ESTIEM Magazine | Spring 2006 | Industrial Engineering on the Road!

Issue 30 2006/I | ISSN 0874-5242 | Price 0 Euro | www.estiem.org

ESTIEM MAGAZINE Industrial Engineering on the Road!

Diversity in European IEM Education

���������������������������������� ��������������

��������������������������������������������������������������������� ���������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������ ��������������� ����������������������������������� ���������������������

INTRODUCTION Editorial President’s Speech Introduction to ESTIEM

4

4 5 6

NEWS Introducing Board 2006 The New ESTIEM Web Pages FREE Vision PRC: The True Meaning of ESTIEM

20

8 10 11 12

SPECIAL VISION OF CYCLES 14 15 16 18

Grab the Vision!

Vision of Cycles Patrons Cycles in the European Parliament Life Cycle Engineering FOCUS

20 24 26 28

IEM Education in Europe: Diversity Rules!

Bologna: Picturing the Process IEM Graduate Studies Across the Atlantic The European Union’s Mobility Toolbox

EVENTS Council Meeting K2K Vision Bremen Vision Kiev Activity Week Eindhoven TIMES 2006 TIMES Semi-Final Istanbul-ITU

30 33 34 35 36 37

PROFESSIONAL

1

Brose: Making Things Happen Steel Going Strong Interview: Ibrahim Kavrakoglu Bosch Workshop 2005 How an IEM Engineer Can...

Out in the Real World

38 40 42 44 45 46

INSIDE ESTIEM Cultural Prejudice: The Portuguese 47 ESTIEMers Beyond Europe: Daniel Jonsson 48 So What’s Happening in... Stockholm?

49 AGENDA

50

38

4

INTRODUCTION “All roads

IMPRINT Project Leader: René Heunen

Layout: René Heunen Design: David Christian Berg, Public Relations Comittee Acquisition: Andy March Olivier Zimmer Contact: magazine@estiem.org www.magazine.estiem.org Disclaimer: The contents may not always reflect the opinion of the publisher.

Any reproduction or copy is permitted only with the permission of the editors.

Contact: magazine@estiem.org

ESTIEM Permanent Office Paviljoen B-6 P.O. Box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands Fax: 0031- (0)40 2473871 e-mail: info@estiem.org www.estiem.org

RENÉ HEUNEN

Editorial Staff: Öznur Afacan Pinar Altinkeser Elina Andersson Huseyin Binzat Aykut Bolat Sebastiaan Frijling René Heunen Daniel Jonsson Gaye Kıdan Anna Marszalkiewicz Matthias Müller

lead to

Rome... ”

“...but which ones lead to Bologna? And which one is the fastest, the smoothest, the cheapest or simply the easiest? Is there anyone to give me directions? Will people really be more interested in me if I get there? Should I run as fast as I can, and tell everyone that I’m on my way? Or just follow the rest and make sure my journey will be as comfortable as possible?”

If universities could be personified, these would be a few of the many questions on their mind. Industrial Engineering and Management programmes all over Europe are also facing these matters. As a direct consequence, their students will be confronted with changes as well (for as far as that has not happened, yet), raising all different types of questions in their heads. “What does the switch to a two-tier system mean for my educational planning? Should I seriously consider getting a Master’s degree at a foreign university? And what type of Master’s would that be anyway? Which universities specialise in the kind of subjects I am interested in? What would it be like to live in such a country?

As an ESTIEMer, you are on your way to all the answers! By getting in contact with IEM students from all over Europe, you get a good fi rst-hand overview of how your colleagues are experiencing their academic careers. All you have to do is sign up for an ESTIEM event, open your eyes and ears and learn from each other.

To give you a little push in the right direction, this issue of the ESTIEM Magazine addresses IEM Education in the international context; differences in the way we experience our programmes, developments on the European playground and opportunities to even go beyond our continent.

Just so that you can’t say we didn’t inform you when in two years time, all your friends leave you to go and study abroad...

5

3

This is one goal of the Bologna Declaration; to increase the possibilities for students to study abroad and thereby increase the mobility of the students across Europe(2 and through this inserting another piece of the puzzle to create a Europe of knowledge and not only of the Euro, the banks and the economy.(3

Of course working in ESTIEM in an intercultural team will rapidly increase your skills in that area; just think of the current five Board Members representing 6 different countries. Living in a totally different environment is still a bigger experience, as you start to question everything you took for granted at home.

This can be small issues like: “How does the public transportation work here?” or more complex ones like “How to behave towards the professor?”

From my experience I can tell you that both can completely confuse you, but while the first one has an influence on how late you will arrive, the other one may end up on your final mark.

In ESTIEM we are proud to support this development, as we connect students from across Europe and thereby reduce restraints to other cultures and quite often spark the interest to study abroad.

Besides the cultural differences, studies abroad also differ in the courses you can take. Maybe you have chosen your university based on the specialisations it offers. Now imagine you can choose between all universities from across Europe and their specialisations. E.g. you’ve finished a Bachelor of Science at your home university and want to work later as a project manager. Then you might consider studying in Trondheim, Norway for a Master of Science in Project Management.(1

ELIAS FAETHE

Studying abroad is definitely one of the greatest adventures someone can undertake during his studies. Its main benefit is learning to overcome the cultural differences. As those cultural differences are still the biggest obstacles for international companies, it is also a should-have in your Curriculum Vitae, if you want to work in one.

For me, my time in Hungary has taught me how you feel in an alien culture without knowing the language. The programme was a great opportunity to participate in lectures not offered at my home university.

I hope this issue of the ESTIEM Magazine will not only be very interesting to read, but also inspire some to go abroad or help about the location for those who have already made this a personal goal.

Enjoy reading this issue of the ESTIEM Magazine!

In high ESTIEM,

President of ESTIEM 2006 Notes 1

2 3

To find a solution in these nearly unlimited possibilities I can recommend the ESTIEM Magazine Spring 2005 issue with the topic of Decision Making.

From The Bologna Declaration, Bologna, 19 June 1999 From the Sorbonne Joint Declaration, Paris, the Sorbonne, May 25 1998

6

Back in 1990,

students from five different countries founded an organisation which they named ESTIEM: European STudents of Industrial Engineering and Management. Its aim was and still is to establish and foster interrelations among European students of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM).

in ESTIEM incorporate both the skills required for modern business and an open-minded approach towards other people and cultural issues.

The decision-making body of ESTIEM is the Council, which meets twice a year, in autumn and in spring.

Each university, represented by its so-called ‘Local Group’, sends two student representatives. The five members of the Board of ESTIEM are elected In 15 years, it has grown into an organisation during the autumn Council Meeting. The Board is bringing together 40 000 students from 65 responsible for the management, coordination and universities in 23 European countries, and is still growing. All these universities offer courses in IEM. administration of the association. It represents the Based on this structure, ESTIEM forms links between association in all legal matters. students, academics and companies in order to create ESTIEM has continuously increased the number of a Europe-wide, multi-level IEM network. its activities, thus being able to offer a great variety of events to IEM students. Based on its activities, Through involvement in ESTIEM, students get an ESTIEM has attracted many active students, and the opportunity to experience different cultures, take organisation has seen rapid growth since its founding. part in international projects and become friends Major activities on a European level besides Council with other ESTIEMers from all over Europe. Our Meetings include the only European wide IEM belief is that the activities and projects of ESTIEM case competition TIMES, the seminar series Vision, give our members knowledge and experiences that ESTIEM Magazine, Summer Academy and Exchange are important for their personal development and the realisation of future goals. The students involved (a database with information for students who want to study abroad); all led by Project Leaders who are elected at the Council Meetings.

Besides taking leadership positions in the Board and as Project Leaders, ESTIEM members can also take up more responsibility by working in one of the committees. The committees work together closely with the Board, supporting it in its tasks. ESTIEM has six of them at the moment: the Information and Communication Technology Committee, the Public Relations Committee, the Members Committee, the Knowledge Management Committee, the Financial and Legal Committee and ESTIEM’s youngest asset, the Corporate Relations Committee.

Introduction

7 CM

Council Meeting. Organised twice a year, this general meeting of member groups holds the ultimate decision-making power in ESTIEM.

CoM, Coordination Meeting, Regional Coordination Meeting. An event where a ReCoM small group of people get together for a Project Meeting or a meeting of Local Groups in a particular region.

CRC

Corporate Relations Committee. Responsible for adding value to relationships between ESTIEM and its current and potential corporate partners.

FLC Financial and Legal Committee. Members of this committee have an advisory function for those who are responsible for financial or legal affairs in ESTIEM. KMC

Knowledge Management Committee. This committee ensures that all knowledge is preserved and that experiences don’t get lost during handover periods or when people resign from their active ESTIEM career.

LG Local Group. ESTIEM is basically a network of these IEM student associations located at different universities around Europe.

LR Local Responsible. The person in charge of a LG. MC

PL

With lots of teams and tasks to choose from, there is a place for everyone. Naturally, the backbone of ESTIEM is the European IEM student. Openminded and keen on developing him- or herself, he or she is eager to make friends and create contacts with different IEM representants from all over the continent.

Members Committee. This team supports the member groups of ESTIEM and provides information to those who are interested in joining the ESTIEM organisation.

Project Leader. The person in charge of an ESTIEM project. Analogously, Committee Leader is designated with CL.

PRC

Public Relations Committee. Concerned with ESTIEM’s outer appearance and increasing the awareness of ESTIEM among companies, professors, as well as IEM students throughout Europe.

SAC

Summer Academy. A two-week event, of which two editions are held somewhere in Europe each summer. It is highly academic and guided by a well-known professor.

TIMES

Tournament in Management and Engineering Skills.

WG Working Group. In Council Meetings, several Working Groups are formed to discuss different crucial ESTIEM matters.

WGL Working Group Leader. A person who is in charge of the WG. He or she plans, guides the members and prepares the documentation.

When ESTIEM was founded, the aim was to make it an abbreviation-free association. However, this goal was not completely achieved… After all, “CM” fits much better in your mouth than “a Council Meeting”. The table at the right offers a brief introduction to the most common ESTIEM abbreviations.

For more detailed information about our organisation and its activities, please visit our website at www.estiem.org. Here you can also find everything you need to know if you want to get involved. So don’t hesitate and start moving…. you won’t regret it!

n to ESTIEM

8

NEWS Introducing Board 2006 Elias Faethe – President

“You want to become a member Local Group of ESTIEM? Great! How can we help you?”

This was my first contact with ESTIEM. It was in May 2002 with Jasser from Darmstadt, and it was a greeting with open arms. Before this, I had googled “STIEM”. This did not work out, so I had to ask again how it was spelled. Then I went through a lot of web pages, saw the ones of the BMetropolitan, Council Meeting Munich and of a lot of Local Groups active in ESTIEM. From the beginning I thought it to be a great organisation and I was very enthusiastic to go to the Council Meeting in Vaasa. There it happened – heavy infection with the ESTIEM Virus!

I took a small detour being active in the VWI, the German IEM association, before returning in full force to ESTIEM. From the Council Meeting in Sofia on I got more and more involved, finally ending up here and now, writing my introduction as President and 100% sure of the spelling of ESTIEM. This is why I love ESTIEM, but for applying as President there was another reason. The sentence, which Mr. Jordan from the American German Business Club said some hours before the election in Karlsruhe sums it up: “Create the system!”

This sentence is now like a beacon in my head. I really want to take part in the future creation of ESTIEM to be able to celebrate many, many more great ESTIEM birthdays!

Looking forward to an amazing year together with all of you!

A new year, a new ESTIEM Board. At the 31st Council Meeting in Karlsruhe and Kaiserslautern, the ESTIEM Board Members for the year 2006 were elected.

Who they are? Here are their personal introducuctions...

Stefan Kinateder – VP of Finance

One early morning in April 2003, I found myself sleeping on a bench of an airport. I was not surprised after waking up because I knew exactly how I got there and what I was doing at this place.

Some students from the university (I had started my studies half a year earlier) were going to meet me. They told me that in another city 180 students from different European countries would gather for a conference. This sounded cool. And as I had time and would otherwise never have gone to that city I decided to sleep at the airport and fly together with them from Frankfurt to St. Petersburg. That was actually my beginning in ESTIEM. In the following time I gained a lot of diverse experiences. I became Board Member of my Local Group and applied for positions and projects in ESTIEM. Not always successfully, but this did not prevent me from continuing. I was elected Financial Controller and Committee Leader. At last I ended up as Board Member of ESTIEM. That is the point where I am standing now.

I am looking forward to a rewarding time in the Board of ESTIEM where I can help everybody realise their intentions.

99 NEWS

Saija Ekorre – VP of Administration and ICT

Anna Marszalkiewicz – VP of Activities

Ozan Efe Ertem – VP of Public Relations

When I first heard that my university supports travelling to something called a CM, of course I wanted to go! I applied for a place in the Council Meeting in Vienna, and suddenly I was in the middle of Europe, in the centre of action. I decided I had definitely not had enough, and applied to be the Local Responsible of Oulu right after I came home.

Ever since I was born, I wanted to be an ESTIEMer… I realised it only some time later, though. Now, when I am writing these words, I can hardly believe that it has been over three years since my first ESTIEM event, a Council Meeting, took place in Finland.

I have asked myself several times during my time in ESTIEM this question: “Why are you doing this?”. The answer has changed since my first event in Skopje (Regional Coordination Meeting) but I always answered without hesitation. First, it was the excellent feeling of friendship, exploration and fun.

Around the time of CM Istanbul, another dimension opened up: it was actually very satisfying and rewarding to work as an international team to prepare a Working Group. Soon after, when I became the Public Relations Committee Leader, I was amazed by how easily people will accept you as a team player and how fast you can develop your “soft skills”. It was near my third Council Meeting in K2K last autumn where my answer changed once again, I wanted to do something better, new and do it not for myself but for everyone. So, I ended up here as the Vice President of PR.

Being the LR was the first step in my ESTIEM career: I took part in several meetings, organised one in Oulu, and exactly one year after my first CM, I became the Project Leader of Vision. It gave me the opportunity to test my IEM skills in reality – I learned to manage teams, try out how to lead a project, and see how organisations work in international playgrounds. For two years I was learning a lot and developing in different areas, and finally I decided the experience had prepared me well to apply for the Board.

Being a part of ESTIEM is a rewarding feeling by itself and the open possibilities for everybody regardless of where you come from, where you study, or how much of your curriculum have you covered are definitely plusses. In the Board I can observe even more people develop; at the same time, I can encourage everybody to create new possibilities, recommend trying out new ideas, and help to establish an international network in the integrating Europe. Being a student in a multi-cultural environment will certainly create something special out of one’s future!

Travelling often through whole Europe (in more than twenty events!), working on local and international projects (especially on the ESTIEM Magazine), organising a Regional Coordination Meeting and an Activity Week, and meeting strong selfmotivated students from different cultures deeply involved me in ESTIEM. Extensive experience in ESTIEM and also two important words from the current Local Responsible of Poznan (“Do it!!!”) helped me with my decision about applying for the ESTIEM Board as the Vice President of Activities.

