Although it is an institute of higher education, TU Delft does more than just educate university students. Through the Junior TU Delft programme, the university is also inspiring and educating young scientists and engineers of the future.
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As part of the Honours Programme at TU Delft, Junior TU Delft is a curriculum that has been developed for ambitious students in their fifth and sixth years of voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs, or VWO. Literally translated as ‘pre-university education’, VWO is the highest track of secondary education in the Netherlands. Participating students commit to spending five consecutive Fridays in the programme that includes lectures by TU professors each morning and working on a project in the afternoon. The lessons and assignments are of university level, allowing students to get a good picture of the education they can expect from TU Delft.
The pilot programme started in 2007 with only one theme block, but has now expanded to four theme blocks during the last two years. The first is called Rocket Scientist in 5 Days, where participants are being challenged to build a water rocket with everyday materials and shoot it as far away as possible. In the Streaming Water block, students have to design and build a water metre out of old kitchen and garden equipment that will be able to measure, for example, rain. The third block, called Error Correcting Codes, challenges mathematically inclined students to learn about errors that occur during the transmission or storage of data. And finally, in the DiDe Chairs block, students will need to digitally design and produce a chair for computer controlled production.
According to Sylvia Walsarie Wolff, Project Manager/Policy Advisor for Education and Student Affairs, the programme welcomed 110 participants across the four blocks this year. “We see that approximately 50% of the Junior TUD alumni come to study here,” she said. “They do well, get their bachelor’s degree and many students do the Honours programme.” Wolff also noted that many of those students often end up studying in the subject they studied in the junior programme.
The Junior TU Delft programme attracts students from across the country and now has more than 100 partner schools. The current edition culminates this year on Friday, February 5th, at which point participants will present their project or design for each other, their high school teachers, parents, and anyone else who is interested.
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