Education updates

Once every quarter, during the General Members' Assembly, an update is given about the state of the education and what the commissioners of education are doing. These updates will be posted on this page and further explained.

April 2022

Free fruit

To help students a little bit, Gezelschap Leeghwater handed out pieces of fruit for during exams during the previous exam period. For example, we stood at the door of the process signal analysis, robotics and dynamics exam. When many students entered the examination hall, they could choose between a banana, apple or mandarin. It was received with great enthusiasm by the seniors, who were all happy to take free fruit. The first years, in contrast to the seniors, were a bit suspicious. If ten people took the fruit, the rest did too. If one person didn't grab then the next group didn't either. Eventually, there were enough seniors so all the fruit was gone and the majority were very happy with it.

January 2022

Wellbeing

A joint study by the Trimbos Institute, the RIVM and the GGD showed that students suffered more from mental problems last academic year than in previous years. The survey showed that as many as 51 per cent of students experience psychological problems and 26 per cent of students have thought they would rather be dead. A workgroup was set up last year to discuss the well-being of the students, with one board member from each TU Delft study association. Together they have set up the Study & Wellbeing signpost. This year, TU Delft has set aside money for study associations to improve the mental health of students. This has been done, by organising study breakfasts and placing beanbags in various places at the TU Delft and a range of extra activities. One of these activities was the second-year outing to the Louwman museum with lunch. Here, second-year students had the opportunity to meet fellow students. Additionally, discussions are held with the university about the well-being of students as a result of education. Topics that come up here are pressure to perform, rescheduling the resit week in the summer and the expectation that Delft students always have to do a master's. One of the results is that the Cum Laude scheme for the Bachelor of Architecture has already been abolished and the resit week has been moved from week 5.5 to week 5.3 so that students can take a longer holiday

If you experience problems with your own mental health you can always contact the academic counsellors, you can reach them at studieadviseurs-3mE@tudelft.nl.

If you are affected by mental health issues or suicide, help and support are available for chat at www.113.nl or by telephone at 0800-0113.

October 2021

Feedback panels that contine to improve education

The first quarterly panels were held a couple weeks ago. These were started in collaboration with the quality assurance of 3mE. These were set up because the students were no longer sufficiently connected to the teachers. Due to corona, students were no longer in the lecture halls but at home. Because many students often did not switch on their cameras, teachers received much less feedback from the lecture hall or from the online program. The solution was quarterly panels. These are conversations between teachers and students in week three of each quarter. During this conversation, several students provide feedback on the subject and the teaching method. The teacher can receive feedback and explain why certain choices have been made. In this way, the gap that had formed during corona between students and teachers became smaller. Because the panels were held in week three, it was also possible to change things within the course after that week. Last year our predecessors started setting up a first and second-year panel. All courses are discussed here. Both panels this quarter were organized in collaboration with Froude because most subjects match. What also made it more attractive was that quality assurance had prepared a delicious lunch for all students and teachers present. In this way, it becomes even more attractive for the students to come along and give feedback to teachers.

April 2021

Grant for student-initiatives that increase the quality of life for the students

The TU has made a grant available to all students of Delft University of Technology. The grant is intended to stimulate initiatives that improve the well-being of the students in Delft. So if you have a good idea and would like to implement it, you can submit your plan to TU Delft. Keep an eye on our socials for more information!

Meet the 3mE master students!

This year it is extra difficult for bachelors students to get in touch with master students who are following a master in which they are interested. In order to make your choice, it is important to hear the experiences and opinions of those students. To give an opportunity for this Gezelschap Leeghwater organized the event “Meet the 3mE master students”. Two or three students of all master's programs offered by 3mE were present online to answer questions and share experiences. A total of 60 bachelor students came by this evening to ask their questions. We have helped many students a bit further with their master's choices, so in the end it was a very successful evening!

Study locations in the TU Delft

Since the beginning of March, there again are places in the faculty and TU-wide where self-study is possible. The executive board recognized the problems and made adjustments in the policy that resulted in more places where students can come for self-study.  The faculty has - in a responsible manner - left its doors ajar, which means that about 100 students can now come by every half day.

New structure of master feedback

In the past period, there have been many discussions with the disputes and Education Quality Assurance to better map out the master's feedback and to make it as effective as possible. In the coming period methods will be tried to find the optimal structure for collecting and processing the feedback.

December 2020

Studying on-campus

During the education-free weeks, from October 26th till November 6th, the faculty organized on-campus study sessions. Students could register through a faculty system and could reserve two timeslots per week through this system. They could reserve either a morning session from 08:45 till 12:30 or an afternoon session from 13:45 till 17:45.
The studysessions have been very successful and the students were all very satisfied with the time they got to spend on campus. We as the board also thought it was very nice to see some other students who did not follow education at 3mE during the regular weeks. Next quarter, the faculty will be looking at whether they can organize this again - should the measures allow it - in order to support students in their studies at this time.

