Professor Kees Beenakker is a driving force behind the establishment of international partnerships in microelectronics between TU Delft and China’s Tsinghua University and Fudan University.
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Beenakker believes that encouraging increasing numbers of Chinese electrical engineering students to study at TU Delft is a win-win situation for both the Dutch and Chinese and their national industries.
In an Electronic Engineering Times article published last year, TU Delft was ranked a respectable 7th out of the top 10 engineering schools in the world. The article related how universities must acknowledge that we live in an increasingly global world, and that those schools that realize this and incorporate international education into their programs have a competitive advantage.
TU Delft is indeed making significant use of international partnerships: the university has recently joined forces with Fudan University to set up the International School of Microelectronics, and with Tsinghua University in Beijing to set up the International Research Centre for Microelectronics in Shanghai. One of the prominent figures behind these international initiatives is TU Delft’s Professor Kees Beenakker.
Beenakker, recently named Honorary Guest Professor at Tsinghua University, provided some insights into the program’s basic framework. Essentially, students begin their coursework in Fudan, followed by similar courses at TU Delft. Some of the students complete the program in Delft, spending their final 18 months finishing their courses and completing their Master’s projects.
Beenakker further explained how the longstanding relationship between Delft and Tsinghua – going back some 30 years – is a strategically academic one. “Generally, Tsinghua ranks number 1 or 2, and Fudan number 3 or 4, out of the 1,600 universities in China,” he says. “Tsinghua’s a technical university like Delft, and Fudan a general university like Leiden University. Both are strong in microelectronics.”
Citing the shortage of electrical engineering students as one of the driving factors of the program, Beenakker sees the international initiative as a win-win situation for both the Dutch and Chinese: “One goal is to supply talent for the national industry. As Dutch companies are also establishing several research and development laboratories in China, the program also aims to support Chinese industry and develop important future scientific and industrial networks.”
As with any large international cooperation, there have been setbacks. “An important hurdle of course is the money to supply scholarships,” Beenakker says. “It’s very expensive to study in Holland. Students from outside the EU, like the Chinese, must pay more than 8,000 euro in tuition fees. The study is for two years, so add the cost of living, and the total is about 35,000 euro.”
Beenakker is unhappy with the support of the Dutch government, which he equates “to about 0.0 %.” To counteract this lack of support, many Dutch companies (Philips, ASML, ASMI, Broadcom, BESI, Axiden) have stepped up their support by supplying scholarships for the program.
In addition to the financial pitfalls, there have been other difficulties: “By law, we don’t recognize Chinese degrees, and China doesn’t recognize Dutch degrees. So, for now, students at the Fudan School receive two degrees, one in Delft, if they’ve studied here, and one in Shanghai. We hope the law will be changed soon and we can give them joint degrees.”
Silicon Valley
Shanghai has recently been called the ‘The Silicon Valley of the Future’. Beenakker agrees, in part, with this statement: “Many people believe that in the near future 90% of production will be in China . shoes, clothes, everything. Therefore, it will become a Silicon Valley of the future. But presently, political stability isn’t good enough. I don’t think companies will bet everything on China.”
Beenakker however adds that an advantage for Shanghai is that it has lots of water, “and you need lots of water to make microelectronics. But I don’t think in the next 10 years there will be a lot of innovation there.”
He also doesn’t believe that China’s questionable human rights record would significantly impede the success of this venture or prevent China from becoming a world leader in microelectronics: “We stopped the cooperation with Tsinghua once, in 1989 . Tiananmen Square. But our main task is to educate young people . also in human rights and to be global citizens. We shouldn’t blame students for what a country’s politicians are doing. We should stimulate them to do better in the future.”
The current program seems poised to achieve this: “Microelectronics as a discipline is by definition multidisciplinary,” Beenakker says. “You cannot sit alone somewhere in a corner with the equipment – communication is more or less built-in.
Beenakker says that business ethics are also an important point and an interesting subject to add to the programs’ curriculum in future: “Ethics are very important, especially for people from Asia, where for example they don’t yet have good patent laws. It’s important that students understand that stealing ‘Intellectual Property’ is only a short-term profit. Long-term, you must have ethics to respect each other’s ideas.”
In terms of language, Beenakker says that English is absolutely the common denominator. “In China, many languages are spoken, and although Mandarin is the standard language, some people from western China don’t understand people from the east. Today in China, much more attention is paid to speaking English. The students we get from China speak English very well.”
Professor Beenakker sees many practical applications for the international program: “After graduating, many of our students go to work for the largest contributor to the program, Philips, or one of the other contributing companies.” These positions are located both within the Netherlands and China, serving to further both countries’ microelectronics industries. The program also acts as an educational springboard: many students will go on to do their PhD work in Delft or at other Dutch universities.
Cui Zhou is a shining example of how this program works. Originally from China, she arrived in Delft last September. “After 18 months, I finished my Master’s project and have already found a job here in Delft at Systematics. I plan to live here for 3 to 5 years, just for practical experience. I really like this place.”
During his professional career, Beenakker worked for companies such as Phillips, which enabled him to travel throughout Asia and make contacts: “While working for Philips, I dealt a lot with companies in the Far East. For me, the Asian culture at Delft isn’t different – I even love it. They are a nice kind of people.”