Managing real people and real projects taught an important lesson: it is not as easy and methodical as it is in the books we study by heart at our universities. That is why ESTIEM is one of the best ways I know for verification of many theories and sometimes finding your own way of doing things. I am pretty sure that this year as a ‘Boardie’ will give me unique/unforgettable/magnificent experiences useful in my career, the challenges ahead of me, and a chance for reaching my goals. It is my hope that I can reflect these to the entire organisation and make a positive difference.

My ESTIEM career, which is rather short compared to those of my other fellow Board members, has been one of discovery about myself and the wonder that is ESTIEM. I thought that the year in the Board would be the biggest discovery and so far I can tell you that I was right. I am interested to find out if my answer to the question will change yet again during this year but I can tell you one thing for sure: if you ever say “ESTIEM” to me, I will always answer “Yes”.

See you somewhere, sometime…

NEWS

10 10

F R E E Vision Future Resources for Energy and Economy

VLADA DEMYDOVA

The exact explanation: Future Recourses for Energy and Economy – Visionary use of resources and reserves to achieve sustainable growth. The main focus will be on different kinds of resources, from basic technical to human ones. Also, we will concentrate on well-planned use of resources and reserves, as well as on investigation for sustainable growth in the future.

The major idea: to bring Vision back to its first meaning – a series of seminars, workshops and visits to companies in European countries, with the main goal of finding innovative approaches and tools for contemporary problems. Another aim of the project is to support contacts between students, researchers and representatives of businesses.

The seminars themselves are organised throughout Europe by member groups. Professors and representatives of industry provide the lectures. The combined results are published and they will be made available Europe-wide.

Finally, an aim is to brand Vision as a project with strong academic value and a lot of ideas, education and input for its participants. The gained knowledge can be used by every ESTIEMer for developing economical skills and enrichment of private experiences.

The project started its life at Council Meeting K2K, where the two focal points were created; “Resourses and Sustainable Growth”. From that time, within half a month the project got its name.

This decision has been taken by the usual democratic process in ESTIEM – a vote of all members the Vision Working group at the Council Meeting K2K. I would like to thank all Vision Working Group participants, who were and are active after Council Meeting K2K, and are making great contributions to the Vision project.

At the moment, the project is growing strong by the work of dozens of people with different interests and from different countries, but with a common desire to create something special for ESTIEM. In the upcoming Vision series we will have 16 seminars, ranging from hot Famagusta and Izmir to snowy Helsinki and Tampere. In 11 countries organisers will try to do everything in their power in order to make a mark in the hearts and minds of the participants. I want to wish them good luck because taking such responsibilities requires big amenability and great work of every member. The new Vision series is bringing a lot of changes, and half of the results will depend on the feedback of the organisers. What are we currently working on? From logo to poster, from website to brochure – the down-to-earth matters of a large project, that is. Innovations from the ongoing Vision of Cycles Project: sponsor search, final conference, or study tour.

By discussing scientific subjects and publishing academic articles, FREE Vision is reminding ESTIEMers that Vision is a project with academic value and is very different from Activity Weeks and other ESTIEM events.

What should I add? I am really proud to lead this project. It is settling itself in my mind, and taking a special place in my heart. I will try to improve it, but of course I will not be able to do it all by myself. FREE Vision represents a dozen independent students who are trying to open their minds to the world, to let their ideas interact and to get closer to each other by demonstrating great teamwork.

Wish us luck, and you will never forget this Vision seminar series!

11

The

new ESTIEM Web Pages Have you paid a visit yet?

ESTIEM’s internal web pages, better known as the ESTIEM Portal, have been an important tool for both sharing information among active members and informing interested students for quite a few years. As the old web pages needed to change to a new system and the content needed some updating, a project was started at the Council Meeting in Lyon to relaunch both the ESTIEM Portal and the external web pages. The structure and content were to be discussed from the basics in order to fi nd out how we could improve the value of the ESTIEM Portal and the external web pages for our organisation.

Combined Forces

The Working Process

At the Council Meeting in Lyon, goals were set for both the ESTIEM Portal and the external web pages. Not only the structure and content of the ESTIEM Portal needed to be improved, we also wanted to make it more dynamic, to integrate more information and to make it a place worth visiting more frequently. The external web pages needed an information update, but also a new design was to be implemented.

The committees continued their work more separately during the summer. However, close contact was held with respect to planning and synergies between the committees’ tasks. During this time, the Knowledge Management Committee worked out a new structure for the ESTIEM Portal and the Public Relations Committee created a new design for both the external web pages and the ESTIEM Portal, based on the corporate design of ESTIEM.

The IT Committee traditionally carries the responsibility for the ESTIEM web pages. To accomplish the necessary improvements in ESTIEM on the internet, a Task Force was formed which also consisted of members of the Public Relations Committee and the Knowledge Management Committee. In this way, the workload of the IT Committee could be decreased and the varying competences from the different committees could all contribute to the fi nal result.

Thanks to weekly online meetings, many e-mails sent and of course three devoted teams, work progressed and in the beginning of October the Portal Relaunch Task Force gathered in Eindhoven for a joint Coordination Meeting. Important topics were discussed, tricky issues were resolved and of course a lot of work was done. Full of new inspiration, we all went back home again to finish the last part of the content and add it to the ESTIEM Portal.

In order to avoid too much confusion, a reasonably clear task division was made: the Public Relations Committee was made responsible for the external web pages and the Knowledge Management Committee for the ESTIEM Portal. The platform for this work, the technical systems and the programming, would be the responsibility of the IT Committee.

Now, finally, the result of our work can be seen online. Did we do a good job and achieve our goals? Go to www.estiem.org or www.estiemportal.estiem.org and find out for yourself!

CHARLOTTE ERLANDSSON

For an organisation like ESTIEM, with active students living all over Europe, efficient communication tools are essential. ESTIEMers can meet only a few times a year but the work needs to continue also in between those occasions; information needs to be spread in an efficient way.

What’s on the New Portal?

All the Latest News!

The ESTIEM portal is intended to be the place for interested students to find information about what is going on at the moment. Here you can read about what is happening in ESTIEM by reading the newsletters or the notice boards of the Board, projects and committees.

General Information There is also plenty of general information about ESTIEM, for example on how you as an interested student can get involved in the organisation, who is responsible for what, listings of all the Local Groups and active member profiles as well as an ESTIEM encyclopedia and FAQ to help answer all your questions.

Events Also, information can be found about all the international events going on in ESTIEM and how to apply for participating in them. Once home again, the ESTIEM Portal is the place to find event reports and the contact information to all your new ESTIEM friends.

Discussion Forums A new, general forum open to all members as well as forums dedicated to specific topics, projects or committees will facilitate fruitful discussion and sharing of ideas. Also: forums for Local Responsibles, Project Leaders and other specific user groups.

And of course: A LOT MORE!

exci net- open-mind ork of “ESTIEM is an “ESTIEM The true meaning of network of ESTIEM NEWS

12

DAVID CHRISTIAN BERG

What does ESTIEM stand for? Sure, there have been some rather interesting suggestions made regarding the expanded form of the acronym...

But what does it mean to us ESTIEMers?

This was the question ESTIEMers asked themselves in the Public Relations Working Group at the Council Meeting K2K. After spending a few productive hours, the following was established as a statement of the ESTIEM brand – for ESTIEMers, by ESTIEMers:

nded udents

“ESTIEM is an exciting network of open-minded students with a professional approach.”

project groups, committees and the Board. It is up to you to step in, by spearheading new ideas and bringing new blood to ESTIEM to maintain and strengthen the network as a whole However, why would anyone want to do this?

The answer lies in the rest of the brand statement: it is exciting; exciting because through ESTIEM one discovers new cultures, new people and new knowledge; exciting because everything is done by students for students, creating a level of understanding that is very rarely seen in organisations; exciting because the members are enthusiastic about what they do; exciting because it is fun.

profe

But all this discovery and common ground is possible only through one thing: Open-mindedness.

Indeed, the level of tolerance and acceptance the members display in ESTIEM is exemplary. One can not help thinking that the world would be a better place if everyone was as open-minded as an ESTIEMer. It is a unique property of ESTIEM First of all, the word “network” is often used to to be an organisation so open to new ideas, new describe ESTIEM and it is also a very common cultures and progress. It is also this property and word in the IEM vocabulary. Still, we should the enthusiasm of ESTIEMers that makes it postake a minute to think about it. A network is all about nodes and the connections between them. sible to say that “ESTIEM is a playground for new Looked at this way, the nodes in the ESTIEM net- and exciting international ideas”. work are the Local Groups and the links between A brand is all about the feelings and meanings them are personal connections and friendships spread all over Europe. A strong network is only associated with it. Therefore, the final adjective in this statement may be regarded as being irpossible by forming solid bonds and making relevant. After all, we are students and a claim to sure that the nodes are strong enough to carry these bridges between them. This is possible only professionalism may be exaggerated or perhaps even undesirable. But taking a closer look we through the participation of the ESTIEMers: have to become aware of the distinction between contributing to the connections by attending expertise and professionalism. It is best to use an events, and strengthening the nodes by organising them. Participation also means actively taking analogy. Consider a cardiologist: he is an expert. part in what may be termed as “central ESTIEM”: The work he does can not be done by others with As in any attempt to make such a general statement about an organisation as diverse as ESTIEM, there may be some disagreements about the wording. So, let’s explain this sentence a little.

ESTIEM is an exciting network of

open-minded students

professional approach.”

rk of open-minded students

iting excitin network ded students of with a open-min essional approach.”

13

less expertise. However, if he violates the trust his patient by sharing his details with others, he acts unprofessionally even though he still remains an expert. Being professional therefore is not about what you are able to do, but about how you do it. This is not different for ESTIEM. An ESTIEM event does not need to be hosted in a five star hotel and participants do not need to be chauffeured in limousines – such an arrangement is the expertise of some firms. However, providing clear directions to participants about where to go or asking for any special requests regarding room arrangements are simple matters that make life much easier for all the participants. This is professionalism.

It is also the quest for a high level of professionalism that fuels personal development for most ESTIEMers. After all, only by seeking the better one pushes his/her limits and develops as a leader, manager, entrepreneur or any other role. This chance, ESTIEM provides, ranks high up in the list of things that make ESTIEM such a desirable organisation for students.

NEWS

with a prof

“ESTIEM is an exciting net-

The brand statement is the result of the collaboration of a group of ESTIEMers, both new and old. It has been pieced together after long hours of work. It may not be perfect or even right; it may need to be updated as time goes on and ESTIEM changes. Public Relations Committee gives any ESTIEMer a chance to influence this by working on the topic of ESTIEM Brand Management. But always remember this: Any organisation is as strong as the perception its members have of it. So, if you want to contribute to ESTIEM, go ahead and participate, but if you just do not have the time, make sure that you tell everyone:

work of

appro

open-minded students

“ESTIEM is an exciting network of open-minded students with a professional approach.” 

with a

professional ap proach.”

with a professional approach

14

VISION OF CYCLES GrabtheVision!

For the ESTIEM project ‘Vision’, many Local Groups organise a seminar where ‘visionary’ topics are discussed with professors and specialists from well-known companies.

CORNELIA BAUER

In the period 2005/06, 23 Local Groups organised a seminar at their university. About 150 students across Europe have been preparing a seminar for our project for more than a year to offer over 400 ESTIEMers the chance to participate in a seminar and grab visionary ideas. The best outcome was reached by those participants who already had a basic know-how in Life Cycle Management as they got the chance to discuss their ideas / know-how about this topic with specialists from other universities and companies.

During this period, the project offered four longer seminars which each were organised and hosted by two Local Groups. By attracting more participants, two Local Groups got the chance to organise one event together, representing the ESTIEM idea of strengthening cooperation among European IEM-students. With the seminar in Luleå (Sweden) and Oulu (Finland), we offered a seminar in two countries for the first time. The Vision event in Istanbul and Ankara even managed to bridge two continents!

Both of our project patrons will join the Final Conference in Ankara and present also a topic related to cycles in their line of business, i.e. focusing on the repetitive patterns that occur.

Our academic patron Peter Eyerer is professor at the mechanical engineering department at University of Stuttgart (Germany) and the head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Pfinztal (Karlsruhe, Germany). He is a specialist for Life Cycle Engineering and he develops software for optimised Life Cycle Engineering in the automotive sector.

Our patron Alexander Alvaro supports our Europewide project on behalf of the European Union. He is member of the European Parliament, representing the Liberal Party (FDP) from Germany. As the son of a Portuguese father and a French mother and having grown up in Germany and Australia and having studied partly in Switzerland, he knows European habits very well. His involvement in the law-making process in the European Parliament, especially in the The peak of our project will be reached in area of education and youth, is of major relevance for May during the Final Conference ESTIEM and its Local Groups. At a meeting with Mr. of Vision of Cycles. For the second time, we are offer- Alvaro at the European Parliament last December, ing a seminar with a very we discussed about cycles in business and industries and realised that cycles are also present in the daily high academic level. work at the European Parliament. They are also lookInvited are the best speakers of the previ- ing into the future and try to prevent falling back into ous seminars and some repetitive patterns. So, they are searching for a good more specialists to dis- way out. For further details about cycles in the law cuss with the students setting procedure and how to solve problems conabout different aspects cerning cycles in a non-IEM related area please read of cycles in business and his article on the following pages. industry. The students will For details about our project “Vision of Cycles” get deeper insights of all topics that were presented and please check our official website at debated before. www.visionofcycles.estiem.org!

15

ALEXANDER ALVARO

It’s probably daily business for a politician to be asked to be patron for this or that event. In most cases however these will be simple and common events like exhibitions, balls and their like. This made it even more an honor when representatives of ESTIEM came and asked me – in a very charming way – whether I was prepared to become patron to Vision with its seminars.

Due to my position as patron I learned that ESTIEM had already been existing since 1990 and over the period of the last 15 years managed to reach and bring together 40 000 students from 65 universities in 23 countries. This is an extraordinary achievement, particularly because ESTIEM is based purely on voluntary work and the active parties hereto have to continue studying.

I noticed the incredible variety of ESTIEM activities and I am proud to be able to support this vivid and active student organisation. I expect this relationship

http://

www.alexander-alvaro.de www.europarl.eu.int

will be mutually beneficial. My patronage will hopefully allow me to get to know as much as possible about practical problems and their proposed solutions of today’s young students. On top of that I see a chance for getting insights into Industrial Engineering and Management which, having studied law and being a politician, I could not gain otherwise.

Even if my work in the European Parliament is very time-consuming and the time available for meetings is very limited, I consider it my responsibility to be available to ESTIEM when it’s possible.

Student activities and initiatives like ESTIEM will have just as much influence on the shape of our future as have the decisions of the European Parliament. I am looking forward to offer you my best possible support as a patron.

I send you my best greetings and wish you all the best for your further projects and for your studies.

Personal Webpage European Parliament

VISION OF CYCLES Curriculum Vitae Alexander Alvaro, Member of European Parliament (MEP) is of German and Portuguese descent and grew up in Australia and Germany. After training as a banker, he read law at the Universities of Bremen, Mannheim, Lausanne and Düsseldorf. He is on the committee of the German liberal Party FDP, has served as vice-chairman for the German Young Liberals (JuLis) from 2002–2003, and was voted into the European Parliament as their prime candidate in June 2004.