New way of Feedback

Together with the quality assurance department of E&SA, Education and Student Affairs, we have created a new way this year to receive feedback from students and to get it to the teachers. We noticed that almost exclusively online communication meant that teachers had difficulty getting in contact with students and that a lot of feedback from previous years got lost over time.
That is why a new system for feedback has been introduced in the bachelor this year. Before the start of the quarter the Commissioners of Education organize a meeting with the professors to freshen up last year’s feedback. Furthermore, feedback panels are held during the quarter to create an open dialogue between students and professors and for the professors to have a look at which systems are most effective during in this online era. We've just had all of the panels from Q2 and it was a great success.
For the master, we are also working hard to properly streamline the feedback. The feedback from students usually comes in through the disputes, they have direct contact with the professors about this to keep this feedback-loop short. The feedback received by the disputes is also received by the Master's Commissioner via quarterly meetings. This feedback is included in various meetings. To make the student's voice heard everywhere.

Positive changes in education due to covid-19

Since March this year, education has been completely turned upside down by the corona virus. The time that you were taking a statics lecture in the auditorium with 500 first-year students is almost impossible to imagine. All these changes have led to a completely new form of education. Where it normally took years to revise education, the virus has forced us to find creative solutions to all kinds of problems. For example, the Rigid Body Dynamics course, formerly known as Advanced Dynamics, is no longer tested in the form of an exam but by means of weekly assignments. The mathematics courses are also completely different: teaching assistants now teach their own classes, from which they take the frequently asked topics and communicate them to the professor. For master students hybrid lectures are given, where part of the students are physically present and part is participating online. These are all developments that must be properly evaluated, to see if they are useful even after this crisis.
Now that there is a small dot of light at the end of the tunnel, it is extremely important that we draw our lessons from the changes of the past year. What the students thought was a great form of education and examination and what perhaps worked better than in precorona education. As Commissioners of Education we are preparing a major corona evaluation in collaboration with the faculty. In this way we can incorporate the necessary changes as education slowly returns to its physical form.

Bachelor graduation

Normally, the Bachelor's ceremony is held in the Auditorium. We did our very best to physically allow this to take place, but because we were talking about too large of a group, it soon became clear that it could not take place as normal during these times.
We therefore visited Theun Baller, the Dean of 3mE, Hans Hellendoorn, our Education Director, and René Delfos, the Program Director for Mechanical Engineering, to make a video to congratulate all successful bachelor students. In addition, everyone who collected their diploma at the service point received a sustainable drinking bottle as a gift. In this way we tried to put a "bow" on that well-deserved diploma.

Graduation study places

Many graduates have had to do all their work from home in the past year. Many students got stuck due to a lack of variation in work or space. To help these students to complete their master, the faculty is looking for spaces that can be made available for them.

October 2020

Guidance lectures

In the first weeks of the academic year, Gezelschap Leeghwater gave guidance lectures for first-year and second-year students. The first-year guidance lecture discussed the start of your student time and what their study will look like. In addition, useful tips were given. The second-year guidance lecture was about the (international) minors and how you, as a TU Delft student, can grow within the study and outside of it. More than a hundred students attended the first-year guidance lecture and the second-year guidance lecture had more than eighty participants.

On Campus study sessions

Week 9 and week 10 are the faculty's education-free weeks. Because the faculty realizes that people like to come out of their houses every now and then and since the faculty would otherwise be empty, they have hosted “On Campus Study Sessions”. Every 3mE student may come to the faculty for two shifts of four hours to study in both weeks. This is how studying at home can be varied with studying together at the faculty from time to time. The reservation is made online, every student has received an email about this.

Exam training Statics

In week 9, Gezelschap Leeghwater organized three Statics exam training courses at the faculty for a total of 78 students. In four hours, all the difficult parts of Statics were covered by a mechanical engineering student. Students indicated that it was useful to repeat everything and were happy that it was at the faculty and not online.

Adjustment of registration period for exams

The registration period for the exams has been adjusted from October 13th. Previously you could register up to 14 days before the exam, after which the post-registrations opened. From the upcoming exam week, the deadline goes to 6 days before the exam. But beware: in the current form, post-registration is no longer possible. If you are late, you will have to wait until the next moment to take the exam.

Online study training

This year, education has been completely overhauled due to the coronavirus. Most of the education takes place from home and behind your screen. It is difficult to stay motivated and focused and that is why an online study training has been organized. This training examines the usefulness of collaboration, even online. We also discussed ways to get structure and routine into your day and to keep studying for longer. The training was ultimately attended by 70 people, so it was a great success!

New master Robotics

Since the start of the new academic year, a new master's degree had been added to the 3mE faculty. It concerns the master Robotics. This year, a hundred students started this new challenge with great enthusiasm. During the master they will specialize in mechanics, computer science, mechatronics, artificial intelligence, embedded systems, control, human-machine systems, ethics and security. this should prepare them for the multidisciplinary world of robotics, where development is taking place for transport, production, energy and medical care. In their careers, robotics will also have to deal with the complex ethical dilemmas that come with robots. They will learn a lot about this during their master's degree. This master also has variety of specializations, such as human-robot interaction, machine perception and the old master track Vehicle Engineering will also become a specialization for this new master.

menu