Title: Systems engineering education for public policy

Authors: Wil A.H. Thissen

Addresses: School of Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5015, 2600 GA Delft, Netherlands

Abstract: Developments in public policy create new challenges for engineering and engineering education. Analytic and synthetic skills are required to handle the substantive complexities of policy problems, and managerial skills are necessary to design and guide the human interaction processes needed for knowledge integration, multi-party learning and negotiation, and decision-making. The resulting requirements for education are interdisciplinary. Choices faced by curriculum designers regarding educational structure, disciplinary mix, and educational form are discussed. The curriculum in Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, is described as an example of a newly developed program.

Keywords: analytical skills; synthetic skills; managerial skills; systems engineering education; Delft University of Technology; Netherlands; interdisciplinary education; public policy; technology; curriculum design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.1998.030121

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 1998 Vol.8 No.1/2, pp.9 - 20

Published online: 11 Dec 2009 *

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