Advanced Industrial Design Engineering (AIDE) is truly an international designer education. Seven of the fourteen students enrolled in this two-year postgraduate course are foreign students.
It must be a good course if their willing to put with the Dutch rain that falls daily on the plein.
Employees
“The teachers are very good,” Nuno Carreira says, justifying his decision to leave sunny Portuguese for rainy Holland. While working at a research facility, Carreira, an environmental engineer, met TU Delft’s Professor Brezet. Because Carreira needed to know more about environmental project development, Brezet suggested he enrol in AIDE, where, in addition to being taught by professors from various faculties, the students receive a salary.
“We get paid for doing this study,” says Lucio Lucchetti, an aerospace engineer from Florence, Italy. “It’s an investment for the TU; they’ll recover the costs next year when we do work-placements at companies. Companies will pay the TU for our work.”
The fourteen TWAIO’s (the Dutch abbreviation for two-year postgraduate students) started at the end of August. Currently, they’re halfway through their two-month adaptation period, striving to obtain a common skill level, according to AIDE’s director, Dr. Han Remmerswaal. The TWAIO’s are divided into two groups, depending on their preliminary training. Students with designing backgrounds are taught engineering skills, while students who lack design experience (most of the international students) work to improve their design skills The groups help each other out. “On Thursday afternoons we get drawing lessons from industrial designers. Afterwards, we go out for drinks,” says Carreira.
While the first group was busy with thermodynamics, finite elements analysis and feedback control, the ‘non-industrial design-engineers’ presented the results of their second design yesterday. Divided into two groups, they designed and made a prototype child’s seat (front and back) for a bicycle. “It could be on sale at Halfords, for instance,” says Mutlu Cavusoglu, a Turk, who received his MSc in Materials Science in Idaho (USA). Prior to applying to Delft, Cavusoglu exhaustively studied all the industrial design programmes on offer worldwide. “TU Delft was the best fit for me,” he affirms. “The nice thing about this course is that we’re treated like company employees. It’s a practical education, not just theoretical. It’s a challenge to take all the marketing, designing and economic demands into account. And working in groups teaches us how to co-operate.”
Food
Most TWAIO’s are from Europe. Only Rodney Polen (USA) and Martin Ledezma Perizza (Bolivia) crossed the Atlantic. Carreira: “When we’re working in teams, we notice our different backgrounds. We’ve all got different attitudes regarding problems, which mostly result from cultural differences. For instance, some of us had never worked in groups before. I’ve already been a company employee, so I’m accustomed to working in groups.”
So far, the students are satisfied with the course. Lucchetti: “But you’ll have to check back with us in June for a final answer.” He hopes the following modules will offer more ergonomics, while Cavusoglu is especially interested in Computer Aided Design applications and tools.There’s a good chance that their wishes will be granted: “It’s an open programme, so we’re able to steer it,” Lucchetti says.
Difficulties, however, did arise when the students arrived in the Netherlands. Cavusoglu: “There’s no housing here, no choice! It’s terrible.” The students had thought the TU would arrange accommodations, but that wasn’t the case. Finally, Duwo, the housing association, came up with something. Some TWAIO’s had to share apartments, others had to sublease.
And of course they all must endure the obvious disadvantage of Dutch life: “The weather’s a disappointment,” says Karin Domeij, from Sweden, who had no idea what kind of weather to expect in Holland. “I thought I was escaping the snow, but this is no improvement.”
The international students also miss their country’s food and moan about the Dutch menu (“What’s in this thing? I don’t know what I’m eating,” Cavusoglu inquires of his spring roll). They also complain that the TU Sport-center’s opening hours are too short. Some of the internationals speak ‘een beetje‘ Dutch. Ledezma Perizza took a Dutch course in summer and Isabel Lapieza David, from Spain, knows a little Dutch because half of her family is Belgian. Cavusoglu, however, feels like a tourist in Delft. “I can’t read the signs and I don’t feel properly at home,” he laments. For the rest, however, the internationals are quickly adapting to life in Delft.
