TheĀ 4TU.Responsible Sustainability Challenge is an initiative of theĀ 4TU.CentresĀ High-Tech Materials,Ā EnergyĀ andĀ Ethics & Technology,Ā a 15 ECTS multidisciplinary and inter-university track for talented and motivated Master Honours students.
During the track, students are provided with online guidance and live events, and students work on real-life challenges from the industry.Ā This is also a Challenge-Based Learning track, students learn the hard skills and also the soft skills.
Topics for the challenges and learning materials are related to Energy, Sustainability, High-Tech Materials, Ethics.
This challenge started as a pilot in November 2022. The aim is to continue this course per academic year. For extra info, please visit here.
For detailed information per track per year:
- 4TU.Responsible Sustainability Challenge (2022-2023)
- 4TU.Responsible Sustainability Challenge (2023-2024)
Challenges in Track 2023-2024:
- Solar irrigation systems fromĀ Heliostrome
- Waste-to-Energy Conversion fromĀ Twence
- Energy Access in Guatemala fromĀ Quantum Energy & Engineering
Specific information from each university
University of Twente:
Website:Ā UTwente Honours Programme, including information aboutĀ Application and Admission
Registration: before 20 October 2024
Eindhoven University of Technology:
Website:Ā Professional development componentĀ of the Honors Master Program.
Registration: contact theĀ TU/e Honors Academy
Delft University of Technology:Ā TU Delft Honours Programme Master
Registration: check Brightspace for more information!
Highlights of the course:
- This project aims to approach the development and implementation of sustainable technology in a multidisciplinary manner, with an emphasis on energy, materials, and ethics.
- Each group (multidisciplinary, 5-8 students) chooses a topic that is related to developments in technology aiming at increasing sustainability in society; topics in this project relate to the Green Deal of the European Union.
- Leadership skills: students formulate their own challenges and look for their own experts.
- External stakeholders adjust the challenge to the real-life case, ensuring relevance to the here-and-now, non-academic context.
- Academic experts safeguard the quality, scope, and feasibility.
Course Motivation
From a studentās perspective, this module fills a current need for a practically oriented educational programme that highlights multidisciplinary collaboration. In particular, excellent Master (Honours) students want to improve their leadership/teamworking skills and gain real-life project-based experience in a structured and guided way. This module allows students to step outside their own university and study fields and to put theoretical knowledge into practice. The course is built on the challenge-based learning principles and asks students to drive their own education to gain the knowledge and skills that fit with their individual needs. The module focuses on the topic of sustainability, which is a topic that unites students from all different backgrounds and which sparks tremendous enthusiasm within the student community. The module also brings together staff, student assistants and experts from the four technical universities to increase further collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
Core Elements
Within the 4TU.RSC track, the focus is on providing students with a structured approach to implement or improve sustainability efforts within organizations. Students work together with their peers from the other participating universities (Twente, Delft, and Eindhoven) in multidisciplinary groups. The challenge consists of the following core elements.
- The central challenge is to implement or improve sustainability at a company/organization. Within this challenge, you work within a multidisciplinary team of 5-8 students to understand the underlying principles and issues at hand and to formulate an appropriate response that addresses these points. This challenge follows the Challenge-Based Learning methodology, which provides students with a structured but free approach to learning by gaining real-life experience.
- Additional workshops are provided to help structure the challenge and to provide key insights into relevant project management techniques and sustainability efforts that broaden the students' view and help determine creative and motivated methods to address the key issues of the challenge. These workshops also include a matching event (in which both students and the organizations select their preferred challenge) and on-site events at each university to get a behind-the-scenes view of the other university's research into sustainability.
- Coaching for each group to support the learning process and improve the personal development of each student.Ā
- Peer review support from your fellow students to learn both with and from one another, to meet like-minded people, and to shape each case by the shared knowledge of the group.
Aside from these core elements, we are working with (student-driven) organizations at the three universities to create a broad network to support the different groups and to provide engaging and inspiring sessions throughout the track.
Live Events of the track 2023-2024:
- The kick-off event took place at the campus of the University of Twente on theĀ 16th of November 2023. It was organized by the Honours Office in Twente.
- The first live event Ā took place at Eindhoven University of Technology on theĀ 8th of February 2024Ā and marked theĀ start of the second phase, the investigate phase.
- The second live event took place at Delft University of Technology on theĀ 7th of May 2024. It was hosted by 4TU.HTM and the Honours Programme Delft, and marked the act phase typically within the Challenge Based Learning methodology.
- The final event will take place on theĀ 19th of June 2024Ā in Utrecht.
Contact for sign-up:
UTwente:Ā honours@utwente.nl
TU/e: honorsacademy@tue.nl
TUDelft:Ā HPD@tudelft.nl