As a lawyer and one of the youngest members of the European Parliament, Alexander Alvaro is coordinator of the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and substitute member of the Justice Committee. He is also a member of the Delegation to the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Delegation to Australia and New Zealand. His main areas of work comprise of issues relating to data protection, biometric identifiers in passports or visas and a common European immigration and asylum policy.

PETER EYERER Curriculum Vitae Peter Eyerer was born 1941 in Munich, Germany and studied Mechanical Engineering. He did his Ph.D. in 1971 and worked in the industry for 11 years. Since 1979 he has been professor at University of Stuttgart, Germany. He is the head of the department of Lifecycle Engineering at University of Stuttgart.

In 1994 he became the head of Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Karlsruhe (about 300 employees).

His main interest of this academic and engineering work is Product Engineering (especially for plastics and composite materials) and Lifecyle Engineering.

In 1997, he started a restructuring programme for his lectures to change the way of teaching and learning. He introduced TheoPrax, a combination of studying and practically working at the same time. He is very enthusiastic about this. He was awarded by the UNESCO for the idea and for the implementation.

Peter Eyerer published about 600 papers and lectures. He is not only an international recognised expert but, having a wife and seven children, also a real family man.

For years, ESTIEM has been a Europe-wide organisation for students to improve management and engineering skills. Preparation for the future and build up of networks are essential parts. The focus of this and last year’s seminars is the “Vision of Cycles”.

Life Cycle Engineering, as one part of the seminars, has been implemented in industry work for many years. By dealing with the method of Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) – considering a holistic approach of economic, ecologic and social aspects – we learn to understand the various interactions of economy, environment and society. Systematic optimisation and a conscious design of our future are fundamental actions. Sustainability is the objective to pursue. And as a family man I always aim for a sustainable future to give our children bright prospects.

The project “Vision of Cycles – Cycles in Business and Industries” facilitates a better understanding of interactions in business reality. Interdisciplinary

http://

work, a broad perspective and a vision of the future are the best basis for students to prepare themselves for chances in their life. And a side effect of all activities is the cultural contact between open-minded students all over Europe.

Numerous seminars highlight various aspects of life cycle thinking. Product, market and material life cycles are components; environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and economic Life Cycle Costing (LCC) are presented tools. Different aspects will be emphasised to allow a holistic view on the complex structures and interactions within and between economy and society.

“Vision of Cycles – Cycles in Business and Industries” is a basis of sustainability and a network for the future.

My best wishes to all participants and friends.

www.eyerer-peter.de Personal Webpage www.ict.fraunhofer.de/english/index.shtml Fraunhofer Institute www.ikpgabi.uni-stuttgart.de/english/index_e.html University of Stuttgart

VISION OF CYCLES

16

Cycles in the European Parliament Legislative Procedures ALEXANDER ALVARO Patron, Vision of Cycles Project

A lot of ideas, papers, proposals and amendments circulate between the EU’s three decision-making bodies. It starts with the European Commission coming up with a law-proposal, Parliament and Council debating and amending it in hopes of reaching a viable compromise and a good law, which will in turn serve to facilitate dealings among the EU’s member states. The European Parliament (EP) is part of the Legislative processes of the European Union.

The Treaties determine the rules and procedures used to set a new law or resolution.

The procedure of consultation means that Council has to ask the Parliament as well as the European Committee for Economy and Social affairs and the Committee of the Regions for their opinion. In this case, the opinion given need not influence the final text. However, the Council needs to adopt such a proposal unanimously, which is maybe difficult, seeing as each member state can veto the proposal. The cooperation-procedure is used for most decisions, e.g. in provisions of the Economic and Monetary During the current legislative period from 2004 to Policy. For this purpose the Council formally asks 2009, the assembly consists of 732 members, who acceptance from the Parliament. This procedure difare elected directly by the citizens of the European Union. The EP constitutes the democratic basis of the fers from the consultation because the Parliament Community. Its political function is characterised by can only accept or reject the proposal by an absolute majority. In the law-making process on EU-level you making sure that European laws correspond to the needs and interests of the citizens. This is the mandate have to differentiate between different kinds of bindof each member of the European Parliament. Learn- ing laws, such as regulations, directives, decisions or ing something about the legislative process of the EU recommendations and opinions, which are not-bindmeans to understand how it is different to law-mak- ing. Furthermore, there are other law instruments; resolutions about cooperation of police and justice or ing in the member states. common attitudes towards the foreign- and security policy, for instance.

The European Parliament is not an independent legislative body because legislative power is shared between the Parliament and the Council of Ministers of the European Union.

The Treaties of the Union, for instance the Maastricht Treaty (1992), constitute the formal basis for the European institutions’ powers. This Treaty sets out procedures, e.g. the co-decision-procedure, which first gave the Parliament some power in the law-making process. The Amsterdam Treaty (1999) invigorates the legislative power of the Parliament by extending the co-decision-procedure to legislature for the common market, consumer rights and regional development for example.

17

Directives are political demands of the European Union to national parliaments of the member states to implement them as effectual national laws.

Regulations are European laws, which apply immediately and directly in all member states without further transformation.

The law process occurs within the so called institutional triangle, consisting of the European Commission, the Parliament and the Council. The Commission is responsible for law initiatives; its proposal is to be adopted by the Parliament and the Council. A law-proposal can also be requested by the Parliament and the Council.

tended ambit for the Parliament. Due to its budgetary controlling power, the Parliament is in a position to influence each activity of the Union. The budget is decided by the Council and the Parliament, but it gets finalised by the Parliament and can only be adopted by the signature of the parliamentary president.

Since the Treaty of Nice entered into force in 2003 the EP’s powers have been further increased, with a slight broadening of the scope of the co-decision-procedure and by the requirement that the Parliament must give its assent to the establishment of enhanced cooperation in areas covered by co-decision.

Furthermore the Parliament continues to gain powers within the Union. When the European ConstituThe most common procedure now is the co-decision of the Parliament together with the Council; this tion Treaty comes into effect, the EP and the Council will be working together on an equal footing. Depumeans that both institutions share legislative power.

If both institutions cannot attain an agreement upon a ties may then fully obtain the responsibility of their proposal, a Conciliation Committee has to be called, mandate and contribute more thoroughly to better made up of an equal number of representatives of the law making for the citizens of Europe.

Parliament and the Council. After an agreement has been negotiated in this body, the proposal returns to An Expiration Date for Laws As a member of the European Parliament I represent the Parliament and to the Council, where both may the interests and needs of my voters. In my opinion, agree or reject. a drawn-out decision-making process and regulating If the Parliament and the Council now reach an for the sake of regulating does not correspond to the agreement, the proposal can be adopted as a law. voters interests. Therefore I suggest optimising this process.

The Role of the European Parliament within the Legislative Process When the European Parliament was founded in 1952 In my perception the Union should implement an expiration date for laws.It means that, once adopted, it was only a consulting conference without having a law is subject to revision after a certain “sell-byany decision rights.

Since deputies were elected for the first time in 1979 date”. If it turns out that a particular measure has not achieved its goal, then it should be reassessed and by the European citizens and by their mandate they defend the interests of the citizens towards the Coun- perhaps amended or deleted from the canon. cil and the Commission. Among the decision-making During this legislative period I will plead for the adoption of such an expiration date to render Europrocess of the Parliament are legislation, budgetary and the authority of monitoring the other European pean decision-making more effective in the future. institutions.

Sometimes law-making in the EU means going round With the Amsterdam Treaty the decision and control in circles a lot but with measures such as the sunsetauthorities of the Parliament were extended. The co- clause we hope to make procedures more efficient and transparent and contribute to more responsible decision-procedure guarantees comprehensive cooperation clauses and Amsterdam brought up an ex- law-making. 

“the Union should implement an expiration date for laws”

VISION OF CYCLES

VISION OF CYCLES

18

Life Cycle Engineering PETER EYERER Patron, Vision of Cycles Project

Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) analyses potential economic, environmental and technical impacts of products, services or processing methods over their whole life cycle.

This multidimensional perspective ensures the consideration of all relevant factors. Efficient and sound support for decision-making is provided by comprehensible presentation of results. At the same time, the This perspective takes all stages of a product’s or a methodology of Life Cycle Engineering guarantees a service life cycle into account – connecting the following phases: production, use and end of life. In this high level of transparency, building an excellent basis for decision support. context it is important to �• verify technical feasibility Life Cycle Assessment �• ensure environmental and societal tenability The environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is �• consider economic efficiency, when assessing op tions, to point out optimisation potentials based on one element of the LCE toolbox. It can be described as environmentally orientated information and planthese criteria. ning tool which helps to compare options and effectively identify improvement potentials.

Environmental issues have become increasingly imThis enables LCA to work as a tool for decision-makportant in decision-making processes. Reasons may be product stewardship, marketing aspects, commit- ing – applications are in product design and product ments to customers and their expectations and com- improvement, in strategic planning, in decision processes for policymaking and in marketing. pany’s environmental policies.

Life Cycle Approach Decision-making in line with the concept of sustainable development requires the consideration of economic, environmental and social issues. This holistic claim requires a broader perspective. The life cycle approach provides the “big picture” of how decisions affect these issues.

Figure 1

resources

Life Cycle steps in Life Cycle Engineering

preliminary products

recycling disposal

end product

use phase

19

Manufacturing

Requirements specifications • technical • economic • environmental • social

System model

Processing

Utilisation

Exploration

Recycling

• materials • waste • energy • emissions • sewage

VISION OF CYCLES

Figure 2 Life Cycle Engineering of products, systems and processes

Waste management

Optimisation Innovation

Evaluation

An LCA is carried out by following this outlined procedure (see also Figure 3): • Along the whole life cycle of a product (product system) all in- and outputs of the processes involved are analyzed.

• All flows and their masses are systematically collected and listed in the “Life Cycle Inventory” • The effects on the environment – emissions to air, water and soil, depletion of natural resources – are evaluated in the “Impact Assessment” • Findings are implemented to improve the product system.

This provides an environmental profile of the system under consideration. Depending on the goal of the LCA, different ecologic safeguard objects can be considered.

Impact Assesment

Decision supporting

LCE Application Life Cycle Engineering is used in industry to • detect strategic risks and environmentally sensitive fields • identify significance of distinct life cycle issues • improve internal and external communication • develop sustainable and innovative products • gain competitive advantages • contribute to ecological innovation and reduce overall environmental burdens.

The implementation of LCE gives rise to the sustainable development of organisations, their products and services. 

Energy and material consumption, Global Warming, Ozone, Depletion, Acidification, Eutrophication, Eco-toxicity, Summer Smog...

Impact Analysis

Life Cycle Inventory

Life Cycle Phases

Raw material extraction

Production of intermediates

Production of main products

Utilisation

Recycling, recovery, disposal

Figure 3 Life Cycle Assesment

20

FOCUS

Diversity Rules!

You must have noticed it when talking to your fellow students from other European universities: although we all claim to study Industrial Engineering and Management Science (IEM), there are quite some differences in the way we experience our educational programmes.We tried to get a clearer picture of the diverse composition that goes under the title ‘European IEM Education’…

21

In order to try and get an idea of what the diversity in our educational programmes looks like, we conducted a survey among ESTIEM members in which we let the respondents grade certain aspects of their IEM programmes. 200 respondents from 50 Local Groups – and thus 50 different European IEM programmes with an average of four respondents per programme – enabled us to draw a lot of conclusions about the differences that we experience on our way to graduation. Since we had by no means the intention to conduct this survey according to scientific principles, the conclusions are purely based on the perceptions of the respondents and should not be seen as the absolute reality. Nevertheless, we tried to increase the student value of our conclusions by focusing on these local students’ perceptions instead of partly basing our results on publications by the universities themselves; thus bypassing promotional stories or enhanced statistics from the universities’ side. Read more about the survey conduction in the info-box below.

FOCUS

Whatever the causes might be, fact is that no two IEM programmes offered by two different European universities will be exactly alike in the amount of emphasis on different fields of science.We asked our respondents: “What areas of emphasis is your university known for?” and subsequently gave them answering options in the Management, Engineering and combined area.

These were for the Management area: • Finances (Investment, Accounting, Controlling) • Technology and Innovation Management • Marketing • Human Resource Management • Strategic Management (Organisation, Business Law, Industrial Analysis)

In the Engineering area: • Production Engineering (Manufacturing, Product Design/Development) • Chemical Engineering (Process and Pharmaceutical Engineering) • ICT (Computer Sciences,Telecommunications) Fields of Science As we all know, Industrial Engineering and Management • Electrical Engineering Science brings together a lot of different knowledge areas. • Civil Engineering You probably had to explain it to your relatives, friends or In the combined, IEM-specific area: acquaintances more than once: the main strength of the • Logistics and Supply Chain Management graduated IEM student is to be able to interrelate many different aspects of business reality, to see ‘the big picture’. • Operations Reseach (Mathematical Modules and Optimisation) The presence of many different components from a variety of sciences within one educational programme creates • Production and Process Management (Productions the opportunity for universities to place certain accents on Planning, Quality Management), to be called PPM. some of these fields of science.This could happen under First off, it must be said that basically all European IEM the influence of national or regional business demands, programmes demonstrate an emphasis on Production it could be part of a university’s general strategy, simply Engineering. Apparently, knowledge about manufacturbecause of the presence of many specialists in a certain ing processes and product development is something that area or it might be a combination of these factors.

The Survey: What & How? The survey was conducted with a joint effort from both the ESTIEM Magazine Project Team and the Exchange Guide Task Force. The Exchange Guide Task Force is now trying to implement a sustainable model to keep the current Exchange Guide running and up to date. That is why it is needed to broaden the scope of the Guide. In this particular case, both teams shared the need for information on certain aspects of European IEM Education programmes, resulting in a cooperation under the name of ‘IEM Education Task Group’.

In order to come to an agreement on the information required and the method for acquiring it, a Coordination Meeting was organised in the city of Berlin during the weekend of January 19–22. Here, members from both teams discussed and structured potentially interesting aspects of diversity in IEM Education programmes, leading to the following areas of interest: • Fields within Industrial Engineering and Management programmes that universities emphasise or are specialised in • The status of implementation of the most visible elements of the Bologna Process, e.g. the two-tier Bachelor-Master system and the European Credit Transfer System (more about the implementation of the Bologna Process in ‘Bologna: Picturing the Process’ on page 24) • The appreciation of the support a student receives when he/she wants to study abroad • The means by which students finance their education • The practical relevance of the IEM programme: the amount of courses requiring contact with a company, the amount of weeks spent on internships and an overall valuation of the practical experience gained during the entire education.

The resulting survey questions were translated into an online survey. After integration in the ESTIEM Portal, the survey was brought to the attention of all registered ESTIEM members. 200 members took the time to fill it out according to their perception of the characteristics of their IEM education.

After a three-week response period, the resulting data were analysed; the most apparant and interesting conclusions are presented here.

