Description

Contents

Programme internationalization:

• Studying abroad is optional.

This programme has a workload of 120 ECTS.

Specialities:

Architectural Building Components Design Engineering:

The building industry is changing rapidly. Professional and private clients demand custom-made buildings, and the need for building products and components is growing. Suppliers strive to offer many variations in order to deliver tailored solutions. They do this by standardizing and maximizing existing technical solutions, components and manufacturing processes, distribution channels and brands. On a broader scale, modern society needs designs for flexible buildings that can be transformed for different purposes and whose systems and components can be reconfigured and reused. These new building practices call for new competencies and professionals who have the background and wherewithal to design products and processes that work.

Design and Styling:

An industrial designer has several different roles to play. Sometimes the most important part of industrial design is the application of a new technology. At other times the development of a better user interface is the key. Most of the time, design is about combining and integrating many of these kinds of aspects. However, styling always plays an important role. In the Design and Styling specialization, you will learn to oversee all aspects of product development with an accent on the historical context of the product, its consumer concerns and its emotional benefits. Graduates of the Design and Styling specialization often find employment in technical or commercial jobs, for example in marketing or product management. You may even work in advertising. Many graduates go into education or pursue a research career at a university or research institute. Most of our students, however, work as designers at design offices or in corporate design departments.

Emerging Technology Design:

Many theoretical breakthroughs and new technological principles are rarely applied because nobody translates them into a product or application. In this specialization you will learn how to bring new and state-of-the-art technologies to the consumer market instead of introducing a technology for a single, specific product. This can turn an expensive technology with a limited field of applicability into a more affordable option as it makes the transition to mass production. Consumer products can also be modified and new products brought to market thanks to new, highly advanced technologies (e.g. fuel cells) or technologies that make it possible to produce new shapes (e.g. hydroforming) or technologies that reduce the cost of production (e.g. composite materials that result in fewer parts). Another goal of this specialization is to reduce the distance between the research environment, industry and the market. This specialization will train you to be an industrial designer with a solid background in cutting-edge technologies.

Management of Product Development:

When launching new products, it is essential to progress through the product development stages quickly and efficiently, from initial concept through to finished product. In this specialization, you will learn to effectively manage the product creation process and to communicate with a variety of target groups, both internal and external (i.e. clients and suppliers). While the product development manager is not always directly involved in a product's design, he or she needs to be aware of various design techniques in order to successfully lead multi-disciplinary design teams. This may include generating a product development plan, drafting recommendations for the organization of a product’s development, organizing a feasibility study and optimizing a product’s life cycle.

Cradle to Cradle:

When it comes to designing new products, the closed cycle for materials will continue to play an increasingly important role. The new circular economy based on the Cradle to Cradle approach denotes an industrial economy that is restorative. One of the key issues covered in this specialization revolves around developing a strategy to maximize the industry’s ability to turn used materials into new products. You will become conversant with the principles of reusability and cutting-edge methodologies, and will apply these in an industrial environment. Thanks to an alliance with the C2C ExpoLAB Foundation (sponsored by the municipality of Venlo) and EPEA enterprises, the University of Twente can avail itself of the expertise of private enterprise in training the professionals of the future.

Requirements

Academic degree: BSc-degree (or equivalent) of an engineering based, rather than a design program of high quality and level.

Additional language requirements:

• IELTS overall band: 6.5
• TOEFL internet based: 90

English Language Requirements

Funding

Scholarships / Grants:

University of Twente Scholarship: