INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
Industrial Engineering and Management Student
Danique Groot Bleumink is 20 years old and studies Industrial Engineering and Management and Psychology at the UT. "Enschede is a small, socialable student city, where you can easily make contacts. For me, it is a challenge to analyse business and production processes and to work out if they can be made more effective." During her studies Danique has learned, among other things, that the optimalisation of a production line is much broader subject than just business administration analysis and mathematically working out which is the 'best route'. "The way in which communication processes run within a business is essential; for example, the focus that is imposed on employees by their higher-ups, the instructions that are issued, and attitudes of the employees. I find it captivating to think that people are, above all else an important factor, especially set against the technical aspects like mathematical models and business administration. "That is why Danique has decided to study Labour and Organisational Psychology alongside Industrial Engineering and Management. "My dream is to acquire work experience in Asia."
Education Director of Industrial Engineering and Management
Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Twente
(03:35 minutes, double-click to enlarge video)
Industrial Engineering and Management Alumna
Lex Beins is CIO and Co-founder of the Beins Travel Group, as well as being an entrepreneur and investor in various companies. Lex took his Industrial Engineering and Management (Computer Science) degree at UT. "I thought it was a broad discipline and I was looking for something entrepreneurial. At that time computer science was still new. My studies match up well with my daily challenges; the knowledge and skill that I acquired at the University of Twente are continually in use. In 2009 Lex was busy bringing his company, Cheaptickets, to the 'Champions League' of the online travel world. "My passion for the future is to remain entrepreneurial in the rapidly changing world of online travel as it becomes increasingly more international and offers more opportunities and challenges," according to Lex Beins.
Promote Your Technical Affinity
Open innovation is innovating together with other companies and institutes. It is becoming increasingly more important, according to Elke den Ouden, Professor at Eindhoven Technical University and Senior Consultant for Product Innovation at Philips. "Of course the crisis is a factor, but resources are always scarce. It is also important for students in the Industrial Engineering and management programme to learn how to organise innovation. In the Advisory Board of Practitioners we hammer on that point. It is very important and received a lot of attention in our assessment of the competency profile. Fortunately, it seemed that the profile was very close to what the companies expect of students." As far as Den Ouden is concerned, the technical side of the programme could be brought more to the fore. It is precisely technical affinity that many managers lack. And certainly at a company like Philips, it is important to build bridges between business opportunities and technological possibilities. If the programme offers an English variant - an important agenda item in 2009- then Twente can really distinguish itself."