22

Distinct Areas of Emphasis ICT: • Berlin • Darmstadt • Karlsruhe • Kaiserslautern • Tampere Civil Engineering: • Porto Logistics and Supply Chain Mgt: • Bremen • Berlin • Eindhoven • Linköping Production and Process Mgt: • Clausthal • Hamburg • Ilmenau • Linköping • Tampere Electrical Engineering: • Ilmenau • Kaiserslautern Finance: • Karlsruhe • Brussels Technology and Innovation Mgt: • Eindhoven • Tampere Operations Research: • Ankara-Bilkent • Ankara-METU • Istanbul-Bogazici • Kaiserslautern Strategic Management: • Hamburg

all universities want their students to be aware of.This can be seen as a positive note, since most graduates start working for companies that develop or produce products (either directly or in a consulting position). In that case, an understanding of ‘what is going on’ in a company is the most essential element that an Industrial Engineer would need to be able to make decisions that are beneficial for to the company’s primary process.

emphasis on the Engineering area, with relatively more attention for all types of Engineering subjects than for the Management or combined area.

One of the most visible results is that all Turkish IEM programmes, especially those offered at Ankara-Bilkent and Ankara-METU, show a certain emphasis on the Finance and Operations Research areas (Istanbul-ITU is the only exception, with more emphasis on Logistics instead of Finance). At Europe’s South-Western end, the ESTIEM member universities Sevilla in Spain and Lisbon and Porto in Portugal show an above average orientation on the Engineering area; especially Electrical and Civil Engineering seem to be emphasised.

Finally, the Scandinavian IEM programmes seem to be rather balanced. Although it is not easy to point out a specific emphasis in the Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish programmes, Helsinki seems to focus a bit less on the Management side than on the Engineering and IEMspecific areas.Tampere and Oulu emphasise the ICT and PPM subjects. Sweden seems to have balanced programmes in general, though Chalmers in Gothenburg puts accents on Technology and Innovation Management, ICT and PPM.

In France, the IEM programme at Lyon’s INSA has an emphasis on the three subjects from the combined Management/Engineering area. In Austria, especially Graz, attention seems to be distributed over the three areas rather equally; only Human Resource Management seems to receive less attention.

With the developments going on in European higher education (see the articles on page 24 and 28), universities will more and more have to start making choices in the fields of science they want to emphasise.The introduction of the two-tier system in many cases results in specialised Master’s programmes with the most exotic names.Thus, it will be interesting to keep an eye on the IEM programmes that currently do not show a distinct emphasis on a certain area or subject; will they manage to make those choices in the near future, or will they somehow try to maintain their balanced position by offering wide-ranged Master’s programmes?

Moving to Germany, it becomes harder to spot patterns of emphasis. It is certainly the country in which the earlier mentioned overall emphasis on Production Engineering is most visible; this could be related to the relatively large mechanical and automotive industries present. A similar, but less strong presence applies to Technology and Innovation Management and Logistics, where Bremen and Berlin can be noted as programmes with a clear emphasis on the latter subject. A focus on ICT can be found in Berlin, Darmstadt, Karlsruhe and Kaiserslautern. Dresden has some more attention for the Management area than the rest of Germany. Do you want to focus on a more strategic level? Go to Hamburg, where Strategic Management is emphasised as well as Production and Process Management (PPM).

The opposite can be said of the Russian IEM programme in St Petersburg, where the emphasis seems to be on the Management and IEM-specific rather than the Engineering area.

Road to Bologna: Contradictory Perceptions

Concerning the European orientation of IEM programmes, we asked the respondents to what extent the Bachelor-Master system as well as the European Credit Transfer System, together considered the most visible elements of the Bologna Process, are implemented in their programme.We did not relate this to the factual status of implementation, but were purely interested in the unanimity of answers per programme. Furthermore, we asked them to grade the support received from their In Belgium, Brussels is one of the few exceptions to the university when wanting to do part of their programme general focus on Production Engineering. Instead, they at a foreign university on a 1–5 scale. have an emphasis on Finances. In the Netherlands, Eind- What immediately attracts the attention in the respondhoven has a strong focus on Logistics and Technology and ents’ answers is their inability to give clear-cut answers.

Innovation Management, while Groningen shows a very Of the 50 represented European IEM programmes, balanced attention for all three of the main areas. only 12 managed to achieve a unified answer (“yes”, On the other side of the Channel, Cambridge has a clear “no” or “partly”) when their students were asked if their

23

programme has implemented the two mentioned elements of the Bologna Process; students from the other programmes contradicted each other in their knowledge of the implementation status at their IEM programme.

Adding to the impression that many students are unaware of the situation at their programmes is the fact that of those 12 universities, only three (Eindhoven, Groningen and Helsinki) were represented by more than three respondents and thus gave a more solid picture of the situational awareness among their students. For the other IEM programmes this does of course not necessarily mean that they are not sufficiently informing their students about the situation, it might also be caused by a lack of interest from the students’ side. Nevertheless, it should be a point of concern since the awareness among students says something about the determination with which IEM programmes themselves are proceeding on their ‘road to Bologna’…

but also in other regions, summer jobs are very popular for a short-term financial injection. Finally, Germany and Switzerland seem to be the only countries in which, at some universities, work-study programmes are relevant.

Practical Relevance

As the last part of our investigation, we wanted to know whether there is a big variety in the extent to which European IEM students are prepared for ‘the real world’ (see also the article on page 46). How many courses require the students to get in touch with companies, how many weeks of the programme are spent doing internships and what is the students’ appreciation of the practical experience gained on a 1–5 scale?

Germany is known for rules and regulations, and it immediately becomes clear that this also applies to the amount of internship weeks: during their programme, German IEM students need to spend 26 weeks in a The biggest share of European IEM students is satisfied practical situation. In spite of only a handful of courses with the support of their universities for studying abroad. requiring contact with companies, this ascertains that Most apparent is the below average appreciation of sup- all German respondents are moderately to very satisfied port in Macedonia and Serbia.The info-box on the right with the practical relevance of their programme.The also shows some evidently positive judgements.

Netherlands demonstrates a similar amount of time spent in companies, while Finland and Turkey are in the range of 10–14 weeks; this doesn’t seem to have a big Differences in Study Financing influence on the final judgement though, since students Next on the agenda: finances! First, we asked the refrom all these nationalities seem rather satisfied with the spondents if they have to pay tuition fees.The answer practical relevance. to this question was clear: at the universities in all 19 countries represented by the respondents, tuition fees have to be paid except for the ones in Germany, Norway, Except for these impressions, it is difficult to spot clear opinions related to nationalities; again, the info-box on Sweden and Finland.When asked by what means they finance their IEM studies, the respondents had the choice the right mentions a few distinct cases of above as well as between a scholarship from either a private scholarship, a below average judgements. scholarship from the government or university, a student loan (from a bank or the government), a side job (e.g.

Remember: Impressions! working in a restaurant), a work-study programme (in- Remember that the impressions offered here are only the cluding a job at university) or support from their parents. reflections of the local students’ perceptions, and by no means factual. On the other hand, who can give a better One thing becomes clear very quickly: students from all impression of studying in a certain programme than European IEM programmes receive support from their the students themselves? As we have seen, differences parents. In Turkey and Portugal however, it is clearly the between European IEM programmes and between the only source of funding. In the Scandinavian countries, ways they are experienced by students are as common The Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Macedonia, Serbia as singing the ESTIEM Song at a Council Meeting. But and Italy, students have the opportunity of receiving a should that be a concern to the organisation unifying us, government scholarship. Student loans are common in students with all these different backgrounds? As Cicero Scandinavia,The Netherlands and Russia.The imporused to say: “Varietas delectat!” He would have tance of side jobs varies strongly, but generally speaking made a great ESTIEMer…  they are by no means as important as the other methods of financing mentioned thus far. Especially in Scandinavia,

FOCUS

Studying Abroad – Appreciation of University Support

Above average: • Berlin • Brussels • Clausthal • Eindhoven • Gothenburg • Graz • Kaiserslautern • Lappeenranta • Linköping • Lyon • Paderborn • Tampere Below average: • Bitola • Novi Sad • Skopje

Practical Relevance – Appreciation of overall programme

Above average: • Bremen • Cambridge • Clausthal • Helsinki • Istanbul-Bogazici Below average: • Bitola • Braunschweig • Lisbon

FOCUS

24

Bologna Picturing the Process SEBASTIAAN FRIJLING

“What is all the fuss about this Bologna thing?

Bologna is just a nice city in the North of Italy, which boasts the oldest university in Europe.

What does it have to do with me? Leave me alone!” That could be the reaction when you ask the average student about the Bologna Declaration. But still, it is important to know what it is all about, because higher education in Europe is changing. And it is affecting all students.

The basic problem to solve is the knowledge and research gap to the USA and Japan. There are many more researchers there than in Europe, generating many more innovative ideas strengthening their economies. The governments want to create a harmonised European zone of higher education which automatically generates good ideas, which make money and create jobs.

In 1999 the Ministers of Education of several European countries agreed on several issues in the Italian city of Bologna. The most visible to students is the change from a single cycle system to a two-cycle system: the introduction of the Bachelor-Master system. Everybody in Europe should understand and

recognise each other’s academic title. This has been decided to increase the mobility of the (recently graduated) student. The student can easily follow a Master’s or can find a job elsewhere within Europe.

The employer or university knows how well-qualified the student is.

Along came a lot of other ideas to streamline this concept. The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) was introduced: credits are now comparable.

A Diploma Supplement, a written document with a short description of all of the courses the students followed, will be issued with every Bachelor’s or Master’s diploma.

To make sure nobody is cheating, extensive systems of Quality Assurance should be imposed by the government. Every few years an assessment of the quality should be made by an independent committee.

To push things further; there is a social dimension in the Bologna Process as well. Students should have adequate housing, higher education should be easily accessible independent of the income of the parents, and students should have democratic rights in the decision making process of the university

25

All countries of the European Council have now committed themselves to the Bologna Declaration.

The pace in which this is being implemented is very different in each country.

OK, so much for the “Happy Days Scenario”. It is a great thing that our ministers are so committed in creating a European zone of higher education, and increasing the mobility of every student. Furthermore, as a student you should be certain that your degree is recognised in every European country and is of high quality.

universities might turn out not too positive. However, it was clearly stated in the 2003 Berlin Communiqué that all the results of the Quality Assurance should be made public. Three years would seem to be enough time to set up a website.

One could say that these are rather short-term problems: minor mishaps when implementing a completely new system. People find it hard to change, so give them a break. But are there any structural mistakes in Bologna? It is a bit quick to draw conclusions there, but a general impression would not hurt.

Unfortunately some changes are not developing as intended. The ESIB, The National Unions of Students of Europe, are monitoring the situation constantly and are representing the students at a ministerial level. At the Convention of Bergen for the Ministers of Education in May 2005, they presented a report called “Bologna with Student Eyes”. It is elaborate in its complaints, but one can detect some main trends.

In large parts of continental Europe it was generally accepted that every student would get the equivalent of a Master’s degree, e.g. Diplom or Engineer title.

Now, it seems that people can drop out quicker. That does not raise the level of education as proposed, but makes it go down. Signals that more often men than women are following Master’s courses are very worrying.

One of the biggest problems is the curriculum reform. Universities feel nothing but hassled about Bologna, so they try to make the best of it. Some universities didn’t reform at all, but just split their programmes in two. Some universities kept the already full old programme and just added new things, not being bothered about their students’ overwhelming workload. The workload has sometimes little to do with the credits granted. Universities are suffering budget cuts, but need to do more. For example, the newly implemented accreditation system is generating such a huge amount of bureaucracy that university staff hardly has the time to create a proper reform.

Furthermore, Europe had quite some diversity in degrees. To give them all the same name doesn’t make it more transparent, but more confusing. Suddenly, practical universities’ graduates have exactly the same degree as a ‘regular’ university graduate.

This frustrates students, universities and employers alike. The Diploma Supplement that should be issued to every graduate to solve this pitfall is being implemented very slowly, and a lot of people doubt if it will help at all. This trend only makes it harder to recognise each others’ degrees.

That leads us to the second problem: the differing interpretations of the several countries committed to the Bologna Process. According to ESIB, some governments use Bologna “à la carte”; they are very enthusiastic when they can cut budgets while implementing the Bachelor-Master system, and can save money when not all students are getting a Master’s degree. But governments find it very easy to forget about the social dimensions of the Bologna process, since those aspects costs money. To make all accreditation reports public is too politically sensitive: some

FOCUS

The principles of the Bologna Process are great for all parties involved. It is great that Europe is uniting its forces to compete with the USA and Japan in the knowledge rat race. Harmonising the educational systems makes sense. Increasing the students’ mobility is a very good idea. However, a lot could be discussed on whether the chosen policies are the best way to achieve these goals. There are many problems to be solved, and there is plenty of work left to make Bologna a success after all. 

References

• Bologna with Student Eyes, ESIB, 2005 • Communique of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, Bergen, May 19-20, 2005 • Bologna Declaration, June 19, 1999

FOCUS

26

IEM Acrosss the Atlantic A Guide to Graduate Studies in the United States GAYE KIDAN

You just earned a Bachelor of Science degree, you have been working in the cruel corporate world or are undecided about what to do in future, and thinking about enrolling to a graduate study outside of Europe? Time to provide you with some basics about IEM graduate studies in the United States!

MS or ME degree is offered in many fields of engineering and applied science upon the satisfactory completion of generally a minimum of 30–35 credit points of an approved graduate study, extending over at least one academic year. Industrial (and sometimes Systems) Engineering programmes may include specialisations in • Engineering and Management Systems • Production and Operations Management First of all, keep in mind that graduate school is • Manufacturing quite different from undergraduate school. It re• Industrial Regulation Studies quires more focused and sustained work, and involves more intensive relationships with your faculty • Operations Research and other students. It also makes considerably greatTherefore it is a good start to decide in what area er demands on your personal identity, especially if you want to specialise first. Luckily, you can do you decide to study in the USA. graduation studies in different majors, as long as you convince the admission office of your eagerness to Generally speaking, graduate schools come in do so; that makes the possibilities endless. Moreothree varieties: professional schools, Master’s prover, under the same MS programme you will have a grammes, and doctoral programmes. Apart from professional programmes such as certificates, short- chance to select different options such as Engineering Management, Operations Research, Robotics term technical training and MBA programmes, a and Manufacturing, etc. While selecting the prograduate study is suitable for people who love regrammes, you may want to consider the interdiscisearch and teaching for their own sake and for the plinary programmes as well, which can provide you difference they can sometimes make in the with broader research and experience. world, not for doing further undergraduate study. Along with the potential salary increase, Since there is such a large selection of educational the MBA will add flexibility and credibility offerings, however, the quality of those offerings is to your personal portfolio. While an MBA seems a ‘ticket to success’, its originality and a vital and personal issue. That is why choices differ from person to person. The answer to “where to appeal start to fade away due to an increasing study?” involves not only the particular style of living number of MBA graduates and also the companies’ internal training. Since I have been enrolled and academically quarters, but also geography. Aside in a Master of Science programme, most of the from climate concerns, there is also the issue of ‘city info below is related to Master of Science (MS) life versus country life.’ You may want to live in an and Master of Engineering (ME) studies. The urban area, with access via public transportation to

27

the cultural opportunities of a major metropolitan region. There are many high-quality schools in remote regions of the country. Above all, learn about the academic options first, and then learn about the community in which the school is nestled; after all, the best match between “where to?” and “what to?” is the final goal. There are a lot of useful search engines and rankings, which are listed further on. If you are uncertain whether a particular school is considered ‘good’, then it’s time to ask the advice of people who are engaged in research in the field you have chosen.