Advanced Industrial Design Engineering (AIDE) is truly an international designer education. Seven of the fourteen students enrolled in this two-year postgraduate course are foreign students. It must be a good course if their willing to put with the Dutch rain that falls daily on the plein.
Employees
“The teachers are very good,” Nuno Carreira says, justifying his decision to leave sunny Portuguese for rainy Holland. While working at a research facility, Carreira, an environmental engineer, met TU Delft’s Professor Brezet. Because Carreira needed to know more about environmental project development, Brezet suggested he enrol in AIDE, where, in addition to being taught by professors from various faculties, the students receive a salary.
“We get paid for doing this study,” says Lucio Lucchetti, an aerospace engineer from Florence, Italy. “It’s an investment for the TU; they’ll recover the costs next year when we do work-placements at companies. Companies will pay the TU for our work.”
The fourteen TWAIO’s (the Dutch abbreviation for two-year postgraduate students) started at the end of August. Currently, they’re halfway through their two-month adaptation period, striving to obtain a common skill level, according to AIDE’s director, Dr. Han Remmerswaal. The TWAIO’s are divided into two groups, depending on their preliminary training. Students with designing backgrounds are taught engineering skills, while students who lack design experience (most of the international students) work to improve their design skills The groups help each other out. “On Thursday afternoons we get drawing lessons from industrial designers. Afterwards, we go out for drinks,” says Carreira.
While the first group was busy with thermodynamics, finite elements analysis and feedback control, the ‘non-industrial design-engineers’ presented the results of their second design yesterday. Divided into two groups, they designed and made a prototype child’s seat (front and back) for a bicycle. “It could be on sale at Halfords, for instance,” says Mutlu Cavusoglu, a Turk, who received his MSc in Materials Science in Idaho (USA). Prior to applying to Delft, Cavusoglu exhaustively studied all the industrial design programmes on offer worldwide. “TU Delft was the best fit for me,” he affirms. “The nice thing about this course is that we’re treated like company employees. It’s a practical education, not just theoretical. It’s a challenge to take all the marketing, designing and economic demands into account. And working in groups teaches us how to co-operate.”
Food
Most TWAIO’s are from Europe. Only Rodney Polen (USA) and Martin Ledezma Perizza (Bolivia) crossed the Atlantic. Carreira: “When we’re working in teams, we notice our different backgrounds. We’ve all got different attitudes regarding problems, which mostly result from cultural differences. For instance, some of us had never worked in groups before. I’ve already been a company employee, so I’m accustomed to working in groups.”
So far, the students are satisfied with the course. Lucchetti: “But you’ll have to check back with us in June for a final answer.” He hopes the following modules will offer more ergonomics, while Cavusoglu is especially interested in Computer Aided Design applications and tools.There’s a good chance that their wishes will be granted: “It’s an open programme, so we’re able to steer it,” Lucchetti says.
Difficulties, however, did arise when the students arrived in the Netherlands. Cavusoglu: “There’s no housing here, no choice! It’s terrible.” The students had thought the TU would arrange accommodations, but that wasn’t the case. Finally, Duwo, the housing association, came up with something. Some TWAIO’s had to share apartments, others had to sublease.
And of course they all must endure the obvious disadvantage of Dutch life: “The weather’s a disappointment,” says Karin Domeij, from Sweden, who had no idea what kind of weather to expect in Holland. “I thought I was escaping the snow, but this is no improvement.”
The international students also miss their country’s food and moan about the Dutch menu (“What’s in this thing? I don’t know what I’m eating,” Cavusoglu inquires of his spring roll). They also complain that the TU Sport-center’s opening hours are too short. Some of the internationals speak ‘een beetje‘ Dutch. Ledezma Perizza took a Dutch course in summer and Isabel Lapieza David, from Spain, knows a little Dutch because half of her family is Belgian. Cavusoglu, however, feels like a tourist in Delft. “I can’t read the signs and I don’t feel properly at home,” he laments. For the rest, however, the internationals are quickly adapting to life in Delft.
Comments are closed.