Smart and SHARED Citie is a popular minor of Leiden-delft-Erasmus Universities. What do students like most about this minor?
Huyen Vu is a bachelor student Management of International Social Challenges:
'I have a strong interest in anything related to innovation, such as big data and cyber security. When I found out about the minor ‘Smart and SHARED Cities’ I immediately had this gut feeling that I had to subscribe. The minor touches upon current developments, such as the increasing amount of data and how to use this information in a smart way. Not just on a theoretical level as we also looked at applications in cities.'
'In the course description, I found that one of the assignments is to look around the city for examples of Smart Cities and data collection technologies. Unfortunately, in my case, the field trips had to be cancelled because of the pandemic. Online education was a bit tough sometimes, but I really appreciated the efforts from the teachers to involve students. The atmosphere to me felt very welcoming and laidback. It felt like the teachers actually cared about you and they made sure we all got the opportunity to ask questions.'
'Smart data use is a big trend nowadays. I’m from Vietnam, which is a country in development. In my home country, there is a lot of data, but the legal system is not up to date. This means it is neither ‘smart’ nor ‘SHARED’. To make a smart city a SHARED City it needs to come from the citizens, so it should be more bottom-up. When people are informed about Smart Cities they can act accordingly and create a community. By signing up for the course I wanted to learn more about the way Western countries deal with Smart Cities.'
'I really liked the combination of the three universities. Not only did I meet a lot of different people with various backgrounds, but also everybody brought different skills. The people from TU Delft for example brought more hard skills related to technology, while the students from Leiden and Erasmus have backgrounds in business or public administration. Social studies are important for the academic embedding of the project, but also the idea framing. I noticed the people from Delft are very creative in presenting results. A girl in my group made a nice video about our project. I think we complimented each other very well.'
Patryk Jarmakowicz - Management of International Social Challenges, followed the 15 ECT option of the minor:
'For me, the minor ‘Smart and SHARED Cities’ was already my second minor. I didn’t need the credits, so that’s why my idea was to only finish the program if I really liked it. I ended up finding it very interesting and refreshing. The teaching methods were different from my program as it is highly interactive. The assignments are always based on what we learned during the lectures. I didn’t have to do a single exam, and this was completely new to me.'
'The design project especially stood out for me. We were working on different concepts in order to make mobility more accessible in Helmond, which is part of Brainport Eindhoven. The design process felt really creative. You work together with students who have completely different backgrounds. This also means we all tend to approach things differently. In my group, I had an architecture student from Delft. Whenever I would come up with an idea he would say “Patrick, give me the Ipad” and in the blink of an eye, he would sketch it on a mirror board. It was nice to see how architecture students work and to learn from them at the same time.'
'We went on several field trips. This was very interesting and gave us hands-on input on the assignments that we were working on. On one of those trips, we went to RDM which is located in an old shipyard in Rotterdam. RDM has a focus on new technology and accommodates many start-ups. Knowledge institutions, businesses and both governmental and societal partners are collaborating intensively on innovation. It was very insightful to see such a real-life example of the quadruple helix.'
'For me, the type of education that the minor offered was very rewarding. I got a lot of energy out of it rather than having to put a lot of energy in. It felt relaxed while I was learning new things at the same time. The teachers set a really nice environment and Friday they always organized something so that we could socialize. I had a fun time and ended up making many new friends.'