But of course do not forget your own thoughts. The first step is always the difficult one, and this case is not an exception.

away. Reply to the offer with a polite acknowledgement and then stall them for a couple of weeks while you wait for other acceptances to arrive. Meanwhile, think much more seriously about the offer. Do you really want to move to that city? What is that university really like? What is that department really like?

Is it worth it or not? To be honest, this is the hardest part of the experience. If you afford and arrange a visit to the schools before or after the application, facilitates and speeds up the process and gives a big relief before you actually take the big step. Luckily, sometimes the department offers to pay for a trip.

From the financial perspective, you want to avoid paying the graduate studies fees yourself. Mostly PhD If you have made up your mind about the focus field, students are offered either fellowships or assistantships. Unfortunately it is harder to find a fellowship ask the related professors for advice. Ask them if or assistantship, at least for the first semester as a MS anybody else in town graduated from that same department or a closely related department at the same student. For MBA or certificate programmes, do not school. Find out if the people in that department care even think about it. about their graduate students; some don’t. If you can The diversity of educational programmes in the talk to the department’s existing graduate students, United States is a great strength and importance of go right ahead; graduate students don’t always have the American educational system and that makes all the facts, but they usually have clear opinions.

European students more important. While they are Filling out the application forms is tedious, especially trying to weaken the Indian and Far East majority, the the ‘Statement of Purpose’-type of documents, but it universities do promotion to recruit more European will get easier once you’ve done a couple. It is a good students. However, the biggest slice of the pie is still non-European. idea to specify the application for each programme according to the field of study. In PhD programmes, Last but not least, a graduate study is a commitment of which the outcomes are worth a lot in academical, the best way to get fully sponsored acceptance is a match between your interests and abilities and those professional and personal skills. Moreover, it is a lot of fun and a great experience to study not only about of a faculty member. On the other hand, this is not different topics but also in different places.  necessary for some other programmes, where your personal fit becomes more important. Apply to as many good graduate programmes in your area as you can. When in doubt, apply.You can always turn down unpreferable offers later on. Since we are all considered international students, applications for graduate school are typically due in December or January, so it Useful links: is best to start your research at least one year ahead.

• www.internationalstudent.com In March or April you will start getting letters of acceptance or rejection from graduate schools. Whatever you do, don’t accept the departments’ offer right

FOCUS

• www. gradschools.com • www.usnews.com • www.petersons.com • www.a2zcolleges.com/majors/industrial.html • www.gradschools.com/listings/menus/indust_eng_menu.html

Erasmus The European Union’s and Youth Bologna EEducation FOCUS

28

Mobility Toolbox

HUSEYIN BINZAT

Europe is changing and so is education. As students of Industrial Engineering and Management, we are also affected by what is happening. Taking a closer look we can observe that improvements in the education area can bring lots of opportunities for us to benefit from.

The reference point of those changes is – as described earlier in this edition – the Bologna Process, and one of the most promising existing opportunities for studentsbeings the Erasmus Programme, which provides beneficial conditions for student exchange within Europe.

for most students, and required a strong family budget. Now, Erasmus gives the student financial support and the chance to experience international education without sacrificing big amounts of money. The good thing about the Erasmus Programme is that the student is considered as a part of the education at the home university. The student continues the education as if he or she completed the academic period in the home university.

Do the different departments have different advantages in terms of Erasmus?

Although there is no difference for Erasmus between the departments of the university, there is a promisIn each country involved in the Bologna Procing chance for the students who have an obligatory ess, there are guiding organisations called National apprenticeship where these kinds of Erasmus students Agencies. Dr. Fatih Hasdemir, the president of the are able to include the apprenticeship period to their National Agency of Turkey, informed us about the Bologna Process and EU Education and related Youth Erasmus stay.

Programmes, especially the Erasmus Programme.

The Bologna Process should bring new ideas to Moreover, we will have a closer look at things from the education in Europe; how might IEM educaan Erasmus student perspective. tion be affected by the Bologna Process?

The Bologna Process, the Erasmus Programme, Just like other students, industrial engineering stuand the Youth Programme all seem to be some- dents will also have the ability to take part in the shaping of the courses they are taking. In addition how related. What is the main idea of the big to the international validation of their degrees, they picture? Where is European education being will have a wider range of employment exceeding the directed? borders of their countries and they will have more The Bologna Process and the EU Education and Youth Programmes are the two main utilities to help options to choose from. increase the mobilisation of people and ideas, which Erasmus is a programme targeted at students can create a common mindsetting across the whole and ESTIEM is a student organisation. What continent. can we do in order to provide advantages to The Bologna Process is a rather formal conven- ESTIEM within the Erasmus Programme? Would tion between countries. What does it mean for you give any advice to us?

ESTIEM should be a mediator between the local students?

The process will help the students enjoy the benefits host organisations to help the students to find a suitof a freer educational environment and make them a able place to be an Erasmus student, a European key partner of the process. It will help students to get Volunteer or an apprentice. The good news is that an internationally accepted degree and to make their the European Union has already launched a new web portal, namely PLOTEUS, to help individuals to find courses counted everywhere in Europe. a host organisation and make the iquieries they need Echange is a hot topic in Europe nowadays and to learn about the environment of the countries they want to go to. PLOTEUS can be considered as a new Erasmus is an exchange programme. What is the difference between an ‘ordinary’ exchange service which is growing bigger and we would like to see educational and training institutions, guidance within Europe and the Erasmus Programme?

Before Erasmus, international education was a dream and counsellor institutions like ESTIEM to be inte-

29

FOCUS

grated to the service by registering their own web pages prepared in one of the most common languages in Europe. The whole process of the EU Education and Youth Programmes is based on bilateral mobility, where the incoming individuals are as important as the outgoing ones. Also, you should inform your members about the recent developments on EU Education and Youth Programmes. Announce local meetings organised by the National Agency or even organise your own events.

As a student organisation, where can ESTIEM position itself? Could ESTIEM have some advantages in terms of the EU Education and Youth Programmes (especially Erasmus)?

The spectrum of the EU Education and Youth Programmes is so large that any organisation or individual somehow finds a way to benefit from it. The Youth Programme is such an opportunity for youth organisations and groups to make some difference in the environment they are living. Unlike the Erasmus Programme,Youth Programmes are mostly social activities which need a group of people to carry them out. Mainly youth groups have the chance to set up a project about anything related to their social being, including art, history, social life etc. The possibilities are nearly endless!

Dr. Fatih Hasdemir

Useful links: • http://www.exchange.estiem.org The ESTIEM Exchange Guide • http://europa.eu.int/ploteus/portal/home.jsp The PLOTEUS Programme • http://europa.eu.int/comm/youth The European Youth Programmes

Mobility from the Erasmus student perspective Which value-adding side of the Erasmus Programme attracts you the most?

Did you face educational difficulties or problems during your Erasmus Programme exchange?

What do you consider advantages and disadvantages of the Erasmus Programme?

Despina Kanavaki:

Murat Buyumez:

Tahir Ekin:

“It gives you the

“Third year stud-

“The European Union supports all administrational and financial issues. It is easier to match the courses as they are partly guaranteed.The possible disadvantage is that it is just within Europe. It would be great if we have the chance to go to Asia or America with the help of an organisation such as the United Nations.”

opportunity to meet new things.

It’s really attractive to live in a different country; you can see people’s habits. You learn new things; you become a citizen of the country.”

ies are more technical at my home university, Ankara-Bilkent. But the courses in Tampere, where I had my exchange, are more related to management. The mismatch of the courses between my home and host university was a great problem during my academic career..”

30

EVENTS

DIANA VOLL

30th October 2005 it began. The first Council Meeting ever to take place in not only one but two cities.

The Local Groups of Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe had already been connected on a personal basis before. Not only connected, but also well-experienced in organising events together; for example the K2K InnoVision and the K2K Vision of Change. So after long discussions in Istanbul we finally decided upon organising ESTIEM’s biggest event together.

And to say one thing at the very beginning: it was a great pleasure for all of us to host these fabulous ESTIEMers, all of them friendly, interested and enthusiastic about our great organisation.

Anyway, we had a lot of work to do gathering a big team to take care of accommodation, food, transportation, logistics, and the partying part, too, especially as this CM was the 15th anniversary Council Meeting of ESTIEM. But the most challenging job from the beginning was to find partners who could support us in hosting 170 participants in one of the more expensive countries of Europe. Thus we started contacting companies, applying for different kinds of grants and asking for local contributions. Well, we were successful and hereby want to thank all of our great partners again, not only for financial support, but also for your presentations and the nice presents for the welcome package.

To name them: Bosch, Microsoft and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (all members of the ESTIEM partner pool) as well as Siemens, Philips, DIN, Procter&Gamble, Deutsch Post World Net, Apple,

Brose, MLP, Heidelberger Druck, Würth, Deutsche Bahn, the city of Karlsruhe, and the “Freundeskreis der Technischen Universität Kaiserslautern”.

Another issue was to find a place where all participants would be able to stay together, and even though Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe can be officially called cities, they are quite small in comparison to the host cities of the last and fabulous CMs like Sofia, Istanbul, and Lyon. Luckily, we were able to book the hostel in Hochspeyer, although not located close to the university and the city centre of Kaiserslautern but nevertheless located in the middle of the Palatinate forest with a wonderful view. The hostel in Karlsruhe however was very close to the city centre.

The Project and Committee Leaders as well as the Board already arrived on Friday and Saturday. So after a raclette dinner with Local Group Kaiserslautern as well as a pub visit, everyone was ready to start with the Project and Committee Leader Training, while the other participants arrived.

After long thoughts we finally decided to keep the welcome party in the hostel, so everyone had the chance to do whatever suited him or her best for the first night. Talking to old and new friends, sleep early, sit around the bonfire or just have some drinks and music in the hostel’s own little bar.

The next day the official part started. Quite early in the morning special CM busses arrived at the hostel to pick up all participants and to drive them to the

K2K 31

newly built Fraunhofer Institute close to the university in Kaiserslautern. There we had the honour to have the first meeting ever taking place in this particular lecture room. After a welcome speech of the university’s Vice President Prof. Litz, the actual ESTIEM work started with the General Assembly, with company lectures of Deutsche Post World Net and Philips in between. After lunch in the university canteen all participants split up for their working groups which were located in rooms spread over the university campus.

After some short relaxation in the youth hostel, it was time to get the party started. As host city of the FIFA World Cup 2006, we decided to organise a World Cup party. Dressed up as fans, players, or some as beautiful copies of the World Cup’s mascot, we enjoyed a wonderful evening with some fresh pizza, drinks, singing and a lot of dancing.

after getting up, it was time to get our entire luggage with us to the university, where we started the day with a lecture of Bosch. Having had a lunch break with sandwiches and fruits, the Board was able to spend the time until the busses left with another General Assembly.

After a 1.5 hours trip the second city was to come. In Karlsruhe everyone was very warmly welcomed by members of Local Group Karlsruhe offering a welcome cocktail.

Later in the evening we left for Café Wien to have dinner with a pasta buffet and a wonderful “Welcome to Karlsruhe” party.

Thursday was work day again, which started with the welcome speech of the university’s president, another General Assembly and after lectures of Procter & Gamble and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants as well as lunch at the university canteen everyone continued with working groups in the afternoon.

Early Tuesday morning after breakfast the Working Groups took place again. As this day was a holiday in Later that day, Siemens as main sponsor of the XXXI. Council Meeting held a lecture followed by a typisome parts of Germany the food this time was provided by the Red Cross. In the afternoon Dr. Bahke, cal German Schnitzel dinner in a restaurant called director of German Institute for Norming DIN held a Krokodil. For those who were willing there was the presentation introducing his company and explaining opportunity to party in the Krokokeller close by, while others used the night to catch some sleep. the worthiness of norms – a subject rarely taught in university.

The next day was General Assembly day, filled with This evening activity took place in the city hall of Kaiserslautern. This building is definitely not as beau- lots of applications for the open positions and presentiful as the city halls in Vienna and Lyon, but it is the tations of Novi Sad and Kiev to be elected as observer respectively member of ESTIEM. After the voting we highest building in Kaiserslautern, and so from the bar in its 21st floor the participants had a wonderful had the opportunity to listen to a company presentation held by Apple. view over the city at night.

Then there was time for a short break before The next day was the last day in Kaiserslautern, so

EVENTS

32

What did YOU think?

Mustafa Celep, LG Famagusta:

Riikka Olkkonen, LG Lappeenranta:

Haydar Olkan Erkan, LG Istanbul-ITU:

Bernadette Hall, LG Cambridge:

“For centuries, there has been a dream of the humanity: a platform where different nations and even civilizations meet on the basis of mutual respect, tolerance and understanding, not just because of having common interests. In each minute you spend in an ESTIEM CM, you feel this dream has come true here, even with a bonus: great fun! I hope this dream lasts living with ESTIEM Spirit, forever...”

“Affecting, developing, taking part in serious working and amazing parties!

Getting to know two LG’s and cities at the same time.

Meeting again all these GREAT people. What more can I say – winner takes it all!”

“Imagine a week of doing a lot of serious and productive things next to crazy German parties, including experiencing the different purposes of a tram... At the end of a week full of sleepless nights, you feel a nice tiredness and also a nice sadness of saying goodbye to your best friends.

Until the next CM, of course!”

“For me, ESTIEM represents all that’s positive about Europe, and that’s not only about visiting a great place. It’s about the fascinating people I met, and broadening my own horizons.”

Council Meeting Facts: • 7 days = 84 hours = 5040 minutes of Council Meeting K2K • 170 participants of 21 countries and 62 Local Groups (92% at K2K) • More than 3000 sandwiches, 1500 warm meals, 400 litres of coffee, 1500 litres of water and about 1200 litres of beer • A budget of €41 300 including €23 300 covered by corporate partners • Over 20 hours of General Assemblies • Nearly 50 organisers • 10 hours of Working Groups covering the topics ESTIEM Magazine, TIMES, Summer Academy, Exchange,Vision, Development, PR, ICT, Knowledge Management, Corporate Relations and Members Committee • 7 parties: Welcome Party at the Youth hostel Hochspeyer, World Cup Party, Bar 21 at the 21st floor of the Kaiserslautern City Hall, Café Wien in Karlsruhe, Krokokeller in KA, the infamous Strabaparty and of course the Glamour Party after the Gala Dinner • Altogether: hopefully 270 satisfied ESTIEMers (including the organisers)

The Bosch lecture about Car Engine Technology

Karlsruhe’s infamous tram party started. So with about 230 people we met at Kronenplatz to enter the tram and go around Karlsruhe for four hours, dancing and making the tram jump.

