Systems Engineering: a life-long-learning journey
Symposium to kick off the Systems Engineering Knowledge Centre Twente (SEKCT) of the University of Twente
On Thursday November 23, 2023 Maarten Bonnema and Robin de Graaf officially kicked off the Systems Engineering Knowledge Centre Twente (SEKCT). It was celebrated with a symposium at the University of Twente. The symposium focused on the relationship between Systems Engineering and Life-Long-Learning. This is a topic that is getting a lot of attention nowadays. About 50 people were present. Among them representatives from different industries, such as from the high-tech industry and the construction industry. Also people with research and education backgrounds were present.
Introduction of SEKCT
Maarten Bonnema and Robin de Graaf (photo below: Robin left, Maarten right) opened the symposium and welcomed the participants. Robin continued with a presentation on SEKCT. He explained that SEKCT is a response to a turbulent world in which systems become more and more interconnected and complex. Examples are climate change, the pressure for sustainability and circular solutions, the energy transition, the rise of AI, and so on. Robin pointed out that Systems Engineering is needed to design and develop systems in such turbulent environments. The ambition of SEKCT is to develop solutions for the challenges that confront society, while at the same time advancing Systems Engineering. More about SEKCT in this one-pager (NL/UK).
Keynote 1: Peer Learning in Systems Engineering
The first keynote speaker, Gerrit Muller (professor in Systems Engineering at the University of South-Eastern Norway), gave a presentation on peer learning in Systems Engineering. He related the learning of people in organizations to the value chain in those organizations. He pointed out that insufficient attention to learning may not be visible immediately, but can have a negative impact on the value of products and customer satisfaction in the long run. Gerrit also explained that learning on the job is one of the most effective learning strategies for professionals and gave a very practical overview of different types of learning and how they vary in study load and impact. The presentation of Gerrit can be found on his site (www.gaudisite.nl) or here (SEKCT site).
Special Event
After the first keynote, Maarten asked Jos Benschop (Corporate Vice President Technology) and Roelie Joekema (Groupleader R&D Academy) from ASML and Bart Koopman (Dean) from the Faculty of Engineering Technology to come forward. They all signed a Letter of Intent to boost the relationship between ASML and the Faculty and to increase the number of learners from ASML for the Systems Engineering course. A great example of University-Industry collaboration and of connecting Systems Engineering and Life-Long-Learning. On the photo from left to right: Roelie Joekema, Jos Benschop, Bart Koopman, Maarten Bonnema.
Keynote 2: Life-Long-Learning
The second keynote speaker, Wim de Boer (Director of the Program of Industrial Design and Engineering at the University of Twente and member of the University’s project group on Life-Long-Learning), gave an overview of Life-Long-Learning. He showed how it can be viewed and how Higher Education Institutions such as Universities and Universities of Applied Science try to implement it in their programs, not only in the Netherlands, but internationally too. Wim also explained that Dutch government has developed four scenarios as to how society may develop education-wise. Each scenario will result in different Life-Long-Learning policies, affecting Higher Education and businesses. The presentation of Wim can be found here.
Panel discussion
The final part of the symposium was the interactive panel discussion. The panel members represented both industry and education. The panel members were:
- Marcel van de Ven (Heijmans, Sr. Consultant Systems Engineering)
- Frank de Lange (ASML, Sr. Manager Systems Engineering)
- Wim de Boer (University of Twente, Program Director Industrial Design Engineering)
- Satya Kokkula (University of South-Eastern Norway, amongst others Program Responsible for Systems Engineering Master of Science, Industry Master Systems Engineering)
- Jan Broenink (University of Twente, amongst others Programme Director of the MSc programme Robotics and of the programme Systems and Control).
Robin presented statements on the screen, such as: Higher education institutions should only offer SE courses that are not provided by market parties, or Higher education institutions should give professionals access to existing SE courses that are already taught (thus mix with students). The audience was asked to vote via their smartphones. The result were visible on the screen real-time. This evoked an interesting and energetic debate with lots of interaction between the panel members and the audience, and within the audience. On the photo from left to right: Marcel van de Ven, Satya Kokkula, Wim de Boer, Frank de Lange, Jan Broenink.
Coffee mug as SE tool
At the end of the symposium the participants received a coffee mug with a print of the SEKCT logo and the ‘endless-question-generator’ (courtesy Gerrit Muller). Mugs are often used in books to illustrate Systems Engineering key points such as functions. By putting the endless-question-generator on the mug, it becomes a real-life SE tool as well!
Inaugural Lecture Maarten Bonnema
After the symposium, many people joined the Inaugural Lecture of Maarten, entitled Complex Tasks, Simple Tools.
More on SEKCT and the Lecture of Maarten from the view of others, read the article on the online source "High-Tech Systems"
