Maintenance | Programmes | Twente Graduate School

Design SMARTER maintenance for reliable, SAFE, and cost-effective assets.

Would you like to design maintenance that ensures complex systems are safe, reliable, and affordable? Are you eager to combine physics-based insights with data and operations to enhance performance?

Then the two-year Engineering Doctorate EngD in Maintenance is the ideal choice for you. The Maintenance programme equips you to create effective maintenance processes from a multidisciplinary perspective, integrating engineering, data, logistics, and management. You will undertake a practical design project in industry while expanding your knowledge through advanced courses.

A day in the life of an EngD Maintenance candidate

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to follow the EngD Maintenance programme? Ashrith gives you a glimpse into his daily life!

Why choose the EngD Maintenance?

Maintenance has a major economic and societal impact. Yet many organisations still rely on static, experience-based routines. This EngD helps you make the leap in efficiency and effectiveness by designing maintenance that adapts to changing systems and environments. You learn to link physical failure mechanisms to smart strategies and to bridge the common gap between technical specialists and operations.

What is the programme all about?

In today’s industrial environment, assets and technical systems are becoming increasingly complex and interconnected. The EngD in Maintenance prepares you to become a technological designer who develops integrated, maintenance-aware solutions that improve reliability, safety and cost-effectiveness. You learn to translate technical challenges into robust designs, taking into account operational, financial and organisational requirements.

The programme consists of three main components:

Mandatory courses
Elective courses
Professional development & self-regulated courses

The design project starts at the beginning of the EngD period, and your courses are aligned with the needs of the project and your own interests.

How is the programme structured and what will you learn?

You follow a coherent set of core and elective courses alongside your two-year industry design project. A minimum of 48 ECTS credits in educational activities is required.

You can take core and elective courses in areas such as failure mechanisms, condition monitoring, reliability engineering, design for maintenance and maintenance strategies. The exact mix is aligned with your project and your interests.

Mandatory courses (post-master level and professional development, 22.5 EC)

Systems Design and Engineering (12 EC)

Plus, choose one of the following courses:

Failure Mechanism & Life Prediction for EngD
Structural Health and Conditioning Monitoring for EngD
Design for Maintenance for EngD
Maintenance Engineering & Management for EngD
Model Driven Engineering for EngD

Electives and self-regulated courses
Tailor your electives to your project. Examples include advanced topics in tribology, surface technology, adhesion and bonding, elastomer and polymer engineering, experimental methods, or a custom Capita Selecta.

What kind of candidate fits this programme?

This programme attracts MSc graduates in mechanical engineering, industrial design engineering, industrial engineering and management, applied physics or related fields. You enjoy connecting engineering depth with operations and management. You are curious, analytical and eager to improve complex asset systems in practice.

The programme is also open to professionals employed by a company. Our Engineering programmes offer a streamlined enrolment route for employees with a relevant academic background who want to deepen their expertise while working. These candidates are motivated to address complex technological design challenges within their organisation and seek advanced methods and structured approaches to develop effective, implementable solutions.

What can you do after completing the EngD in Maintenance?

After completing this programme, you will be ready for roles such as maintenance engineer, designer, reliability engineer, asset manager, or technology consultant. Many graduates continue with the organisation where they carried out their design project, often in positions with growing responsibility.

Want to know more?

Do you have questions about this programme or want to know if it suits your background? Feel free to reach out to our programme director.