On Saturday, the participants started a bit exhausted but excited about the elections. And it was exciting, after the Working Group presentation and the lecture of Microsoft, it took three voting rounds before we finally got the results.

In the late afternoon everyone was in a rush to get dressed up for the Gala Dinner… although all of us, participants and organisers were pretty exhausted we still managed to look gorgeous for the final celebration of ESTIEM’s 15th anniversary.

By now all of the 50 alumni joined the participants at the Siemens Industriepark.

After some cheers to ESTIEM with sparkling wine at the beginning, the buffet started. This was warmly interrupted by speeches of Karlsruhe’s mayor for economy and the director of the Siemens Industriepark, suc-

K2K

cessfully translated into English by Helmuth Elsner, we had the pleasure to listen to the jubilee speech of two of ESTIEM’s very first members and developers – Astrid Dings (VP of Public Relations 1991) and Martin Schimpke (President 1992) – informing us in various languages how big our association really is (from the actual number of members up to covering the whole world).

This was followed by sharing a five litre bottle of champagne, a present of ESTIEM’s first president Christoph Hagedorn, before we finally left the Siemens Industriepark to party on in Metropolis.

Sunday morning then, it was time to say goodbye, not sure whether to laugh or to cry.

We as LGs of Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe are really proud to have hosted such a great event and are very thankful for having had such friendly and interested participants. It was a great experience for all of us and we hope to gain similar experiences by organising more events and visit some of you, wherever you might be in Europe. 

33

Vision Bremen

On our second day, we visited Daimler Chrysler.

Since everybody felt a little bit sleepy from the other night we sang the ESTIEM song in front of the Daimler Chrysler building before entering.

After the lecture about Quality Management, we had the chance to sit in an SLK and then visited the assembly line. In the afternoon we went to the Universum, a hands-on science museum.

The Vision of Cycles seminar in Bremen took place during one cold week at the beginning of December and offered ESTIEMers from various countries a chance to spend one special week with us. This was Friday was the last day filled with lectures. The Bremen’s second Vision in the year 2005, as we already had a great Vision of Change first lecture was held by a university professeminar in March. sor about “Sustainability in the Metal Industry”.

The second lecture was from Kraft Foods about “Sustainability in the Coffee Life Cycle”, which During the first day, our guests arrived one by showed how important it is for Kraft Foods to one to the historic city of Bremen. The official kick-off for the seminar took place at the univer- ensure that the coffee is grown in a sustainable way. In the afternoon, we went to the planetarisity with a pizza party and getting to know each um where we investigated the life cycle of stars. other while singing a lot of ESTIEM songs and For dinner, we enjoyed some typical food from playing some games.

Bremen in a local brewery. The night we spent The next morning was the start of our academic together with visitors from Hamburg at Bremen’s world famous student club Stubu. programme, where we started off with an introduction to our Vision topic “The Industrial Ecology Way Towards Sustainability” held by our The common breakfast at a café in town was followed by a sightseeing tour, where our guests Academic Coordinator Dr. Isenmann. Thanks had to copy the “Bremen Town musicians”. In to this introduction, everyone got a good idea of the topic. The introduction was followed by a the afternoon we made cookies at a house wives’ lecture about “Perception of yourself and others club and the girls had the great chance to see the guys wearing aprons. On our last evening we in a team”, which dealt with the social aspect of went to Bremen’s Pannenkoeken Ship, where it sustainability. Our last lecture for the day was was a must to sing “On a sailing boat” or “Meidan about Biodiesel. Dr. Connemann, the owner of the patent for Biodiesel, described the interesting laivassa”. Our Vision came to an end with our final party with other IEM students from Bredevelopment of the Biodiesel industry and gave men, which was also on a ship and was the world future perspectives. premiere of the WING (IEM) Party.

In the evening, we went to the Christmas market We would like to say thank you to all of our where we enjoyed some mulled wine and the German Christmas spirit. It was then that we un- contributors and a special “thank you” goes veiled our surprise event: A great tram party! We out to our dear guests who made this Vision spent four hours partying in a tram, while being special and unforgettable. We hope to weldriven around Bremen. After the tram party, we come you again soon in Bremen!

SANDRA KARSCH

got into a regular tram where we entertained the locals by singing some ESTIEM songs.

EVENTS

EVENTS

34

Vision Kiev

ANNA KHARYTONOVA

Once upon a time in a very beautiful city, a marvellous event took place.

The 20th of September was the date when everything started. It was like a storm in the ocean which came very suddenly and passed very quickly, leaving everyone in awe of what just happened!

This is how I can describe the second Vision event organised by Local Group Kiev. Eleven students from Germany, Estonia, Poland, Serbia and Turkey were the heart of this event.

On the arrival day we organised a ‘get to know each other better’ party at the famous Art Club 44, which is located in the centre of Kiev. We became acquainted quickly and everyone was certain that we would have a great and unforgettable week together.

The next morning we woke up early and went to the university. The topic of the first lecture was ‘Product Life Cycles’. Our theme was devoted to the study of the infrastructure of life cycles of products or even whole markets. We talked about the functional setting of different financial, legal, research and auction organisations providing stage-by-stage development of a life cycle as well as simplification of the transition from one life cycle to the other.

But as all participants were young and energetic and we could not sit still for too long, so right after the lectures we went out to discover all the beauties and mysteries of ancient Kiev, the city which in the far history belonged to Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. One of the most interesting places to see is Kiev-Pecherska Lavra, a Ukrainian Orthodox monastery. It consists of a large number of churches – ancient and beautifully made – and caves connected to each other by tunnels, forming a large underground labyrinth. The caves were first used to house monks and later on as burial

Born to be Wild! places. The unique geological structure of the soil and constant temperature resulted in the natural mummification of some of the interred remains.

Later in the evening we rested a bit to prepare ourselves for a wild night. But only a bit!

The night in the Caribbean Club was unpredictable. Music in Latin style couldn’t keep anyone aside.

In the morning we got up early to visit a Ukrainian brewery. After a product test round it was time for a meal, so we went for a pizza at a cosy café on the bank of the river Dnipro. Later that day we visited another company which issues the economic journal “Expert”.

For the night we planned a paintball session; from midnight till six o’clock there were screams, guns, darkness and a lot of paint on clothes and faces… sounds terrible? No, on the contrary! Exciting!

After this game everyone lost at least two kilos!

To introduce our musical culture we were happy to organise a small surprise for our ESTIEMers.

The wildest and most famous singer of Ukraine, the winner of Eurovision contest 2004, Ruslana, prepared gifts for each of our guests, so that everyone could enjoy listening to real Ukrainian music.

The last day of our Vision welcomed us with a warm sun. It would have been a shame to waste this time indoors, so we chose the best place to spend it outdoors – the open air museum Pirohovo at the edge of Kiev. It was a barbeque goodbye party where all ESTIEMers could share the great moments they had during our Vision week with each other.

Those who stayed longer were lucky to see another city of the Ukraine – Lviv. This city is the architectural pearl of Ukraine and can be compared with the beauty of cities such as Prague.

For us, the organisers, it was an amazing week full of fun. We want to thank all the participants and we truly hope our guests enjoyed their stay as much as we did!

35

Activity Week Eindhoven Interactie’s 10th Birthday

Our first participant arrived on Sunday morning at eleven o’clock. The week started officially with a high calorie dinner (French fries and snacks).

Afterwards, we enjoyed a drink and some traditional Dutch games like ‘koekenhappen’ (eating cakes attached to a string) and ‘beschuitje fluiten’ (eating a dry biscuit and then trying to whistle).

Monday was devoted to Eindhoven. First we taught the ESTIEMers some Dutch in a language workshop. After that they got to see the City Hall, enjoy a lunch there and explore the centre of the city in a city tour. The evening was filled with a dinner walk: every course had to be eaten at another place. After that we played pool. We hit the sack quite early, since we had to leave at seven o’clock by bus to IJmuiden the next morning.

In IJmuiden we visited Corus, a company specialised in producing steel. Next were the typically Dutch cities Zaandam en Volendam. We watched how wooden shoes and cheese are made (and bought some), saw lots of windmills and made some photos in traditional Dutch clothes. Valentines Day wasn’t forgotten and was celebrated at night with heart-shaped balloons, roses and dancing on the bar.

Wednesday was relatively less intense than Tuesday. We went ice-skating, ate pancakes and joined an international debate with different topics, varying from academic to political subjects.

Thursday was devoted to company visits. First up was DAF Trucks, after which we visited beer brewer Bavaria. Fortunately we were able to get a close look at the production process. The evening kicked off with a ‘cantus’, a traditional singing event which also involves some drinking. Many participants will not forget this evening and for the ones who did forget, you can check the photos on the ESTIEM Portal! The night ended in the centre where it was a typical student night to go out until four o’clock.

Just for once, partying until late in the night also meant getting up late. After a brunch, participants got the chance to go swimming and prepare for the closure of the week: the gala dinner. That evening ESTIEMers showed themselves in neat outfits and costumes, and Interactie celebrated its 10th anniversary with a great cake.

And what about the weather during the week? It snowed, rained, the sun was shining and it was often cold, all within one day. But this didn’t break our morale, because our Local Group, the 33 participants and everyone else who helped with the Activity Week had a great time!

After the week a lot of participants took a few days to visit Amsterdam, Rotterdam or even go to Germany and Belgium.

Altogether, the event was an enormous success. Make sure to join in the next time LG Eindhoven invites all ESTIEMers; it's guaranteed that you will have a blast!

SARMAD YOUSIF

Every once in a while the Local Group of ESTIEM in Eindhoven, named ‘Interactie’, organises a successful Activity Week. As the name says, this week is full of activities in and outside Eindhoven. This year the Activity Week took place February 12–16. Of course the programme was filled with entertaining and academic activities.

EVENTS

TIMES Final 2006

36

Final Week of the European Business Case Competition

Tournament in Management and Engineering Skills

OLIVIER ZIMMER

As every year, the Final Week of the TIMES Business Competition is one of suspense and challenge – which team would go on to share the prestigious title of ‘IEM Students of the Year 2006’? Who would handle the three cases the most skilfully?

The winning teams from the six Semi-Finals Cambridge, Gothenburg, Istanbul,Warsaw, Berlin and Lyon and thus the last ones remaining out of the initial 250 Europewide finally all gathered on Belgian soil.Three case days, with each case supplied by a corporate partner, were planned for the week, as well as some recreational activities. During the first three days the finalists were able to enjoy the fresh air of the Ardennes forests while staying in the little village of Villers-Sainte-Gertrude (67 inhabitants). In this peaceful and quiet environment participants solved the first two case studies; the first case study tackling the issue of global branding in electronic goods, while the second looked at restructuring strategies, both judged by juries made up of corporate managers and professors. Social activities included the opportunity to refresh one’s mind by tasting freshly brewed Belgian beer

and taking part in uncommon outdoor activities, even in the middle of the night!

On Wednesday all TIMES participants went to Brussels by train to finish the Final in the lively city, where the arrival was celebrated by a bar evening. During the following day the participants had the opportunity to spend more visiting time in the capital of Europe, passing by cultural sites like the Atomium, the European Parliament, and the Manneken Piss, respectively the symbols of TIMES 2006, Europe, and Brussels. Finally, the third and final case study was solved on the campus of the ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and addressed an issue of Brazil’s economy. And the winner would take it all, but only after a balanced performance on all three case days…

On their last night in Brussels, the participants ate the most typical Belgian dish: mussels, beer and French fries (which are Belgian in reality!). And the night finished clubbing in the city, before everyone would bid farewell after a challenging and enjoyable week. 

37 37

TIMES Semi-Final Istanbul-ITU

To be leading the organisation of a Semi-Final after almost two years of desperately wanting to be a part of the organisation of any phase, and to garner the satisfaction and content from both participants and sponsors was my biggest goal.

Organising the Semi-Final is not as easy as it seems. It is somewhat of a daunting task to ensure that the participants, who perhaps will be seeing Istanbul or even Turkey for the first time, walk away from their experience satisfied from both an academic and a social viewpoint. It is important to introduce Istanbul as an intellectually stimulating city, as well as a city that is filled with exciting social activities to enjoy.

Knowing this, we began work with our strong staff, because there was a lot of work to be done.

We had to find partners or sponsors, plan a realistic budget and put it into play, find housing, as well as localities for parties and establish good coordination between all participants. Basically, everything from A to Z, including strict attention to detail in order to bring all ideas into reality.

Consequentially, there was no room for problems or delays to emerge.

Ultimately, the date arrived that culminated our difficult journey – the 5th of February, 2006.

I say it was a difficult journey because there were two things that precisely made it so. During the week of the organisation, perhaps in Turkey’s history, the most intense snow and cold descended upon Istanbul. It is possible to include this as a third difficulty, but we accepted it and took it as a blessing of God. After all, there is no one who can deny that the child within all of us is quite fond of snow... Digressing, I can begin to explain the most important of our two difficulties – finding sponsors. Up until the final phase, we didn’t get a positive answer from a single company.

But to my surprise, Danone Turkey came to our aid with urgency and explained to us that they would support us to the point where we could be considered whole and sound. After hearing this news, my team members and I, whose ambitions and spirits were broken because of our struggle with sponsorship or the lack there of, now felt reborn. Even more so now, we felt much stronger and proceeded onward. Later on, a small business named Lojitek also became one of our sponsors, thereby increasing our budget.

After all, as you can imagine, it was with all of this positivity that we completed our project. I can speak for myself and for my team when I say that I had the most incredible time. It is because of this that I want to thank a thousand times those who helped us in every way and enabled us to be so successful with this organisation, Local Responsible Deniz Aslan, the TIMES Semi-Final organisation team, and finally Danone Turkey and Lojitek who supported us with their sponsorship.

I hope that all participants had a good of a time as we did and that their experience was at the same time academic and sociable! �

GUVEN DALGIC

Everyone was confident that Istanbul Technical University would be one of the locations chosen because our 2004 Council Meeting organisation passed with great success. When our friends returned from the Council Meeting in Lyon, they quickly gave us the good news: ITU would be one of the chosen schools where one of the most significant phases of the TIMES 2006 Project, the Semi-Final, would be organised.

And from this point on, it was my turn...

EVENTS

38

PROFESSIONAL

Brose: Making Things

ACHIM OETTINGER Human Resources

You can not see them, you can barely hear them, but you certainly use them: systems for vehicle doors and seats. If something in one of these vehicle areas moves well and reliably, Brose is often involved. Over 40 automobile brands and seat manufacturers rely on the automotive supplier’s expertise. Ongoing innovations and consistent market orientation keep Brose in the forefront of the international automotive suppliers in these market segments.

The times when windows or vehicle seats had to be tediously adjusted manually are long past (incidentally, Brose introduced the manual window regulator to the European market in 1928).

In 1963, the company brought the first power window regulator to the market. 75 years of experience have made Brose the worldwide technological and market leader in this segment.

