills and attitudes. These include professional development, technical writing and editing, working in projects, leadership skills, communication skills and time management. A number of these are obligatory./.

Eindhoven Light Town Anyone who has wondered why Eindhoven is so often called the ëLichtstadí or light town is given a three week long answer every year after September 18. This date marks the date a 22 kilometre long ribbon of fairy lights is turned on. This is the ëlichtjesrouteí or light route, which has a long history starting just after World War II. Citizens of Eindhoven were encouraged to put a lit candle in their windows on September 18, the day Eindhoven was liberated from the Germans. These days, the candles have been replaced by hundreds of light bulbs hung around town to form all kinds of images. A total of sixty kilometres of cable and almost 1.5 million light bulbs were used in the project this year. The lights are turned on daily from 7.00 to 11.30 p.m., this costs 1500 guilders in electricity. The light route started on September 18 and will continue until Sunday October 8. The route is marked by special light bulb signs. There is no special beginning or ending to the route, start where you like. University Club to Open on October 1 Construction work at the University Club is almost finished. On Sunday the doors to the main building will open and all TU/e staff will be welcome. The University Club was initially to have been the responsibility of the Faculty Club. But this association, now about two-and-a-half years old, found the negotiations on management and catering so complex that it decided to leave these matters to the Executive Board. This freed the Faculty Club to give more of its attention to the social aspects of the club in question and to programming special events. The Faculty Club is hosting a Eleven Unique Degrees Last week eleven fourth-year students of Biomedical Technology (BMT) were the first in Europe to receive a Bachelors degree. ìYou are quite unique,î said BMT dean prof.dr.ir. Jan Janssen, underlining the importance of the degrees representing three years of study. BMT started in 1997 and immediately instated the 3+2 system that was introduced this academic year in all of Europe, to ensure a better connection with education in the rest of the world. Two students received their Bachelors degree with honours. For these eleven students, the Masters phase will be an exciting time, dean Janssen predicted. ìYou are the first to graduate at BMT and there is no one to ask how this will work, because no one has preceded you. But weíll tackle this together, and youíll be fine.î

Research Trainee Publishes in Nature TU/eís ir. Ky Hirschbergís research results were published in Nature last week. Hirschberg is a four-year research trainee (AIO) at the department of macro-molecular and organic chemistry. He developed a molecule with a helical structure comparable to that of DNA. This structure is possible because of the hydrogen bridges connecting the molecules. It is the first time this synthesised molecule retains its helical structure in water. Hirschburg started his research in 1997 with the help of colleague Luc Brunsveld. The research project was supervised by prof.ir. Bert Meijer. Publication of the article is reflects well on Hirschberg because of Natureís high standards in quality and content. Get to Work in a Flash Cycling to work is not always a pleasure. A head wind and pouring rain can very effectively ruin anyoneís day. We all agree we should cycle more. But there are few people who actually abandon the comforts of their car for the rigors of cycling. A number of organisations are looking to change this, namely the province of Noord-Brabant, Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij and TNO Industrie. These organisations have been working on a high-grade transport concept, well-named ëVlitsí or ëflashí. Vlits is also short for ëVernieuwend Licht Individual Transport Systeemí ñ or innovative light individual transport system. The participating parties are planning to build an experimental four-lane bike highway between Helmond and Eindhoven. The track will be fitted with wind shields and shelters. BOM is now trying to find potential users for ëVlitsí through its website www.vlits.nl. Nationalist Students Active in Eindhoven A movement that calls itself Nationalist Students Eindhoven (NSE) has become active in Eindhoven. This nationalist social club has put up posters at the entrance to campus. A website was also opened to spread the clubís ideas. ìWe aim to offer some opposition to the dominant leftist, multi-cultural, main stream student associations, including fun and relaxation,î say the nationalist students at their site.