Kees Beenakker (Photo: Sam Rentmeester/FMAX)
Professor Kees Beenakker is a driving force behind the establishment of international partnerships in microelectronics between TU Delft and China’s Tsinghua University and Fudan University. Beenakker believes that encouraging increasing numbers of Chinese electrical engineering students to study at TU Delft is a win-win situation for both the Dutch and Chinese and their national industries.
In an Electronic Engineering Times article published last year, TU Delft was ranked a respectable 7th out of the top 10 engineering schools in the world. The article related how universities must acknowledge that we live in an increasingly global world, and that those schools that realize this and incorporate international education into their programs have a competitive advantage.
TU Delft is indeed making significant use of international partnerships: the university has recently joined forces with Fudan University to set up the International School of Microelectronics, and with Tsinghua University in Beijing to set up the International Research Centre for Microelectronics in Shanghai. One of the prominent figures behind these international initiatives is TU Delft’s Professor Kees Beenakker.
Beenakker, recently named Honorary Guest Professor at Tsinghua University, provided some insights into the program’s basic framework. Essentially, students begin their coursework in Fudan, followed by similar courses at TU Delft. Some of the students complete the program in Delft, spending their final 18 months finishing their courses and completing their Master’s projects.
Beenakker further explained how the longstanding relationship between Delft and Tsinghua – going back some 30 years – is a strategically academic one. “Generally, Tsinghua ranks number 1 or 2, and Fudan number 3 or 4, out of the 1,600 universities in China,” he says. “Tsinghua’s a technical university like Delft, and Fudan a general university like Leiden University. Both are strong in microelectronics.”
Citing the shortage of electrical engineering students as one of the driving factors of the program, Beenakker sees the international initiative as a win-win situation for both the Dutch and Chinese: “One goal is to supply talent for the national industry. As Dutch companies are also establishing several research and development laboratories in China, the program also aims to support Chinese industry and develop important future scientific and industrial networks.”
As with any large international cooperation, there have been setbacks. “An important hurdle of course is the money to supply scholarships,” Beenakker says. “It’s very expensive to study in Holland. Students from outside the EU, like the Chinese, must pay more than 8,000 euro in tuition fees. The study is for two years, so add the cost of living, and the total is about 35,000 euro.”
Beenakker is unhappy with the support of the Dutch government, which he equates “to about 0.0 %.” To counteract this lack of support, many Dutch companies (Philips, ASML, ASMI, Broadcom, BESI, Axiden) have stepped up their support by supplying scholarships for the program.
In addition to the financial pitfalls, there have been other difficulties: “By law, we don’t recognize Chinese degrees, and China doesn’t recognize Dutch degrees. So, for now, students at the Fudan School receive two degrees, one in Delft, if they’ve studied here, and one in Shanghai. We hope the law will be changed soon and we can give them joint degrees.”
Silicon Valley
Shanghai has recently been called the ‘The Silicon Valley of the Future’. Beenakker agrees, in part, with this statement: “Many people believe that in the near future 90% of production will be in China . shoes, clothes, everything. Therefore, it will become a Silicon Valley of the future. But presently, political stability isn’t good enough. I don’t think companies will bet everything on China.”
Beenakker however adds that an advantage for Shanghai is that it has lots of water, “and you need lots of water to make microelectronics. But I don’t think in the next 10 years there will be a lot of innovation there.”
He also doesn’t believe that China’s questionable human rights record would significantly impede the success of this venture or prevent China from becoming a world leader in microelectronics: “We stopped the cooperation with Tsinghua once, in 1989 . Tiananmen Square. But our main task is to educate young people . also in human rights and to be global citizens. We shouldn’t blame students for what a country’s politicians are doing. We should stimulate them to do better in the future.”
The current program seems poised to achieve this: “Microelectronics as a discipline is by definition multidisciplinary,” Beenakker says. “You cannot sit alone somewhere in a corner with the equipment – communication is more or less built-in.
Beenakker says that business ethics are also an important point and an interesting subject to add to the programs’ curriculum in future: “Ethics are very important, especially for people from Asia, where for example they don’t yet have good patent laws. It’s important that students understand that stealing ‘Intellectual Property’ is only a short-term profit. Long-term, you must have ethics to respect each other’s ideas.”
In terms of language, Beenakker says that English is absolutely the common denominator. “In China, many languages are spoken, and although Mandarin is the standard language, some people from western China don’t understand people from the east. Today in China, much more attention is paid to speaking English. The students we get from China speak English very well.”
Professor Beenakker sees many practical applications for the international program: “After graduating, many of our students go to work for the largest contributor to the program, Philips, or one of the other contributing companies.” These positions are located both within the Netherlands and China, serving to further both countries’ microelectronics industries. The program also acts as an educational springboard: many students will go on to do their PhD work in Delft or at other Dutch universities.
Cui Zhou is a shining example of how this program works. Originally from China, she arrived in Delft last September. “After 18 months, I finished my Master’s project and have already found a job here in Delft at Systematics. I plan to live here for 3 to 5 years, just for practical experience. I really like this place.”
During his professional career, Beenakker worked for companies such as Phillips, which enabled him to travel throughout Asia and make contacts: “While working for Philips, I dealt a lot with companies in the Far East. For me, the Asian culture at Delft isn’t different – I even love it. They are a nice kind of people.”
Kees Beenakker (Photo: Sam Rentmeester/FMAX)
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