JIP is more than a course

It is a teaching method which, according to Vice-President for Education Rob Mudde, should become a permanent feature of modern engineering programmes. This is JIP, or the Joint Interdisciplinary Project, in which four groups participated last year, 10 this year, and 40 will take part in next year. Each group consists of five Master’s students from different disciplines who tackle an issue from the business community. Last year (presentation on 8 November 2019) the students worked on issues such as the corrosion of pipes in geothermal energy, an app against the devastating impact of climate change on cocoa cultivation, and how to make cities better able to withstand rising sea levels.

Aldert Kamp, director of education at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and initiator of the JIP, said during the presentation: “This is more than a course, more than an internship. It prepares students for a changing labour market in which engineers increasingly work in small multidisciplinary teams.”

Hans Hellendoorn, his colleague at 3mE, adds: “The world had already changed. It was high time that TU Delft changed with it.”