Around 8 900 employees are developing and producing components at

Happen

nearly 40 locations worldwide. The founding location in Coburg, Germany has meanwhile been joined by five sales and development offices across the globe, strengthening and accelerating the company’s international activities with special emphasis on the American and Asian markets. This worldwide production, development and sales network enables the necessary proximity to the customer and strengthens the international market presence. To remain well-positioned globally, Brose will continue to expand its international activities.

Those who do not look for tomorrow’s solutions today find themselves at a disadvantage in international competition. For this reason, around 1 000 employees worldwide at Brose work on the development of innovative products and manufacturing methods with cutting-edge organisational and communications systems. These systems allow employees to solve problems quickly and assuredly, working on projects in a team regardless of time zones and geographical boundaries.

In order to be successful with intelligent systems for doors and seats, a consistent and unconventional Human Resources policy is indispensable.

At Brose, qualifications and personality are more important than age; employees are distinguished by knowledge, know-how and the willingness to explore new paths.

Individual orientation plans, continuing education courses and special training programmes for young professionals make a quick, smooth start possible. Variable working times, an attractive benefits package and result-oriented remuneration are important components of the new Brose

39

In Coburg, Germany, the Human Resources Recruiting department is the central function for filling all vacant positions worldwide. Regardless of where you would like to work for Brose, your application can be sent to the central department in Coburg. In doing so, you can either look for posted positions under www.brose.net or simply Interesting Career Opportunities To continue its expansive business development, send your application to the Human Resources Brose will also be hiring over 200 new salaried department for review. In addition to a cover letemployees in 2006. In many areas, industrial ter, resume and references, an application should engineers are in particular demand: working, for contain information about the departments and example, in Controlling, Purchasing, Sales, Indus- locations that would be of interest to the applitrial Engineering, Quality or Logistics. cant.In general, approved candidates can typically expect two interviews with Human Resources Successful applicants offer more than an aboveand the functional department. average degree and initial on-the-job experience; bringing not only the technical qualifications If you are interested in technology and looking to the job, but the personal skills as well. These for international opportunities, you will find that include willingness to perform, international Brose offers a multitude of positions and developorientation, flexibility and mobility as well as ment prospects only possible with an indepenteam-working and communicative abilities. dent, decisive, successful company.  Organisational Model. They make the family company Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG what it is today – an organisation distinguished by multiple awards, not just for Human Resources policy.

40

STEEL

MAURICE RAVEN

If you read the newspapers, or watch the news anywhere in the world you cannot have missed the big changes that are currently taking place in the steel industry. The world is changing from a once-considered conservative national industry into a worldwide industry in which mergers and acquisitions are frequently covering front pages in (financial) news papers.

Let me take you from the macro-drivers in the industry into my day-to-day work.

going strong!

The China-factor Saying China is a growing economy is an understatement and kicking in a door that could not be more open. For the steel industry this means an increasing demand for construction steel, automotive steel, and basically for any kind of steel you can imagine. The capacity to produce steel in China has seen a drastic growth. Do not blink your eyes when standing in front of a green field; before you even realise it, a new steel plant will have been built.

The Steel Industry Historically a lot of countries have been operating their own steel-industry, in many cases state-owned.

This means that there are hundreds of relatively small companies throughout the world. The first (more or less) successfull mergers in the industry have been taking place in the nineties. But those mergers on the supply side and on the customer side were faster, so the steel industry stayed in the price-squeeze. The development in China was very progressive, so the demand for iron ore also went The Supply Side The main ingredient to produce steel is iron ore and sky-rocketing. Mainly in the last two years, the steel industry has been facing price-increases of 70 to the biggest resources can be found in Australia and Brazil. Other resources are in India, Canada, South- 100%. This has brought the fragile position of the Africa, Norway, Venezuela and some other countries. industry again to daylight. Luckily the sales prices went up to levels never seen before and this gave a During the last few years mining companies have been merging to a current status in which 3 compa- lot of companies the possibility to improve their balnies cover approximately 70% of the world market. ance sheet and cash position.

Those three co-own some companies as well.

More and more companies are sharing the vision that in order to stay strong and increase market power, The Customer Side more mergers are needed. The last year quite some The automotive industry has been consolidating acquisitions in Eastern Europe and in Turkey have rapidly during the last years. The Fords, GMs and taken place. Relatively young and shocking news is Volkswagens of this world have become huge players. One of the drivers to merge into big conglom- that the biggest producer in the world is trying to buy the second biggest by means of a hostile takeerates is to create buying power. over. If this acquisition succeeds, the company will have about 10% of world production in hands.

The Macro-level If you look to a simplified version of the supply chain of steel production, you will find mining companies in iron ore and metallurgical coal on the supply side, steel producers in the middle and automotive and construction markets on the customer side.

In this chain three main developments can be characterised. The stongly consolidated supply market, the customer market and the well known China-factor.

41

The Micro-level: What do you do as an Industrial Engineer?

Having interest in supply chain management, logistics and change management in an international environment I started three years ago as a logistics consultant at Corus.

I have been involved in developing (mainly internal) business cases that have lead to investments of several millions and of course some significant savings in the supply chain. There are no business cases without clear savings in the steel industry. Next to that, I have been involved in implementing IT-systems, and developing warehousing and distribution contracts. Currently I have moved to a more general project management role in which logistics is the minor driver. I am dealing with environmental issues, have been enhancing my chemical and technological knowledge and my project management skills.

My IEM-background is helping me to deal with several specialists and to translate lots of conflicting wishes into general accepted ideas, focused on implementation. I consider it to be very challenging to work with all levels in the organisation and to get things done. Talking to tattood harbour operators and to higher management requires quite some different skills and flexibility. Getting things done in a 24/7 operation with all levels of the organisation is the goal.

My ESTIEM-background started in 1999 when I was recruited in Eindhoven to organise the Council Meeting.

The first ESTIEM-event I visited was the CM in Ilmenau and since then I have been singing the song all over Europe, participated in several Council Meetings in different roles, activity weekends etc. Currently I am putting time in ESTIEM alumni, which is great fun. The so-called virus is still alive!

PROFESSIONAL

PROFESSIONAL

42

INTERVIEW

Professor Ibrahim Kavrakoglu might well be the IEM graduate with the most diverse career of all. We met him in Istanbul and talked about his extraordinary career path, his drive and his perspective on the field of Industrial Engineering and Management.

PINAR ALTINKESER

Could you introduce yourself briefly?

I started my career as a mechanical engineer and did my PhD in aerodynamics, and then started teaching at Robert College which is now Boğaziçi University.

Later on I went as a visiting professor to Stanford University where I taught Mechanical Engineering and set up the Aero-acoustics Laboratory. A turning point came in 1983 when oil prices increased by 400%. This caused me to look at the world from a different perspective. I started studying economics and tried to understand how economics and the energy markets influenced the economy.

of higher growth rate and stability. This resulted in the Mass Housing Project, which was soon turned into a law. The Mass Housing Project eventually became the largest project in the history of the Turkish Republic.

After that I concentrated on the industrial sector of Turkey. I was asked to restructure the Turkish Glass Corporation. I worked on a part-time basis at Boğaziçi University and was devoted to restructuring the Turkish Glass Corporation. This took almost seven years. We had a big increase in exports, essentially through technology and quality improvements.

I continued my research when I came back to Turkey It was in 1984 that I started the “Turkish Quality and started developing plans for the Turkish economy. Movement”, founding later the “Turkish Society for I was the director of the Energy PlanQuality”. At the time, globalisation was taking place ning Project of Turkey which made and Turkey was highly involved in the globalisation me an expert in energy planning. process. Quality, as well as productivity and technoIn 1981 I accepted a post at the logy, became one of the major factors. After that I University of California Berkeley devoted a lot of time to restructuring corporations in as a visiting professor, this time Turkey. Since then, together with my colleagues at for economics, and continued my Kavrakoğlu Management Institute, we have consulted work on the Turkish Economy. more than 250 companies in Turkey to make them When I came back, I was asked to more competitive, improve their productivity and develop a project to jump start the quality and globalise their businesses.

Turkish economy to a level Your academic and professional life sets a really interesting example for IEM students; it’s not that common to be active in so many different fields. Why did you choose to move between all these positions? What was your drive?

My main objective in all these endeavors was to have a big impact on the Turkish economy. Of course, as an engineer, I had only a limited influence on the economy but as a major project director in energy, economy itself and later on in the various industry sectors, I believe I achieved my objective.

43

What are the main advantages and disadvantages of this diversity of working after your IEM studies? Does diversity cause loss of motivation in your job?

I would say that I did not plan this ahead of time; in other words, I did not say “Let me diversify myself!”

It turned out as a consequence of my objectives.

Later, when I looked back at my career, I have found it extremely useful. Especially as an engineer, with an engineering background, with the tools of mathematics and analysis, and the ability to model even very large and complex systems, I could easily go into various fields, but each time one has to learn the subject. Each of these took many years of intensive study, but none of the information was wasted; it all supported each other. So, rather than demotivate, I think it has motivated me immensely.

And even so, one can not be a very successful academic if one stays just purely theoretical in this respect because it is a practical subject. I strongly recommend any person to actively learn certain disciplines (this could be marketing, it could be finance, it could be macro-economics, it could be planning, etc.) to combine the knowledge, theoretical or conceptual aspects of IEM, with the practical knowledge of actual systems in the world.

What do you advise IEM students to do during their studies?

I would say, if one has a long term vision, one can start focusing on a particular discipline even from the end of the first year, to direct their internships, or work experiences in these practical areas. Moreover, there is an enormous amount of information available today, because of the internet. If one does not get foWhat did you like about working as an academ- cused on one or two specific subjects, one can easily ic compared to as a professional and vice versa? get lost in this flow or flood of information.

I must say I enjoyed both and I still do. I am the founYou have lots of different interests other than der of Kavrakoğlu Management Institute, where we your main field, like aviation, tennis, golf, cars do research and teaching as well as consulting and and sailing. Do you have enough time for all actively engaging entrepreneurial real activities. We these and do you think they affect your motivaparticipate very actively and intensely in restructution for work? ring, redesigning and improving corporations. This Actually, I did not carry out these activities all at the is very rewarding work. But at the same time we do same time. At one point of my life I was interested research and turn this research into an educational activity in the form of our MBA programmes. By the in sailing, another time it was tennis, etc. I believe they added considerably to the enrichment of my life way, we have now three MBA programmes, one on because with every activity that you undertake, you leadership, another on business management, and meet a lot of interesting people. That way, I have deanother on project management. veloped a large circle of friends with different interests and I learned quite a lot from them. In fact, some Considering the developments in the world, of these activities even improved my professional how do you see IEM now and in the future? career.  What are the career alternatives for an IEM graduate in Europe?

I have always considered IEM as a very significant subject of study. The concept of optimisation and modeling large, complex, interactive, dynamic systems has been extremely rewarding. Therefore, I can say that IEM is probably the best career that one can have. But I must caution: a lot of the work in IEM is so-called theoretical work. If one stays at the theoretical level, there is no alternative but to become an academic.

PROFESSIONAL

PROFESSIONAL

44

Workshop

Bosch OZAN EFE ERTEM

Robert Bosch GmbH, or simply Bosch as the world has come to know it, is a long standing partner of ESTIEM and the Workshop that took place in Reutlingen, Germany on the 5th and 6th of December 2005 showed once again why.

Ever played ‘blitz chess’? Well, try ‘blitz case’. This was the pleasant surprise the participants of the Bosch Workshop got this year. 26 ESTIEMers arrived on the 5th of December to Reutlingen where one of the main production centres for Bosch Automotive Electronics is located. The official workshop started in the afternoon with presentations about Bosch, the Automotive Electronics, and new technologies in the field. In an interesting twist, the information in the presentations was required to play a crucial part in the case of the next day.

After this introduction we were invited to dinner.

Of course, it was unthinkable not to stop at the local Christmas market and sip some ‘glühwein’ on our way there. The dinner was an excellent occasion to meet representatives from Bosch. The number of Bosch representatives once again illustrated the importance Bosch places on this event in cooperation with ESTIEM. After this pleasant dinner, determined to work hard and play hard as real ESTIEMers do, we made our way to the final stop where we could enjoy some drinks and continue our conversations.

Before I can properly describe the next day, I must tell you a bit about blitz chess. Blitz chess, meaning ‘lightning chess’ in German, gives both players five minutes on the clock and requires that the game be finished in 10 minutes or the first player to run out of time looses. It is a frantic version of original

2005

chess which requires everything that a normal chess game requires (analysis, foresight, strategy) but also demands quick thinking, improvisation and not loosing the overview among all the rush. Blitz case was pretty much the same. With a case divided into four parts, where each part built up on the previous and only 40 minutes given to analyze, conclude and prepare presentations for each part, it was definitely a new experience.

Once the case was over and before we got to hear feedback from the Bosch side we got a chance to see the factory floor where the cutting edge of technology is utilised. Indeed, it was an impressive tour involving clean labs where wafers are produced, the assembly operations and machines where all circuits are made out of gold.

Nevertheless, once all case results were presented, feedback exchanged and the day concluded, the general talk, even at the train stations, was that while the case method was out of the ordinary, it was very realistic and well-structured. The two days definitely proved to be a welcome insight into Bosch, employment opportunities and the Bosch style of tackling problems.

The Bosch ESTIEM Workshop will be held again this year around the same time of the year. If you feel like challenging the blitz case or whatever our innovative partner may prepare for us this year, be sure to check your email for an invitation and apply!

45

PROFESSIONAL

IEM Engineercan Enjoy Life and Save the World?

How an

who enter an emerging industry at the beginning of the growth phase will be almost automatically promoted and those entering the scene in later phase will be competing against the equally smart but more experienced.

The capability to piece together the big picture should make IEM engineers more creative and capable to spot business opportunities that rise from university research, technology development and market dynamics. Innovation doesn’t need to be more complicated than to realise that project management tools can be applied beyond the pyramid building industry. A good and more recent example is a successful Finnish start-up that applies IEM disciplines in increasing the efficiency of the public health care system.

An additional benefit from the boring lectures would be to teach patience for the reckless souls – the character trait that is often undervalued by the young and energetic, but very much needed in professional life.

Of course this is just an unrealistic suggestion, but one cannot deny that in some cases changes are desireable. Together with the sense of humor, patience is an important ingredient in the art of communication and relationship building. Patience may also be nurtured out of classrooms, while working in international group works or even outside professional life, e.g. when raising kids.

Entering an emerging industry is possible through joining an existing company or through starting one of your own. Not many IEM students start up their own enterprises (a big chapeau for those exceptions). One good and hopefully true explanation is that many of the most successful companies have been started up only after serious experience gatherUnderstanding the big picture is valuable, but most ing financed by existing corporations. However, in of the job opportunities are typically tailored for specialists. There are many specialist positions in the the US there are many notable companies started up by university dropouts. What should be improved in corporate world that fit well to IEM background, European IEM education to make the same happen e.g. project management or product management. in Europe? Maybe the lectures could be made more However, the best careers are probably not started in these easy-to-fit positions, but in finance, sales and boring to get the energetic young people to dedicate their energy for new ventures. small enterprises.

