• The University , Education

First an online study, then campus-based

It is a first for both TU/e and EIT Digital, the European digital education network to which TU/e belongs. For the past couple of months two students have been studying the Master's in Embedded Systems online with the EIT Digital Master School; last Monday they switched to TU/e where they joined the second semester of the regular Master's. Project leader Martijn Klabbers, working at Mathematics and Computer Science, is enthusiastic about this pilot.

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Erik Wouters, who is Dutch, and the American Christopher Ohara were chosen last year from a select group of twenty-five to spend the first semester of this academic year following the Master's program in Embedded Systems offered by the EIT Digital Master School. They did so via the online learning platform Coursera. TU/e is the first EIT Digital partner to have worked with this form of selection.

In Eindhoven this past Monday Wouters and Ohara started on the second semester of the regular two-year Master's in Embedded Systems. Once they have completed the first year at TU/e they will transfer for the second year to another university also affiliated to EIT Digital. When they gain their Master's they will receive their degree from both TU/e and the other university.

MOOCs

Project leader Martijn Klabbers says that the pilot went “brilliantly”. “To compile the long list of twenty-five, we looked at the people who had already shown a strong interest in the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offered by EIT Digital. After all, the ultimate aim of this cooperative alliance is to foster economic growth and improve the quality of life in Europe through digital technological innovation and education. To achieve that, Europe is going to need a lot of well educated people in the coming years.”

Ultimately Wouters and Ohara received an invitation to embark on the online course. Both students have been taking seventeen MOOCs in recent months; these courses have been developed by the various European partner universities and the Haas School of Business in Berkeley California for EIT Digital. “It's a package comprising the best the partners have to offer in this field,” explains Klabbers. “Of the seventeen MOOCs, five are provided by TU/e. For all their MOOCs, the equivalent of all the course offered in the first semester of the regular Master's, Wouters and Ohara had to take necessary exams during the recent exam period here in Eindhoven. That's pretty demanding because unlike regular students they didn't participate in the first exam period.”

Christopher Ohara (left) and Erik Wouters.
International network

Christopher Ohara (33) from Los Angeles completed a degree in Science Technology at California Polytechnic State University, then worked as a scientist, and started his own company. “It's my dream to become a top robotics specialist,” he says. “There aren't any degree programs for that in the US. On Coursera I found the MOOCs that could teach me the skills I needed. They turned out to be part of the EIT Digital program called ‘The Internet of Things’. Once I'd done a couple of courses, I received the email telling me I had a shot at being selected for the EIT Digital Master School. I was really keen. Not only is the program offered by the EIT Digital Master School international due to the students who come from all over, but it gives you a genuinely international network. You get to see a lot of places and meet a lot of people you can talk to, both students and people from industry.”

Having completed his Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering at TU Delft, Erik Wouters (28) was looking for work and a chance to travel. He contacted the EIT Digital Master School, but as it turned out had missed the cut-off date for regular enrollment. “Okay, I thought, next year then. But when I looked further, I saw EIT Digital on Coursera. I heard from Martijn Klabbers about the chance of getting admitted even at that late stage by way of the online program. I passed the selection procedure and am very happy with the online courses I have taken. Now I am here in Eindhoven. It is a fantastic experience to be able to study at two universities. For my second year I'll be going to KTH in Stockholm. My dream is to start my own company.”

Much learned

Expectations are that other EIT Digital partners who are offering the program Embedded Systems will also accept students who have been selected online. “We have learned a great deal from this pilot and we have certainly run into some obstacles. That's because with this approach we aren't treading the familiar administrative paths,” says Klabbers. “The other universities within EIT Digital can benefit from our experience. At TU/e in the coming academic year we will certainly be selecting students in this way again. And work is currently underway here to develop an online program in Data Science.”

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