The University has completely redesigned its entire undergraduate programme in an effort to meet the demands of the 21st century engineering profession.
While educators have been asked to train students more broadly there has also been a diminishing student interest in STEM majors, despite growing demand from businesses in the Netherlands, forming what the university described as a perfect storm and opportunity for curricular reform.
As a result, Eindhoven undertook an ambitious restructuring of its entire undergraduate programme with the goal of increasing humanities and social science content to better prepare engineering students for complex environments and situations where technical proficiency alone is seen as insufficient.
While Eindhoven has kept its focus on technological development, the new curriculum comprises of new courses, representing around 11% of the full undergraduate curriculum.
The result? A significant increase in student intake, rising from 1,000 in 2010 to 1,900 by 2015. Of course, challenges remain, but Eindhoven has been able to provide increased opportunities for its students and a dynamic new model for other universities who are looking to improve their own engineering education programmes.
At a time when the UK is looking to increase the number of engineers at our universities almost doubling your student intake suggests Eindhoven are doing something worth examining.