Graduating students typically find positions in emerging industries. This is because by definition emerging industries grow and more people are consequently employed. On the other hand in the non-emerging industries the productivity growth is typically higher than the market growth and the employment opportunities are less in numbers. Those

So how this all relates in good life and saving the world? Maybe not that much, but often the good questions are worth considering even without good answers. And as a former ski jumper Matti Nykänen has put it “Life is the best time you’ll ever have”.

Even some may argue that it is “the student life”.  The author Kai Kronström graduated in 1997 from the Tampere University of Technology, got a job in an emerging industry.

Currently he acts as a Director in a small software venture in Finland. Participating in several group works still left room for improvement patience-wise, so he started a family.

KAI KRONSTRÖM

Engineers with an Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) background tend to be generalists by nature. Their education contains some pure IEM sciences, e.g. Supply Chain Management to specialise in, but most of the education is a mixture of various disciplines borrowed from business schools and other engineering disciplines. This kind of approach should provide IEM engineer’s with an ability to see the forest from the trees, i.e. the big picture.

PROFESSIONAL

46

Out in the Real World JENS-PETER SCHULZ

From university straight into an international management consultancy is a typical career path for many IEM graduates – but does the IEM major really prepare oneself for “the real world”?

On my first day as a consultant, an ESTIEM alumnus told me “Build a market model, you know Excel, right?” I felt like being thrown into cold water and was drowning immediately. But then I remembered what I learned during my studies: I structured the problem using tools I had learned.

When I look back after six years at Arkwright, an international top-management consultancy with offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Hamburg and Zurich, I would say that IEM was the perfect course of studies. It is not about the topics themselves, it is more about understanding problems in a short amount of time, structuring them and getting useful answers. During the studies I had a class in law and the next class was about forging. I learned to switch between topics easily, master huge amounts of data and structure them in order to get to a result.

In addition, I am able to understand the technical problems the client describes and link them to the economic necessities. I would never be able to compete with a rocket scientist on his work, but I think I will at least be able to listen and understand what his problem is and be a valuable sparring partner for him.

Relation Work/Study Arkwright is a role model for an IEM driven company: roughly, a third of our consultants have an ESTIEM background including two presidents and more than 75% have studied IEM. Today we are still in close contact with ESTIEM. Several students wrote their Master’s thesis (Diplomarbeit), did an internship, or worked as

part time staff on real client cases. Furthermore we worked together with local ESTIEMers in several countries to gather specific information like the development of the wheelchair market in Poland or size of the scrap market for lithographic sheets in Italy.

In my opinion this is a very good combination for students to get to know the working environment and for us to see what is happening at the forefront of science. We get fresh ideas within certain topics and are also able to meet possible recruits.

Improvement Areas Having been out of university for six years, it is hard to judge which areas of improvement could be targeted at university level. From my personal experience, a “learning by doing” approach (e.g. via case-studies in class or in competitions such as TIMES) was always more appealing to me than being lectured in class. In case solving, you sometimes need to combine the knowledge you have from macroeconomics with law, microeconomics and production knowledge. Therefore I think case based learning reflects more the real than the ideal (theoretical) world and helps to prepare thinking in interdisciplinary ways.

From the professionals’ point of view, international exchanges (through university exchanges as well as internships) and the exchange between students and alumni are very important and should be a focus of attention in the future.

Demands from Business From potential applicants we expect an international background as well as good grades. But more important is the person seeking a job. During the recruiting interviews I always have one question in my back head: “Will I be able to work with this person the whole day under time pressure, deliver outstanding results in due time and afterwards drink a relaxing beer together?” 

Poetic

47

as the

INSIDE ESTIEM

Portuguese?

Portuguese are natural born adventurers At least, that’s what one would expect when reading the history books. After all, explorers like Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan had the Portuguese nationality, and some historicians claim that even Christopher Columbus was born in Portugal. Statistically speaking, Portuguese can be considered quite fond of settling abroad. While there are 10 million Portuguese living within the borders of their own country, France as well as South-Africa have about one million Portuguese immigrants. Also, one third of the population of Luxemburg consists of Portuguese, while about 35 million people in the former Portuguese colony Brasil have a recent Portuguese background.

Portuguese are improvisers While Germans are generally considered tight planners, some Portuguese strongly believe improvisation is an important part of their culture. Though it is rarely used in the Portuguese language, the word ‘Desenrascanço’ (loosely translated as ‘disentanglement’) can be explained as “the ability to solve a problem without the adequate tools or proper technique to do so, and by use of sometimes imaginative resourcefulness when facing new situations.” This would be achieved when resulting in a hypothetical good-enough solution. ‘Desenrascanço’ is in fact the opposite of planning: it’s managing that any problem does not get completely out of hand and beyond solution.

Portuguese are poetic Well, if you open a Portuguese phone book on a

random page, you cannot deny that Portuguese names often seem pure poetry. Luís de Camões and Fernando Pessoa are the most famous names in Portugal’s rich poetic history. Poetry is even said to have a bigger influence in the country’s literature than prose. But not only did Portugal bring forward some experts in rhythm and rhyme in previous centuries, José Saramago’s 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature is an illustration of the high level of modern Portuguese narrative art.

Portuguese are the worst drivers in Europe Perhaps this statement seems a bit blunt at first sight, but when looking at the facts one can do no other but confirm it. Portuguese drivers hold the sad world record for killing pedestrians in crossings. According to a study by EuroRAP, with 21 deaths on the road for every 100.000 inhabitants, chances of dying in traffic in Portugal are three times bigger than in Europe’s safest countries like Sweden, Holland and the United Kingdom.

The government is trying to fight these statistics by acting tougher against speeding and alcohol in traffic, but for now it’s better to keep your eyes wide open when crossing Portguese streets.

RENÉ HEUNEN

What is the first thing that pops up in your mind when someone mentions the country of Portugal? Sunny beaches? Football players? Southern temperament? Or something completely different? We’ll take a closer look at the country and its inhabitants by commenting on a few statements...

Facts: • The capital of Portugal was moved to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (at the time a Portuguese colony) from 1807 to 1821 while Portugal was fighting the Napoleonic wars • With Cabo da Roca, Portugal houses the westernmost point in continental Europe • The statue of Christ in Lisbon exactly faces the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro • Besides with their hearts, Portuguese also live with their stomaches; good food and of course the famous wine are enormously appreciated • Luckily, Portugal is the home of the largest cork tree in the world, averaging over one ton of raw cork per harvest (enough to cork 100.000 bottles)

Portuguese live with their hearts Sentiments do play a very important role in the life of the Portuguese. Tolerance and acceptance of different cultures was already a part of the early Portuguese colonial policy, and offspring resulting from colonial relationships was treated as family. Still today, a strong sense of responsibility towards their family illustrates the Portuguese preference for guidance by feelings. Some even mention an intuitive distrust of the intellectual, especially the hypercritical.

Another supportive illustration for this statement is the Portuguese ‘fado’, a popular form of melancholic music, which is strongly linked to ‘saudade’, the feeling of missing someone or something. Perhaps it’s time for a fado-version of the ESTIEM song...?

Cupre ltural Judice

References: • PortCult.com – The Portuguese Culture Web • EuroRAP.org – The European Road Assesment Programme • The Wikipedia Encyclopedia • Several Portuguese ESTIEMers

INSIDE ESTIEM

• Stockholm is the singles capital of the world, with the most single-person households than any other capital on the planet • Stockholm is built on 14 islands connected by 57 bridges • One third of the city area consists of its 37 parks, one third is water and the remaining third is taken up by urbanised areas • Stockholm is the only capital in the world that permits hot-air balloons to fly over it

ELINA ANDERSSON

Facts:

48

So What’s Happening In….

Stockholm: maybe the most beautiful capital in the world? Stockholm is the city of contrast – land and water, history and future, small town and big city, short winter days and long summer days. The IEM-studies at KTH in Stockholm have been going on since 1991 and thereby will celebrate the 15th anniversary this spring!

The Stockholm Local Group is not famous for being very active on the European level of ESTIEM. A reason for that may be the organisation of our Local Group that, as far as I have heard is different from most of the other Local Groups. Our Local Group is called the International Group and except for working with ESTIEM it also takes responsibility for the exchange students who are spending a semester or year with us.

Unfortunately, ESTIEM has been somewhat neglected because our main mission has been integrating the foreign students in the activities of KTH and “I-sektionen”. The first step in the integration is arranging mentors to all the exchange students. This autumn we had over 70 exchange students coming, and we found mentors for all of them! Further steps in the integration process were among others: inviting the exchange students to parties and other events of the “Nollning” which is the introduction of the new

Swedish students, arranging picnics, dinners, and a “Cosy Christmas Evening”.

Though we have not been very active in ESTIEM on European level we have arranged some events.

For example, last year we arranged Vision together with Local Group Tallinn. Our latest ESTIEM event was the TIMES Local Qualification in January. The event was surprisingly popular, teams where queuing to take part in the competition.

McKinsey was our sponsor and made it possible for us to make the day something extra. Before the presentation of the cases we invited other students to a case solving-seminar with McKinsey. It was very appreciated by the students and helped us entice some extra audience to the casepresentation. The evening was rounded up with a three-course dinner and a prize award at a cosy restaurant on the campus.

In Stockholm we hope for a more active Local Group in the future. We have over 50 people in our Local Group of which over ten are active on the local level. We know that here is an interest for international activities. From my own experience, I know that ESTIEM is something you have to experience yourself to get a grip of. The question is; how do we get people to travel and take a part of ESTIEM events to discover what they are missing out?

49

ESTIEMers Beyond Europe The American Dream?

Have you considered exchange studies in the US? Perhaps you’re scared of the land of endless abnormities? Then I might be able to give some advice from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

I have traveled to Houghton, Michigan to spend the spring semester at Michigan Technological University (MTU). This small Northern-American city was in the heart of the great copper mining boom in the mid-1800s and this was also the base for the founding of MTU. The university has retained it’s technical profile, and operates also as a school of army.

have to cook a single meal yourself, but it will be served in the restaurant of your residence hall.

After one month eating only pizza, hamburgers and fried food, you’ll get quite sick of it.

According to the lack of alcohol related events for underage students in the weekends, there’s a need for other activities. This is a great benefit from studying in America, there’s a lot to do in your spare time and it won’t ruin your economy.

A few weeks ago, we went to a hypnose and comedy show in the entertainment arena, and later on we went shooting on the rifle range. Every week there are sport events like basketball, icehockey and volleyball.Yesterday we broke the world record in snowball fighting; approximately 4 000 people took part!

Luckily, I and my Swedish room-mate turn out to be of legal drinking age, and that means we can go to the party’s arranged by the fraternities. The Let me first introduce you to my previous preju- fraternities and sororities have their own huge houses, furnished for partying purposes. If you’ve dices of Americans. At first, they think cars are built to consume gas, not to convey people. And expected a party like the ones you’ve seen in the movies, you won’t get disappointed. Friendly if the car doesn’t have a 4WD transmission, you people, great atmosphere and free beer will be a can’t even call it a car. Vegetables are grown to feed your pets, and milk serves the single purpose short description. of producing cheese. Churches are equal to entertainment centres, and if the priest doesn’t own Concerning studies, my impressions are all good even though my efforts had to be increased a bit. a shotgun, he’s probably no real priest.

I’m having four parallel business courses during the entire semester. The method of examination is So, after more than one month in this country, a bit different from what I am used to. Everyweek have my prejudices been confirmed? Well, I can quizzes and homework in all courses is common, just tell you what I have seen so far. even what you say during class counts in the end.

But to be honest, the professors are all kind in Indeed, this country is different from Sweden in grading. To sum it up, I can admit that the quality many ways. What first comes to my mind is the guardianship of young people. The general opin- of education feels more professional compared to Luleå. ion seems to be that you’re not enough grown up to drink alcohol until the legal age of 21, and most of the students are younger than that. When So now it’s up to you to consider whether to give you’re living in the “residence halls” it’s compul- it a chance. My advice is; do it! This country has sory to have a “meal-plan”. This means you don’t great opportunities for you. 

DANIEL JONSSON

One of the most interesting characteristics of ESTIEMers is that they tend to travel.

Quite often, their adventures are not only limited to European soil... This time Luleå’s Daniel Jonsson talks about his experiences while studying in the United States.

INSIDE ESTIEM

AGENDA

50

Check the latest updated event information at www.estiem.org and register for your favourite

20 06 events through the ESTIEM portal. See you somewhere in Europe!

APRIL

18 – 23 Apr 32nd ESTIEM Council Meeting | Porto 23 – 27 Apr Vision of Cycles Seminar | Ilmenau “Late Stage of a Product – the End or a New Beginning” 30 Apr – 05 May Vision of Cycles Final Conference | Ankara-METU “Cycles in Industry”

JUNE

MAY

16 – 20 May 12 – 14 May 17 – 23 May 30 May – 04 Jun

Regional Coordination Meeting | Dortmund Newcomer Weekend | Hamburg Activity Week | Poznan Activity Week | Groningen

03 – 05 Jun Alumni Meeting | Haarlem 20 – 26 Jun ESTIEM Sports Meeting (ESPOM) | Siegen

JULY

13 – 27 Aug Summer Academy | Munich Deep entrepreneurship – Manufacturing Europe’s Future

AUGUST

25 – 30 Jul Activity Week | Hamburg 30 Jul – 13 Aug Summer Academy | Budapest Human-Centred System Design – People, Organisation and Technology

SEPTEMBER

07 – 11 Sept FREE Vision Seminar | Izmir “Oil and Oil Derivatives for Sustainable Growth”

OCTOBER

03 – 07 Oct FREE Vision Seminar | Kiev “Enterprise Energy Consumption and the Ways of its Conservation”

NOVEMBER

02 – 07 Nov 33rd ESTIEM Council Meeting | Ankara-Bilkent 16 – 21 Nov FREE Vision Seminar | Brussels “Waste Valorisation and Management” 22 – 26 Nov FREE Vision Seminar | Berlin “Approaches of Recycling and Reusing Valuable Resources” 24 – 26 Nov Newcomer Weekend | Hamburg 29 Nov – 02 Dec FREE Vision Seminar | Dortmund “Saving Resources by Applying Logistics”

ESTIEM ALUMNI ESTIEM Alumni is the organisation that keeps up the ESTIEM Spirit for graduated ESTIEMers ESTIEM Alumni has annual meetings and activities across Europe ESTIEM Alumni is open to all people formerly involved in ESTIEM “Via ESTIEM Alumni it is possible to keep contact with the old ESTIEMers and meet them once a year in a great location and “Being a co-founder of ESTIEM has been a life-changing experience for me. ESTIEM Alumni allows me to keep in contact with the inspiring people that ESTIEM is made of.”

Astrid Sonneville-Dings, P&G

setting! The good thing is that there is no membership fee, no administration to follow, just an option to have fun.”

Martin Schimpke, Arkwright

“ESTIEM Alumni offers an inspiring network you can use both professionally and socially to keep a broad view.”

Maurice Raven, Corus

Join ESTIEM ALUMNI at www.alumni.estiem.org